For executives at the pointy end of corporate Australia, brushes with those who don’t accept their saintliness are few and far between. One’s own employees and colleagues, after all, would never be so rude.

Outside this bubble lie seas of contestation, whose treachery varies by degrees. Shareholders, the analyst community and the business press will generally probe but won’t offend (at least, not without reason). Mainstream TV reporters are more direct again. And last, there are the interrogations dished out by leftie Green senators under parliamentary privilege, who compared to all the above are positively feral.