(Image: Greens/Private Media)

Truth serum As Crikey reports elsewhere today, departing Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’ speech to Parliament after the budget last night showed a similar regard for bridge maintenance as Godzilla. Many were caught by the shotgun blasts she aimed at her own party: Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, former attorney-general Philip Ruddock and most especially, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whom she calls “an autocrat and a bully who has no moral compass”:

In my public life I have met ruthless people. Morrison tops the list, followed closely by Hawke. Morrison is not fit to be prime minister and Hawke certainly is not fit to be a minister.

Delivered from behind the veil of parliamentary privilege, it goes into detail about Morrison’s preselection battle with Michael Towke in 2007. This may be the most savage poison kiss-off in Australian political history. But it’s far from the first time a departing politician has indulged in the fantasy of telling a shitty workplace what you really think.

Shortly after Labor was ousted back in 2013, former attorney-general Nicola Roxon decided to offer some pretty detailed feedback on why that happened. In particular, she took square aim at former PM Kevin Rudd, saying the main issue with removing him in 2010 was Labor’s failure to explain what a monumental shit he was to work for:

We didn’t talk about his rudeness, or contempt for staff and disrespect for public servants …
Removing Kevin was an act of political bastardry, for sure. But this act of political bastardy was made possible only because Kevin had been such a bastard himself to so many people.

It’s particularly noteworthy that Roxon didn’t do this using parliamentary privilege, delivering her remarks at the John Button Memorial Lecture.

Another former attorney-general, George Brandis, used his valedictory speech to decry the “powerful elements of right-wing politics” (unmistakably a swipe at Peter Dutton) that had abandoned liberal philosophy in favour of “a belligerent, intolerant populism which shows no respect for either the rights of individual citizens or the traditional institutions which protect them”.

And in the immediate aftermath of the coup that delivered Morrison to the Lodge, backbencher Julia Banks offered her resignation, citing “bullying and intimidation” in a statement. Not long after, member for Gilmore Ann Sudmalis, under parliamentary privilege, went a step further and named names, using her resignation announcement to accuse state MP Gareth Ward of “bullying, betrayal and back-stabbing … He doesn’t just get even; he annihilates anyone who opposes him”.

Always be culture-warring For those with a strong constitution and a lot of time to kill, The Australian has published Lachlan Murdoch’s speech at the launch of the Centre for the Australian Way of Life at the Institute of Public Affairs.

In many ways it’s precisely what you’d expect — the billionaire heir to a media empire, whose father is well known for using his influence to change laws and governments, just can’t stand these elites intent on dividing us, certain that if we didn’t ask any questions about Anzac Day more Australians would be willing to fight like Ukrainians have. Crushingly basic first-year-uni free speech stuff, and a lot of complaints about how badly News Corp and its journalists are treated.

But one particular detail stands out. Firstly, his refutation of the New York Times‘ Nikole Hannah-Jones’ “damaging” contention that “all journalism is activism”. He may wish to inform the company he co-chairs. Or perhaps he would define the tens of thousands of words written about, to pick a few — Gillian Triggs, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Paul Barry, Margaret Simons, Julian Disney, Tim Flannery (who are we missing?) — as something other than activist journalism?

Child’s play An email landed in Crikey‘s inbox this morning — Greens leader Adam Bandt promising a “budget take you weren’t expecting”. Look, it worked, we clicked. Was the surprise Bandt’s new campaign for austerity measures and compulsory national service? Well, no. The unexpected take is a cutesy video of Bandt talking to kids about the budget, and in scenes that can only be described as “highly expected”, they are just shocked to find out how much support the government is giving billionaires!