New Nationals leader Matt Canavan (below left) is being lauded overnight for his decision to divest himself of his backyard coal mine in central Queensland while he holds that position he has long coveted. 

The Senator is being praised by politics academics for his “strong ethical stance” and “his clear desire to avoid any suggestion of a conflict of interest” after handing over his half share of the mine to identical twin brother Jed Boy (at right, below).

The twins had quite different career paths after since leaving Chisholm Catholic special high school in Slacks Creek together in the 1980s – Jed, who for some reason also calls himself Matt, touring Australia as a circus exhibit, and Matt working as chief of staff and drinks waiter for his hero Barnaby Joyce before mainstream politics called.

Fortuitously the Canavan boys found themselves together again in the Beef Capital of the world, Rockhampton, over the past decade where they have proudly worked their Sir Johannas Bjelke-Petersen Memorial Mine in Matt’s north-Rocky backyard over recent years.

Such is their love of their small yet unprofitable underground mine that the Canavan twins can often be seen walking along the banks of the Fitzroy River in early morning with their faces still caked with coal dust streaks after an exhausting night shift “down pit”.

In younger brother Matt’s case, the long-term Sunshine State senator has also proudly gone black-faced in federal parliament to promote all things coal, and always wearing his Blessed Edmund Rice cameo on his coat front to remind himself of his Catholic roots and the need to always devote himself to the needy and the repressed, particularly Australian coal mining.

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