Just when you thought the whole Cory Bernardi defection storm-in-a-teacup had passed, another twist emerges.
Like a modern embodiment of the 1980s Pantene "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" shampoo ad, Senator Bernardi suggests former senior Liberal Amanda Vanstone's scathing character assessment of the new independent senator was because, well, take a look at him.
"Amanda Vanstone has never liked me," Senator Bernardi told Sky News before Parliament began on Wednesday.
In the past she criticised him because of "the way I look or my commitment to exercise".
His decision to defect from the Liberals just a few months into a six-year term just gave her a way to have another go at him, he said.
"I have found people who have a poor self-image or are insecure try to manifest and target that at others," he said.
"If that's what they want to do, that's fine. Good luck to them."
Goodness knows, who hasn't had this happen? You don't like my work? You are obviously jealous of my fabulous hair.
Some might call this "lack of self-awareness". Some of us prefer to call it "an abundance of self-belief".
Now to be fair, Vanstone - writing for Fairfax Media this week - did not criticise him for his appearance or commitment to exercise but rather for being "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" and a "self-opinionated tosser".
"If you don't think he's got tickets on himself why do you think his uses the slogan "Common Sense Lives Here"?
"How rude is that? He's saying it doesn't live at your place! Who is he kidding?" Vanstone wrote.
To be a successful politician these days, you need such self-belief that the mere sight of your picture triggers an automatic swipe right.
Just look at deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, for example.
Joyce, who happily declares tomato ancestry after Johnny Depp described him as "inbred with a tomato", has no problem questioning the fashion choices of others.
Last week he gloriously described Bill Shorten as the "Angel of Annandale" wearing "the suit last worn by Barry Gibb by the looks of things".
Shorten has come back from the summer holidays with a rather eye-catching blue suit.
Teal? Periwinkle blue? It's a challenging shade to describe but sure does nice things for the Opposition Leader's spring/summer complexion.
"I'm getting more illumination from the member for Maribyrnong's electric sapphire blue suit than from his answer," Joyce taunted in question time.
"Maybe it's peri-wrinkle blue. He's a snappy dresser but not very good at answering questions."
With that, Joyce sat down, displaying an alluring expanse of white calf above short, spotty socks and RM Williams boots.
