Paul Fletcher’s Department of Communications and the hidden arts slipped into view at the Senate Estimates hearings this year, to allow the government to make an extraordinary claim.
On the morning of 3 March, Senator Nita Green made her presence felt for the first time. She is 36 years old, a new ALP senator from Queensland, a lawyer with a bachelor of creative arts and a former organiser for the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. She turned out to be indefatigable, harassing Senator Margaret Reynolds standing in for Minister Fletcher.