Father Bob (Katter) the star of a crossbench Canberra Christmas

There is unhappiness, too, in the club that really likes its privacy, that tickets and merch are being advertised all over the internet.

“You can’t even buy a club tie, but you can buy a magic mushy T-shirt,” one member grumbled to CBD.

Another sniffed: “Couldn’t they have found a venue in Northcote or somewhere?”

BUILDING SUPPORT

Melbourne construction workers can’t seem to make up their mind about third-term Premier Daniel Andrews.

Their union, the John Setka-led CFMEU, made headlines during the election campaign with its posters around the town’s worksites decrying Andrews as a “prick” but a “prick” who would keep the sector ticking over with his ambitious and bank-breaking Big Build program.

And, of course, who can forget the memorable punch-up when union officials managed to hold their own against a crowd of construction workers that descended on the CFMEU HQ in Carlton after their sites were shut down by one of Andrews’ public health orders.

Premier Daniel Andrews at the Footscray hospital construction site.Credit:Simon Schluter

So members of the Spring Street media pack were bewildered on Tuesday morning when they lobbed up to Andrews’ press conference with Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas at the under-construction Footscray hospital to find some of the lads on the site had fashioned a large “Go Dan” sign and were happy to mug up their appreciation for the cameras, too.

Maybe it’s just a case of nothing succeeding like success.

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IN CONCERT

Independent senator David Pocock covered a bit of ground on the rugby field in his days as an ACT Brumby and Wallaby, putting some of his fuller-figured teammates to shame, if we’re honest.

But it looks like he might have upped his work rate since entering the parliament.

Take the weekend just gone, for example. Saturday night had him attending an event with a nursing organisation at Parliament House before bunkering down in the office of Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke to nut out the finer points of a deal between the pair to pass Labor’s workplace reforms.

On Sunday, he was back in parliament to sign off on the deal and do a press conference following his big moment.

But it wasn’t all work for Pocock, who managed, amid all that, to squeeze in a brief pit stop at the Spilt Milk musical festival in Canberra to catch a set from Yolngu rockers King Stingray on Saturday afternoon. We reckon some of the more laid-back denizens of Capital Hill will be appalled.

STOP THE VOTES

Victorian Liberals leadership aspirant John Pesutto has been doing the media rounds laying out his credentials for the job.

But the former shadow attorney-general hasn’t quite nailed down his comeback in the leafy seat of Hawthorn yet, with fewer than 500 votes separating him and teal independent challenger Melissa Lowe and a touch more than 70 per cent of ballots counted.

So it will have done Pesutto’s nerves no good when the Electoral Commission put the counting largely on hold on Tuesday to conduct a large data entry task before a recheck of the counting process so far.

John Pesutto on election night.Credit:Scott McNaughton

The commission told CBD rechecks were being done in close seats and that postal votes, absents and out-of-district early votes all had to be added to the total.

To add to the suspense, postal votes can be accepted until Friday. A good thing the Liberals are in no hurry to get their new frontman installed.

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