“A blatantly partisan, politicised exercise.” — Tony Abbott

“A political stitch-up.” — Tony Abbott

“She gave inconsistent and evasive evidence on the circumstances in which the decision was made.” — George Brandis

“The political impartiality of the commission [has] been fatally compromised.” — George Brandis

“The commission has to be like Caesar’s wife, it has to be beyond blemish.” — George Brandis

“The government has lost confidence in the president of the AHRC.” — Tony Abbott

Who were they referring to? Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs.

Earlier this year the Coalition tried to claim Triggs was politically biased because she decided to hold an inquiry into children in immigration detention after, rather than before, the 2013 election, when Abbott took power.

Of course, the resulting report was damning of both major parties’ treatment of asylum seeker children, so the political stitch-up nonsense was a bit far-fetched. Yet from the hysterical campaign waged by Abbott and Brandis, you’d think Triggs had agreed to speak at a fundraising event for the Labor Party. How things have changed.