Aussie Politician Wants Government To Buy Wii For Sick Man

A state minister from Victoria, Australia has been publicly rebuked after personally campaigning – in parliament – for one of his constituents to be given a Wii.

Gordon Rich-Phillips, a member of the Liberal Party and Victoria’s Assistant Opposition Treasurer, got up in parliament and asked that Victoria’s WorkCover Authority (ie the worker’s comp guys) pay for “a certain rehabilitation aid” for a man that claim’s he’s been unable to work for four years due to a “work-related injury”.

Sounded reasonable, but he only made the plea in parliament because WorkCover had already knocked the man’s claims back, on the grounds that this “rehabilitation aid” was in fact a Nintendo Wii console and a copy of Wii Fit.

“Gordon Rich-Phillips is saying we should spend WorkCover money on video games when the claim has already been assessed and knocked back,” WorkCover Minister Tim Holding said.

The man asking for the Wii, meanwhile, says that it’s necessary for his rehabilitation because in addition to his injury he also suffers from severe panic attacks, which presumably keeps him from both the physio and the gym.

Lib MP Gordon Rich-Phillips wanted WorkCover to pay for Wii [News]