There was a time when ministers spent most of their days telling rock stars to clean up their act. The bands railed against squares and the squares railed against the moral corruption of the bands. And, for a while, that was that.

These days, however, the dividing lines between pop and politics are less well drawn. Bob Dylan had it right: the times, they are a-changin’. Politicians are cut from a perhaps more narcissistic cloth that makes them perfectly suited to being the kind of preening popinjay that might become a half-decent rock front man.

Step forward Australia’s home affairs minister, Tony Burke. The rumours of his talents first began to circulate at a pub in Canberra a few years ago, where he was seen standing at the back of his band, called Left Right Out, rhythm guitar in hand.

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