Attorney-General John Hatzistergos has performed what we can only hope is his final act of bastardry before he is flung out of office. As long as Hatzistergos had breath in his body he was going to see the end of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery - and his final play in the battle was the appointment of Ian Temby, QC, as acting DPP for two months.

Today is Cowdery's last day in office. He turns 65 tomorrow and to keep the full extent of his pension benefits he has to go right now. There's a certain amount of government deliberation in that situation - more of that in a moment.

Nicholas Cowdery ... had to go today or lose his full pension, but only found out from Attorney-General John Hatzistergos, inset, on Wednesday.

The Attorney-General put out a statement on Wednesday lauding Temby's capacities and achievements. Labor governments have been in and out of love with Temby ever since federal attorney-general Gareth Evans plucked him from the Perth bar to be the first Commonwealth DPP.

There was a two-sentence mention of Cowdery at the bottom of the announcement, thanking him for his service and noting the government ''valued the integrity of his prosecutorial decisions''. In any language it was a singularly icy farewell.