Over his long career in public life, it became abundantly clear that Christopher Pyne loves a good prop – and his final two portfolios, as defence industry then defence minister, provided plenty.

And so it isn’t surprising to hear that four years after he posed with Droneshield’s satisfyingly large drone gun at an Abu Dhabi defence expo – the image so delighted DroneShield they put it on the front of a subsequent production report – his lobbying firm Pyne & Partners has signed on as an advisor.