‘Did that just happen?’: Tony Abbott takes on Elvis in a Portarlington pub

Locals enjoying a beer and doing post-mortems on the footy results as last drinks were called at the Portarlington pub on Saturday got more than they bargained for when former PM Tony Abbott walked into the back room of the venue and joined the band to belt out Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds.

Abbott, who is proving to be like a moth to a flame when it comes to karaoke – can someone please stop him! – materialised in the back room with a group that included his former chief-of-staff, Peta Credlin.

Credlin has family in the Portarlington area on the Bellarine Peninsula, a bit over 1½ hours’ drive from Melbourne, and CBD hears she had organised a group of about eight to 10 friends to come down for the weekend and have dinner at the pub.

Abbott, who had been in Geelong that day on Liberal business, joined the group after his commitments had finished. Portarlington is about a 30-minute drive from Geelong.

When leaving the pub, Abbott, the Liberals’ federal president, twigged there was a cover band playing out the back, and suddenly was on stage and setting about his interpretation of Suspicious Minds.

Known to love a tambourine, Credlin then joined the band for a version of The Angels’ classic, Am I Ever Going To See Your Face Again …, without the famous but profane ad-lib in the chorus.

Abbott, with fists in the air, heartily joined in from the back of the room with Credlin’s mates and the small crowd of stunned locals and out-of-towners who had spent the evening watching the footy over a few beers.

One of those present to see the Abbott/Credlin karaoke show was still astonished when CBD called on Monday.

“It was about 9.40pm, there were about 12 people left in the back room and last drinks had just been called,” our CBD operative said.

“They [the Credlin/Abbott crew] rolled in en masse, they were only there for about 20 minutes and they left en masse.

“We were all sitting there saying, ‘did that just happen?’ We are still saying that today. Even the band were like, ‘f—ing hell, that was Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin’.”

Abbott has form for public outbursts of song. CBD reported he cranked out a Tom Jones cover at a Liberal fundraiser in Sydney last month. We hear he also found a karaoke opportunity while on the road for the recent Pollie Pedal in Queensland.

CBD put in a call to Abbott to see if he had any more karaoke performances planned, but did not hear back. Credlin, however, told CBD that yes, Abbott had had an Elvis moment on the peninsula.

“Yes, he was entertaining the pub, but it was not as bad as usual,” she confirmed.

Plenty of pollies but no PM heading to NFL match

While plenty of well-known types will be among the 100,000 fans at the MCG on Friday getting their heads around American footy, our sporty PM won’t be in the stands.

Anthony Albanese, who usually loves to be where the action is, will be absent from the history-making match between the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers – the first regular season NFL game in Australia.

But it is not the only big game Albo will miss in Melbourne.

Owing to his plans to attend the United Nations in New York in the last week of September, he will not be at the AFL grand final on September 26.

That, however, may not be a bad thing.

Missing the AFL’s big dance conveniently means the PM will avoid crossing paths with Kylie Minogue at the MCG where the pop princess will perform the AFL’s pre-match show.

Albanese, of course, put his foot in his mouth when he regrettably picked Minogue to “shag” in a game of Shag, Marry, Date on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast back in July.

It’s a faux pas that has proved hard to shake, and an encounter with the Padam Padam star is something the PM is presumably not rushing towards.

Back to the NFL, Friday’s game comes with all the sport-tainment trappings expected from America including a half-time show from The Jonas Brothers.

And while Albanese and federal Liberal leader Angus Taylor won’t be there, Anika Wells is “at this stage” expected to attend in her guise as federal sports minister.

A solid turnout from the Victorian government is expected. CBD has been told Premier Ben Carroll, Treasurer Colin Brooks, Tourism Minister Natalie Suleyman, Sports Minister Steve Dimopoulos and Major Events Minister Anthony Carbines are intending to go.

“The game is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Melbourne and Victoria on the global stage, while also providing opportunities to engage with business and industry representatives as part of one of the world’s biggest sporting events,” a government spinner said.

State opposition leader Jess Wilson is also attending. And Governor of Victoria Margaret Gardner’s office confirmed she was also going to be front and centre for the touchdowns and scrimmages.