The early election campaign has caught no one by surprise, with July 2 pencilled into our diaries since the Herald Sun‘s Ellen Whinnett broke the story in February. But just because it’s been expected doesn’t mean that the election campaign isn’t messing with well-laid plans.

The Parliamentary Friends of Shooting group has cancelled its event scheduled for June 24. The parliamentary friendship group, supported by the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia and the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia, had invited MPs and media to the shooting event, to be held at the Jim McKinley Range at the SSAA’s ACT Majura Shooting Complex. The Parliamentary Friends of Shooting group was launched last year and is chaired by Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and Labor agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon, but now we won’t get to see their skills until after the election. The annual Midwinter Ball, hosted by the parliamentary press gallery to raise money for charity, has also been postponed, to be held when all this democracy kerfuffle is over.