Stormy feathers

Peter Dutton came excitingly close to moving his facial muscles for the second time in under a week.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton came excitingly close to moving his facial muscles for the second time in less than a week. Having already let go when needling Wayne Swan (who responded with a blown kiss), expectations were high for a sequel yesterday when he got stuck into Sarah Hanson-Young. The Greens senator is claiming she was spied on by security guards when she was on Nauru (a claim that led Dutton to label her an “embarrassment”, a response that nothing else Nauru-related was able to elicit). Furthermore, that the codename assigned to her was The Raven. If this was the case and — in a not entirely implausible double — the guards were Edgar Allan Poe fans, it would suggest they thought Hanson-Young wouldn’t stop troubling them anytime soon: “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting / On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; / And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, / And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor …” Unless, they meant Ravin’, in which case ignore all of the above.

The traditional way

In Plus Ca Change corner, a quick quiz. Who said this? “The opposition’s campaign of negativity and trash-talking the Australian economy has reached a new low today.” Was it (a) Tony Abbott yesterday, or (b) Bill Shorten in 2012?

Words were had

Meanwhile in the realm of self-harm that is the correspondence section of Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch Dog, there’s been a ripe exchange between Hendo and David Marr. A selection:

Marr: “On Sunday before Insiders, while I was giving you a rich and full account of what a weird shit I think you are …”

Hendo: “You literally* exploded when I arrived … You called me a ‘lying shit’ and a ‘f. king shit” and more besides. To make your point, on three occasions you were yelling at me while jumping up and down. A bit like a boy on a pogo-stick. Except that you did not have a pogo-stick — and you are not a boy.” All in all, it’s another cruel reminder of what the world lost when the ABC failed to name the duelling duo as David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz’s replacements on At the Movies. (*Literally, Hendo insists. So we should probably say: Rest in pieces, Mr Marr.)

What’s in a name?

Our learned colleague Dennis Shanahan has received an email from the Human Rights Law Centre suggesting he “support quality journalism and human rights”. This can be done by subscribing to The Saturday Paper, not because it might enliven the weekend with a spectacular apology to Cory Bernardi, but because it will send a slice of your fee to the HRLC. Nevertheless, with the emphasis on quality journalism, Shanahan was intrigued to find the email began, “Dear Shana”.

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