Outspoken ... Mark Latham. But — compared to his past form — Mr Latham showed considerable restraint in last night's report, which went on for about 20 minutes and did not reveal anything new or surprising. "Mostly, I've been portrayed as the villain," he told viewers, before describing the election campaign as stage-managed, fake and lacking in substance. Among those who agreed to an interview was former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who said she would "never forgive or forget" Mr Abbott, who she accused of organising a slush fund "which saw my imprisonment". As for Ms Gillard, Ms Hanson confided: "I don't like her and I don't trust her."

Greens leader Bob Brown also made an appearance, telling Mr Latham in a civilised exchanged that both parties had lost their way. Earlier yesterday, Senator Brown told journalists that Mr Latham had been respectful and courteous during the interview. Mr Latham also lamented the campaign's "empty slogans" and accused both sides of "dumbing down politics". There were images almost ridiculing Prime Minister Julia Gillard's repeated catch phrase of "moving forward" and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's mantra of "end the waste, pay back the debt". He described as a "sham" the reunion between Ms Gillard and the man she deposed, Kevin Rudd.

And the media is included in the criticism — at one point accused of sensationalism, at another described as political prisoners manipulated by the parties. When it first became known that Mr Latham was doing a report for 60 Minutes, executive producer Hamish Thomson gave assurances Mr Latham was approaching the exercise "in a very serious, professional manner". A statement at the time said: "It's not a square-up or an exercise in character assassination. Mark still has his gall bladder intact but he says it's not about bile." It was not illegal for Mr Latham to promote the casting of blank votes, Australian Electoral Commission spokesman Phil Diak said. "There's no explicit provision in the electoral act against someone telling someone else to cast an informal vote as an opinion or a view," he said.

However, it was an offence to publish information that could cause people to cast an informal vote, such as a misleading election ad. About 4% of Australians voted informally at federal elections, mostly due to errors in filling out ballot papers, Mr Diak said. Loading "There's evidence Australians don't want to waste their vote - they want to make their vote count," he said. Mr Diak urged Australians to record a formal vote on Saturday: "Read the instructions on the ballot paper and make sure you lodge a vote that counts".