Whoopee! (Image: Private Media)

Drink in the Porter As discussed elsewhere in today’s Crikey, there are many ways former attorney-general Christian Porter has shown his judgment to be utterly shot in the past year. One minor but significant way this played out was in his resignation note, posted to his Facebook page. For quite some time, the post had open comments — and as any media outlet will tell you, that way defamation lies.

And so a group of users, presumably using their real names and heedless of the approach Porter in particular and the government he belongs to in general take in response to free speech they don’t like, made some profoundly defamatory comments on his post. Those have now been moderated, and many have been taken down.

Raising of the Shields, Part 2 Speaking of public figures who don’t always appreciate the robust exchange of ideas, the elevation of Shevan Bevan Shields to the editor role at The Sydney Morning Herald caused a large number of journalists to realise that, at one point or another, Shields had blocked them. Which is one thing when it’s Greg Jericho or some other competing publication’s writer. But what surprised us — as it seemed to surprise him — most was finding that he’d done the same to his former colleague Peter Hannam, the SMH‘s former environmental editor.

Hunt for the truth The verdict is almost official: today Health Minister Greg Hunt will announce that he’s quitting politics at the election. The health portfolio is a tough one at the best of times, and the past two years would have sent anyone scurrying to the exit — indeed, there has been a noteworthy exodus of people from high-profile health roles, of which Hunt is only the most recent.

Except … we asked about the persistent rumours to this effect, like, three weeks ago, and his office swiftly and brusquely assured that it was all nonsense. Could it be that the sacred bonds of trust between a journalist and a politician’s media office have been forever sundered? We’re not sure we’ll ever recover.

Sitting it out We’ve hit the last day of the last sitting week for Parliament in 2021, and especially given how little we’re likely to get between now and August we’re feeling a touch nostalgic. Here are some of Parliament’s greatest hits in 2021:

  • A nation stands agog as Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says something genuinely really funny, calling Barnaby Joyce the “whoopee cushion of Australian politics”. We in the bunker feel that his “sit down, boofhead” swipe at Peter Dutton was a pallid and frankly overrated sequel
  • Western Australian Senator Ben Small read the following paragraph of text, completely deadpan, during Senate estimates: “I try and sue the ABC but instead my pants fall down and I try to waddle away but accidentally waddle over a balcony and land headfirst into a truck of pig manure and my legs wriggle around and everyone sees my heart-patterned boxer shorts.” He was making a point about the ABC, you see
  • South Australia’s Rowan Ramsey pulled a hall of fame “you had one job” moment, rising to ask the wrong Dorothy Dixer
  • Jacqui Lambie went to town on One Nation in the Senate over its opposition to vaccine mandates while, beaming in more ways that one, Pauline Hanson loomed over her shoulder on a giant screen, grinning like a messy bench who loves the drama. For Lambie’s trouble, One Nation allegedly leaked her phone number
  • Oh yeah, the prime minster appeared to lie to Parliament — something that used to lead to instant resignation, and in this case wasn’t even in the top five scandals to afflict the government that month. What a year.

What have we missed, guys? Let us know your favourite moments from this chaotic year.