Sally Rugg's court battle with Monique Ryan's continues.
The ongoing court battle between political adviser Sally Rugg and independent MP Monique Ryan today continued, with Federal Court judge Justice Debra Mortimer ruling Ms Rugg cannot keep working for Dr Ryan while the case continues.
Claims of intense working conditions in the Member for Kooyong's office have played out for weeks, with claims in court documents that Dr Ryan said she wanted to work her way up to being prime minister. She later said she was joking.
Yesterday in parliament, opposition leader Peter Dutton reportedly said - while Dr Ryan was trying to ask Labor's Mark Butler a question - "I thought you were asking questions as the prime minister too".
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley, according to The Guardian, added "Kooyong forever".
But what was that referencing?
It appeared to come from a meme on Twitter - specifically, a fabricated screenshot of one of the court documents from the Sally Rugg case.
According to the fake screenshot, Rugg claims Ryan had watched 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' at HOYTS at Westfield Woden in the ACT.
"...she asked me "I just saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, I think I get it"...I asked her what she meant by that and she crossed her hands over her chest and loudly said "Kooyong Forever"."
"She then said "Put me doing that at the end of all the speeches". when I said no she yelled "I am independent" and stormed out of the office repeatedly doing the arm-crossing motion and saying "Kooyong Forever" to herself."
None of that is a real claim by Rugg or in any real court documents, of course. But the fake screenshot spread online, even seeing NSW Nationals candidate for Cessnock, Ash Barnham, post himself doing the 'arm-crossing motion'.
We contacted the person who made the fake screenshot - Twitter user @barvid19, who also goes by 'peter khalil gaming' (Peter Khalil being the Labor MP for Wills).
Barvid19 tells 6 News he "clarified under the tweet multiple times it was a joke," then eventually deleted it "when I realised right-wing accounts were picking it up without the context".
Despite the deletion, the meme and phrase 'Kooyong Forever' continues to be shared online.
And as we've now seen, the meme has even made its way into parliament - thanks to Sussan Ley.
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