Leyonhjelm ended up with nearly 140,000 first-preference votes at the last federal election, and picked up another 40,000 from other candidates as they were knocked-out. On those numbers, he’d even outpoll the Christian Democrats’ Fred Nile (who was definitely not looking at pornography on his Macquarie Street computer in 2010, it was just his staff doing research, honest) given he managed 121,000 votes. The only hitch could be the vetting of candidates to replace Leyonhjelm on the Liberal Democrat Senate ticket, with one of the leading contenders apparently being forced to query whether they would fall foul of section 44 of the Constitution. IPA staffer's very private affair Senator James Paterson was at the no-phone-allowed event. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It must have been quite a bucks' party on Saturday, because nobody can quite tell us exactly what happened that Melbourne afternoon, first at the Builders Arms in Fitzroy and later in the Flinders Street apartment of Institute of Public Affairs staffer Gideon Rozner. What we can confirm was Liberal Senator James Paterson was at the no-phone-allowed event, as were a number of other long-time IPA personalities. We hear there was quite a cultural dance experience, as the Transport Workers Union would call it back in the day. (We could never quite confirm whether the truckies union ever featured centrefolds in their membership mailout.) The celebrations must surely be continuing in Paterson’s office. He was one of the first to back a move of the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, one of a laundry-list of items mentioned in his maiden speech in 2016.

Now that option is on everyone’s mind after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Wentworth-inspired intervention. Clarke's Global Tech taps out Former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke has endorsed the Brisbane bitcoin start-up Global Tech. Credit:Philip Brown What’s happened to the Michael Clarke-backed “crypto community for the people, by the people” Global Tech? Only two months ago the former Australian cricket captain endorsed the Brisbane bitcoin start-up which was attempting to raise $50 million by the end of this month.

But now (despite releasing more whitepapers than the Defence Department), just on deadline time, the phone lines are disconnected and the website dead. Such a shame considering they had all the keywords: “live prices in a virtual setting”, a “referral program” and a “responsive support team”. It all sounds a bit like the William Hill Virtual Greyhound championships. Sadly, in response to CBD's inquiries, Global Tech said it had "returned all funds invested" due to "ongoing negativity surrounding the (bitcoin) space that we do not wish to be associated with".

Global Tech's demise didn't prevent the regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, to ping the outfit for some weird wording on their first whitepaper. We're told that was fixed quick, but that effort we now know was for nought. Farmers flock to Canberra Catherine Marriott will host the National Farmers Federation annual conference. It’s the rural gala event of the year.

The National Farmers Federation annual conference will draw punters to Canberra for the next two days, among them the Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. Also there Consolidated Pastoral chief executive Troy Setter, marking the time as the never-ending sales process for the former Packer agricultural company continues. And hosting the event? Catherine Marriott, the prominent rural advocate (who is highly regarded by many, including NFF president Fiona Simson). It could make for a rather uncomfortable affair if former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who is now a special envoy for droughts, turns up. Even the roundtable on Australia’s Response to Drought is lacking his name.