Rann lashes ‘low-rent’ factional bosses. Mike Rann has attacked the factional bosses in South Australia who dumped him as state premier, and confirmed that his removal “involved some of the same people” who knifed Kevin Rudd as leader in June 2010. Speaking yesterday on the ABC’s Sunday Profile, the retiring premier branded his conquerors “low-rent”, “contemptible” and “low on the IQ food chain”.

The premier — who will step down this Thursday — singled out the right-wing shop assistants union, the SDA, which has been a dominant force in South Australian Labor politics since the 1990s. The ultra-conservative, Catholic SDA provides the powerbase for Don Farrell, aka The Pope, who was one of the key plotters in the coup against Kevin Rudd in June 2010. — Paul Barry (read the full story here)

Allan Asher: the bell tolls for thee. Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher will have the blow torch applied to his belly this week over revelations that he scripted questions for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Few observers — including, it appears, Asher himself — expect him to survive the scandal.

Asher will be grilled at a Senate Estimates committee today and is expected to be called to meet the secretary of the prime minister’s department, Ian Watt, later this week to explain his behaviour. — Matthew Knott (read the full story here)

Gaffes all round in celebration of misogyny. Monday nights don’t get better than this: an audience of around 300 will tonight relive some of the finer moments of political incorrectness by the country’s most influential and outspoken people. The annual dinner organised by former president of the NSW Legislative Council for the ALP, Meredith Burgmann, will hand out gongs to those deemed to have made the most sexist remarks over the last 12 months.

Think Senator David Bushby’s “meow” comment to Penny Wong, or Christopher Pyne labeling the prime minister a “harridan”. Also nominated: The Sydney Morning Herald for its poll that asked “What do you think of the former NSW Premier’s hair?”. — Angela Priestley (read the full story here)

ASX readies for ultimate test. It’s on. ASIC has today confirmed that Chi-X Australia has met its licence pre-conditions, meaning it’s been given the go-ahead to challenge the dominance of the Australian Stock Exchange as a second provider of exchange markets in Australia.

ASIC granted Chi-X the licence back in May, but ordered that a number of conditions be met before it could commence operations including confirmation of operational readiness by an independent expert. — The Power Index (read the full story here)