Federal politicians are returning to their electorates for the Christmas break, but not before revealing some unexpected quirks to political correspondent Louise Yaxley.

The cabaret singer

MP Russell Broadbent (front right in jumpsuit) with his band The Trutones in the 1970s. ( Supplied )

MP Russell Broadbent spent 20 years performing with his show band the Trutones before making the transition from the stage to the Parliament in 1990.

The Trutones were the warm-up act for John Farnham, back in the days when he was known as Johnny.

The band also appeared at campaign events for both Billy McMahon and Gough Whitlam in 1972.

While it's been more than two decades since he first entered parliament, Mr Broadbent said some people still thought of him first as the Trutones singer they had seen on stage at the Palais in St Kilda, rather than as a federal MP.

The race caller

Kevin Andrews had a previous role as a race caller ( Alan Porritt: AAP )

The successful sporting backgrounds of Palmer United Senator Glenn Lazarus, Labor Senator Nova Peris and Liberal MP John Alexander are well known.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews' sporting connection is a little more obscure.

His childhood ambition was to call horseracing.

"I grew up in a racing family; my father was secretary of a country race club for probably the best part of 25 years," he said.

"We went to the races every Saturday when I was a kid. And from a very early age I used to go up the back of the grandstand and start practicing calling the races and eventually took it up for a while.

Sorry, this audio has expired Listen to Government minister Kevin Andrews call horse at the races

"If I didn't go to the races on Saturday I would sit down and listen to the radio stations.

"I'd study the techniques of, in those days, Bill Collins, Bert Bryant, Joe Brown and the likes, and I was very serious about it.

"I wanted to do it professionally and my father talked me into going to university and eventually I pursued a different career."

Mr Andrews says he's not sure if his race calling skills come in handy at parliament.

"Some of my colleagues still say I talk a little too fast, so there's a background there," he laughs.

Mr Andrews did some part-time race-calling to help fund his way through university.

The dog lover

Why run for politics in the first place? In Nationals MP Andrew Broad's case - blame the kelpie.

Mr Broad attributed his political career to Duke the Kelpie in his first speech to Parliament.

Andrew Broad MP, pictured at home with his dog Duke. ( Supplied )

"I am here today because even my kelpie sheepdog, Duke, was getting sick of me complaining about the direction of our country," he told Parliament a year ago.

Duke died not long after Mr Broad entered parliament - but the MP hasn't forgotten the vital role of the canine, with a speech for National Dog Day in August.

"We should be very proud of our dogs. Our dogs keep our borders secure; they investigate drug traffickers and terrorist threats; and they help our farmers shift their livestock," Mr Broad said.

"Great Australian working dogs are famous for their intellect when working with cattle and sheep.

"If we had a Productivity Commission report into the value of dogs when it comes to biosecurity, defence, assistance in agriculture and supporting our senior Australians, we would find the value of dogs to be in the billions of dollars.

"Australians love their pets; they look after them. We should recognise and celebrate National Dog Day this week and be proud of the contribution that animals make to our lives."

The actress

House of Representatives Speaker Bronwyn Bishop had a brief acting career playing a barrister in the 1960s TV show Divorce Court; she then went on to an actual legal career as a solicitor.

Mrs Bishop's show business career began early when she sang Alice Blue Gown on radio at the age of eight.

She's not totally abandoned show business, with appearances in charity productions in The Sound of Music and Grease.

The waterbed salesperson

Remember when water beds were a thing?

Tasmanian Labor Senator Carol Brown does.

"I was thrown in the deep end at my first job at furniture store, Peter Hubbard's Furniture Cupboard," she says.

Senator Brown sold fine furniture and water beds at the Hobart store in the very early 1980s.

"They were very popular.

"I had to quickly learn the difference between wave, motion reduced mattresses and hybrid beds.

"I took to it like a duck to water."

The political dynasties

Politics is in the blood for many, like Laurie Ferguson, whose father Jack was New South Wales Deputy Premier under Neville Wran, and whose brother Martin was a federal minister.

Others, like Liberal Philip Ruddock, have followed their fathers into parliamentary careers.

But some have family links on the other side of the chamber.

ALP frontbencher Mark Butler's great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were premiers of South Australia, but from the other side of politics.

Mr Butler says it was his grandmother who decided it was time for a political change of direction.

"My late grandmother knew my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather, who were both Tory premiers of South Australia," he said.

"I think she had resolved that it was time for a change in our family's political leanings."

While his ancestor was not in the same party, Mr Butler's political life has been spent defending part of his great-grandfather's legacy.

Sir Richard Butler returned from overseas in 1935 to learn that Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd was threatening to move its factory, employing 4,000 men, to Melbourne.

