Taps and beer attract pollies to the hustings like nothing else

Tony Abbott gets busy behind the taps at Adaminaby's Snow Goose hotel during the Pollie Pedal tour. Pictures of Mr Abbott by Alex Ellinghausen.

Tap beer is not the drawcard it was once for Australians drinkers, but it is still like honey to a bee for politicians.

Hanging around or near beer taps and meeting a character from a country town in a pub is still high on the agenda for politicians trying to get on the level with voters, showing they are in touch with the common man. It’s still a tradition and shows no sign of waning - swilling a schooner, a middie, a pot or a darwin stubbie (?), with your unsuspecting pub patron, followed by a gaggle of media to capture the moment for all time. Even though drinking habits have changed dramatically - Australians have turned to wine and boutique beers out of a bottle, pollies love tapping on.

So it was no surprise to see politicians, in fact two ex-Prime Ministers, on the beer hustings recently. Bob Hawke, famous for his beer swilling records before he became PM, even launched his own beer line this month, the Hawke’s Brewing Co. You can now sink a Hawkie ! But there is a rural edge to it. Mr Hawke says he will kindly donate his share from the venture to Landcare Australia. He could not be goaded back to his old ways of sculling, when he launched the beer at the Clock Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney recently. He had a quick slurp and that was it. He walked off, cane in hand, unlike the days when he’d linger in a pub shout.

Bob Hawke launches his new beer range. He's donating profits to Landcare Australia.

Meanwhile, another former PM, Tony Abbott, was making sure his pub credentials with the voters was high. During the yearly ‘Pollie Pedal’ the committed athlete Mr Abbott made time to call into Adaminaby’s Snow Goose Hotel during the exhausting Snowy tour. That was on Wednesday, and it was actually arranged the earlier Sunday when Mr Abbott was passing through Adaminaby on his way to the start of cycle tour. He walked into the Adaminaby bakery and the new owner of the Snow Goose, Andrew Smith, saw him. Smith is an old fan and wasted no time in introducing himself. Abbott promised he’d bring the whole cycle tour and entourage back in a few days. Right on cue, Mr Abbott arrived, accompanied by the assistant minister for health David Gillespie, the member for Hume, Angus Taylor, and a fair swathe of media.

Mr Abbott sinks a beer, he prefers a shandy.

Mr Smith couldn’t believe it. He’d just bought a pub in a lonely Snowy valley and within a month the Federal Government had announced a huge $2 billion reinvigoration of the Snowy scheme just next door, and now his political hero had walked in the door.

Mr Abbott quickly got busy behind the taps, pouring some schooners of Great Northern beer. He then poured two jugs of VB - perfectly according to Mr Smith. He then downed a quick middie, although Mr Smith said Abbott prefers a shandy. Mr Abbott is a pursed lips-style drinker and drinks evenly, his eyes firmly focussed on the drink at hand. He’s had a few years of experience when he was a journalist.

“He poured it very well, I was very impressed,” Mr Smith said. “He stayed behind the taps for a good 20 minutes.” “He liked the place because we had a sign up at the back saying “bring back common sense’. He was really good, really interested in what we were doing and how we were going.”

Tony Abbott with Snow Goose hotelier Andrew Smith at the taps at Adaminaby's pub.

The pedalling pollies headed off to Cooma, but Mr Smith didn’t have to wait long to see his next MP, Deputy premier John Barilaro, the local member, who called in the next week, apparently seeing how the town was going with the news that the new Snowy scheme was likely to go ahead.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Bill Shorten was filmed in a pub having a drink in Melbourne, although the comment for him was how slow he drank a beer. Nevertheless, he was in a pub ! He was filmed last year having a beer with the Beaconsfield mine survivors.