Lights, camera, Senate

Nationals senator Perin Davey reunited with her former Two Hands cast mate Bryan Brown in Parliament House last week.

Nats senator Perin Davey behind Heath Ledger in Two Hands.

Nationals senator Perin Davey reunited with her former Two Hands cast mate Bryan Brown in Parliament House last week.

The Cocktail star was in the Canberra Bubble™ with Screen Producers Australia to lobby for a JobKeeper extension. And presumably to rubbish rumours he and wife Rachel Ward were responsible for the northern beaches COVID cluster.

But back to Davey, who turned 49 earlier this month and has quite the colourful resume. She was a truck-driving army reservist, African safari trail operator, cadet journalist for the Mudgee Guardian, adviser to Ron Boswell and corporate affairs manager for Murray Irrigation Limited. As well as a spot of theatrics.

“I think ‘acting’ may be a bit strong a word,” Davey told Strewth. “In Sydney in the late 90s, I was on the books for an agency to do extra work. I did work on several local shows like Home And Away, E Street and Water Rats. I spent eight hours one day listening to the Angels play the same song over and over for a Kate Winslet movie and I got to bump shoulders with Keanu Reeves in the Matrix.”

The Winslet film was Heavenly Creatures (1994), a New Zealand drama directed by Peter Jackson about the true tale of two teens who murdered one of their mothers.

Davey said her biggest role was alongside Heath Ledger in the 1999 flick Two Hands, where she can be spotted standing behind the late actor.

“I spent two nights freezing on the streets of Kings Cross because it was filmed in winter but the movie was set in summer,” Davey reflected. “I remember some of the crew took pity on me and they gave me a blanket to wrap around myself between takes. Heath felt it too and would comment on the cold with us extras as he walked past into the green room they had set up for the main cast.”

The NSW Nat is not the only politician to have tread the boards.

Liberals senator Sarah Henderson had a short stint playing herself (then an ABC journo) interviewing Mike Moore in Frontline.

Scott Morrison was also a child actor with an agent, starring in TV ads including one for Vicks VapoRub. The Prime Minister played the Artful Dodger in a 1982 church musical society’s production of Oliver! His father was Fagin.

The best bit about @helenmccabe's interview with @ScottMorrisonMP is that he was a child actor in a Vicks VapoRub ad pic.twitter.com/r92bI1XltR

— Phillip Coorey (@PhillipCoorey) August 5, 2015

Pete’s little prick

The cheeky Chaser interns have pulled a prank on The Great Australian Party’s Senate candidate Pete Evans.

“Thought we’d help Pete out by setting up a campaign site on his behalf,” the underlings to the Chaser boys tweeted, with a link to peteevansforsenate.com.

Instead of providing information about the anti-vaxxer — who has been banned from Facebook and Instagram; dropped by Pan Macmillian; removed from Woolworths, Coles, Dymocks and Kmart; and booted from Ten’s reality show I’m A Celebrity — it redirects punters to the federal Health Department’s immunisation page.

While we’re on JabKeeper … why did Defence Minister Marise Payne, the second member of cabinet to get the COVID-19 shot as part of the government’s PR confidence campaign, do so behind closed doors?

https://t.co/WWouUeNwfH

Thought we'd help Pete out by setting up a campaign site on his behalf.

— Chaser Interns (@ChaserInterns) February 26, 2021

Pier pressure

“Samoa’s cabinet, including Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele, have ended up in a life raft after an engine failed on a brand new Australian Aid-provided patrol boat — all survived,” NZ journo Michael Field tweeted last week.

The delegation was returning from the opening of a school building when the sinking feeling hit and they were forced to take the sea-nic route.

According to Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil, “it also seemed that some of the cabinet minister enjoyed that little ride”.

Cut to the chaise

Kevin Andrews and his wife, Margaret, have started packing up the outgoing Liberal MP’s parliamentary office. Earlier this month, Andrews lost a preselection vote in his blue ribbon seat of Menzies to barrister and former commando Keith Wolahan.

Kevin Andrews in Question Time.

Despite having no firm date for his last day in the building (it could be six months, it could be 15), the Victorian backbencher has decided there’s no reason to delay the inevitable. We imagine it might take a while to box up 30 years’ worth of memories, minutes and memorabilia.

As for the infamous Chesterfield couches? We have been furnished with some information about their location. After the fall of Howard Battlers, Kevin 07 banished the controversial $10,000 green leather suite from the prime ministerial offices to the basement. Instead of gathering dust, Andrews asked permission to haul them between his Canberra offices as a reminder of the glory days of old.

The much-loved chairs now take pride of place at the John Howard Prime Ministerial Library in Old Parliament House and Australian Defence Force Academy’s Howard Reading Room.

“Andrews was a great sport in allowing them to leave his parliamentary suite back in 2017, and they are quite the talking point throughout the exhibition,” Andrew Blyth, manager of the Howard Library, informed us.

John Howard and the Chesterfields.

Baby don’t herd me

What was the name given to a wild sheep found near Lancefield, about 60km north of Melbourne, that weighed in with more than 35kg of wool? Baarack.

Green machine

Anyone confused about Nicolle Flint’s early exit from politics need look no further than this statement from Extinction Rebellion SA spokeswoman Anna Slynn.

After their latest round of graffiti on the Liberal MP’s Glenelg East office earlier this month, Slynn told the The Advertiser: “Her feeling intimidated and harassed is something we’re willing to risk for the sake of the planet.”

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