Sir Richard responded by giving the company the aid and concessions it was asking for to stop it making the move to Victoria.

Liberal Melissa Prices is the fourth generation of her family from the West Australian goldfields - but she's made a more recent break from their political tradition.

"My grandad, David Dellar, entered the Western Australian state parliament as a Labor politician in 1963," she said.

Her uncle, Stan Dellar, was also a state Labor parliamentarian.

"My father also had aspirations of a political life but the opportunity did not present itself.

"He did work hard for the Labor Party and worked on many different campaigns.

"As a child growing up I saw my parents' involvement in the Labor Party as really just a part of their social life - not as political activism - not unlike many people living in mining towns in that era.

"Mum and I both agree that if Grandad Dellar were alive today, he would probably be a Liberal.

"He was a hard worker, took good care of his own and was quite the entrepreneur with his various mining interests."

The survival story

Senator Lisa Singh's father, Uppi Singh, pictured here aged 10 hugging his father on the raft they used to survive a shipwreck. The photo was taken on land for memory. ( Supplied )

Lisa Singh would not be a Tasmanian senator if not for a remarkable shipwreck story in Fiji.

As a 10-year-old, her father set out with his family on their boat Tui Bua to go from Viti Levu to Vanua Levu.

He was on his way to the capital to start at a new school with his brother but a storm left them shipwrecked and adrift.

"They relied on a raft made from two single beds and a drum, without food or water and sharks swimming nearby until they were rescued after three days by a local fisherman. Their survival was indeed a miracle," she recalls.

Her father later travelled to Australia as an international student in 1963.

The shoemaker

Labor backbencher Rob Mitchell left school in Year 10, when he found a job at the Koala Shoes factory.

"Mum said I could leave school as long as I got an apprenticeship," Mr Mitchell said.

"We used to make 5,000 pairs of shoes a day - kids shoes, desert boots, ugg boots when they were all the rage.

"The toughest task was the finicky business of making sandals.

"The little girls' strap shoes which we used to make, they had to be done by hand and that was the hardest work going.

"You used to burn your thumbs because the shoes would have to be heated to 55 or 60 degrees for the glue to work.

"So you looked forward to summer when you did your winter shoes, so that way you didn't have to do the girls' strap sandals any more."

The job that he took to get out of school became a huge influence.

"The pay was rubbish, the conditions were rubbish but because we had a lot of new migrants there, it really opened your eyes to people."

Mr Mitchell said he was constantly buoyed by the positive approach taken by his ethnically and culturally diverse colleagues, who had often been suffering from extreme poverty and oppression when they left their home countries.

"They shared one common aspiration: to better their lives and the lives of their families," Mr Mitchell said.

"This period had an indelible effect on my sense of justice in the workplace, in particular my personal disdain for discriminatory practices.

"To me, no form of discrimination is as abhorrent as that which preys on personal weaknesses, such as an inability to speak fluent English or an individual's lack of understanding and comprehension of their workplace rights."

Mr Mitchell went on to drive tow trucks, then moved into sales before a stint in the Victorian Upper House.

He was elected to the Federal Parliament in 2010.

The powerlifting champion

Power has quite a specific meaning for most politicians, but Labor's Tony Zappia had his own take on it for many years.

He combined politics with a long-term passion for powerlifting. He competed for 18 years.

"I competed in 10 Australian championships and won every one of them," he said.

Labor's Tony Zappia competed in powerlifting for 18 years winning 10 Australian championships. ( Supplied )

Mr Zappia also lifted in three world titles. He came third in 1978 when he travelled to Finland, and fourth when he competed in the United States in 1979.

"I started off by going to a gym because I wanted to play Australian Rules football and I was too light and I needed to bulk up a little bit and get stronger if I was going to play football," he said.

"I went to the gym and just got hooked on weight training and within a few months I found myself competing in a powerlifting contest in South Australia.

"I did very well in that competition, in fact, from memory I equalled the state bench press record and that in turn got me even more attracted to the sport and ... I competed in both the state, the nationals and the world championships all in one year.

"And that was the end of my football career - I never went back to the football."

Mr Zappia dominated the 60-kilogram class in Australia.

Power News Magazine's 1994 spring edition hailed him as one of Australia's all-time greats and noted he had recently completed a 225 kg deadlift on his third attempt to win the national title.

His time in the gym led to another unusual addition to Mr Zappia's career – after training alongside professional wrestlers he took up refereeing.

"That was an interesting sideline to everything else I was doing – [I] quite enjoyed that, good fun," he said.

His refereeing career included adjudicating a bout with the former national favourite Mario Milano who by then was in his 60s.

"I have to say, I was incredibly impressed with the shape he was in given his age," Mr Zappia said.