In one corner was Kiama MP Gareth Ward and in the other was his bete noire Shellharbour MP Anna Watson. 

The pair faced off over Mr Ward’s motion on the Berry Bypass but soon went downhill when Mr Ward questioned his rival’s ability to understand the difference between 99 and 150

“One is longer and one is shorter,” Mr Ward explained.

“I know that might be difficult for you to understand, but if you Google it I am sure someone can explain it to you.”

He then suggested it was not surprising she had a problem with numbers “because she has never actually won a preselection that has not been rigged”.

Mr Ward then returned to his speech lauding the progress on the Berry Bypass.

But not for long as Ms Watson raised a point of order while choosing to attack yet another “self-congratulatory motion that we have heard so many times in the past from the member for Kiama”.

Noting his recent absences from “this part of the house proceedings for some time now” she wondered if it meant he had tamed his “vanity fetish”.

“It seems that the insecurities of the member for Kiama cannot be tamed,” Ms Watson said.

“We see him strutting up and down, his arms waving around like a blow-up air puppet.”

Mr Ward then took feigned umbrage at Ms Watson’s “puerile vitriol” and suggested she “behave as a member of Parliament, not as a child”.

The Deputy Speaker asked Ms Watson to return to discussing the Berry Bypass.

She was going to do that but suggested he may have missed it “because the raised voices of indignation pierces your eardrums”.

“It is all a part of Gareth Ward's typical Thursday sitting week puppet show,” Ms Watson continued.

She then seemed to misquote a line from A Few Good Men, suggesting “You guys can't handle any truth”.

Mr Ward had the last word, describing Ms Watson’s behaviour as “appalling”.

“If the residents of Shellharbour saw the way the member behaved in this Chamber I am sure they would not vote for her,” he said.