They say it’s important to know your audience.
That was certainly the case on Sunday when ABC investigative journalist Sarah Ferguson made critical comments about former Labor senator John Faulkner at The Sydney Writers' Festival, not realising he was in the audience watching.
Ferguson was describing the making of the widely acclaimed documentary, The Killing Season, when she made critical comments about the former Labor senate leader, describing him as a secrecy ‘fetishist’ for refusing to shed light on what really happened in the critical final meeting between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard before she challenged for Prime Minister in 2010.
Senator Faulkner received gasps, laughs and claps when he took the mic during the Q&A afterwards and rebutted Ferguson’s critique.
“I would not talk about the events in that, and that was the basis of which I was there, and I know it doesn’t suit journalists, and I know it would be helpful if I retold those events and not only that a whole range of private conversations – but I gave my word I would not,” he told the audience.
“I’m honoring my word – and I am not a fetishist.”
Ferguson said the moments in question belonged to history and to the Australian people, who had invested so much faith in the Rudd Labor government.
Both Ferguson and interviewer George Megalogenis said Faulkner's fetish for secrecy was over the top for refusing to disclose whether or not Gillard offered Rudd a second chance before moments later reneging on her deal when she was told she had the numbers.
Faulkner later admitted he had the answers they were seeking on the matter, but said it was his secret to keep.
"I know whether hands were shaken or not - and I'm not going to say."
On Twitter Ferguson later said the it was a "good" surprise, tweeting she had made this point to Faulkner previously in person.
