“I FELT I HAD A
RESPONSIBILITY,
PARTICULARLY FOR YOUNG
KIDS OUT THERE WHO MAY
HAVE TOURETTE’S OR MAY
NOT YET BE DIAGNOSED,
TO BE AN EXAMPLE FOR
THEM AND ALSO TO RAISE
AWARENESS OF THE ISSUE,”
“Media or publicity could focus on that aspect, rather
than on all the good things that he’s doing as a local
representative.”
Chris is able to suppress his tics to some extent,
particularly when he is performing publicly, but he said
he struggled to control them when fellow Liberal MP
Tim Wilson made his maiden speech to Parliament.
“I normally would make sure I am not sitting behind
someone when they speak and I’d sat behind Tim when
he was giving his speech,” he said.
“I was really conscious the whole speech of trying to
contain my tics because I didn’t want to interrupt Tim’s
maiden speech or be seen in the background.
“If you watch it you can see elements of tics but I really
had to concentrate for 20 minutes to try and hold it in.”
His tics tend to get worse at night, meaning that often
his wife Grace is around to witness them.
She said the vocal tics can get annoying.
“The motor ones, I don’t have to look at him if he’s just
doing that, but with the vocal ones you can’t ignore it and
it’s the repetitive noise I guess that can drive me a little bit
batty,” she said.
But Grace said she had learned to ignore his tics most of
the time.
“Everybody has their own uniqueness. Chris just happens
to make a lot of noises,” she said.
“Maybe after another eight years of marriage I won’t even
notice.”