Election Diary: Know Your Nicknames

The election is creeping up on us faster than some kind of lizard or salamander. We all know the various candidates and their policies, but how well do we REALLY know the men and occasionally women who are demanding our votes with their promises of pork and threats of violence? You’ll never really feel close to your leaders unless you know their nicknames — the monikers that sum them up and define them with far greater precision and succinctness than election pamphlets and night vision footage. Here’s a list of our most prominent political identities and their official nicknames, for you to memorise before polling day.

Bob Katter = “BobKat”

Scott Morrison = “ScoMo”

Chris Bowen = “ChriBo”

Fiona Scott = “FiSco”

Bill Shorten = “Balrog Shmoopel”

Peter Dutton = “The Human Torch”

Julie Bishop = “Queen Queeg”

Malcolm Turnbull = “The Big Magenta”

Tanya Plibersek = “Tanya”

Richard Di Natale = “Saucy Jack”

Christopher Pyne = “Tennessee Slim”

Jason Clare = “Pigslits”

Nick Xenophon = “The Thunder from Kanunda”

Barnaby Joyce = “Jim’s Mowing”

Michaelia Cash = “Tango And”

Sarah Hanson-Young = “Sarah Handsome-Dung”

George Brandis = “The Emu of the Skies”

Pauline Hanson = “Gumdrops McQueen”

Adam Bandt = “The E Street Band”

Greg Hunt = “Michael”