Errrrm, Senator Heffernan is the Chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. (Senator Sterle is the Deputy Chair. Those positions are reversed in the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee.)
I agree that Senator Heffernan does get a bit flamboyant and tiring.
However, the climate of this inquiry is substantially different from other inquiries in which he is involved. In this one he is far from being alone in his disbelief of, and occasional open contempt for, some of the witnesses to the inquiry. During this inquiry there have been occasions on which the entirety of the Committee has openly scoffed in disbelief at the evidence being given.