How would Santa land at Parliament House to deliver gifts for its inhabitants?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
![Parliament House plumbers, Luciano Settin and Blake Ford decorate their cart with Christmas decorations. Picture: Elesa Kurtz Parliament House plumbers, Luciano Settin and Blake Ford decorate their cart with Christmas decorations. Picture: Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc78gtm23lhdj1nbq908cj.jpg/r0_205_4194_2563_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
While the glass ceiling and the grassy hill that make up the roof give plenty of landing space, there are a few barriers to entry - and we don't mean just getting past the Australian Federal Police officers and the security guards.
Firstly there's the massive security fence, which wasn't designed to keep the man in the big red suit out, but would be a problem for Mr Claus of the North Pole.
Then there's a lack of a chimney, which may have not seemed important to the original architects, but seems to have a vital role in gift delivery.
But if Santa wanted an appropriately decorated vehicle to enter the halls of power on Christmas Eve, two of the building's plumbers have him sorted out.
Blake Ford and Luciano Settin are some of the many staff who keep Parliament House running, and while they'll never front up at a press conference, they have been turning heads this December with a fully kitted-out Christmas cart - complete with Santa.
While the prize on offer in the competition for the best decorated cart or cubicle was a slab of beer, Mr Ford and Mr Settin really just wanted to set the standard - and beat last year's effort (which involved Santa sitting on a toilet seat).
"We set the standard and everyone had to match it," Mr Ford said.
He explained how the cart was decorated on December 2 - suitably intimidating the competition.
Mr Ford said the actual decoration hadn't taken much time, but coming up with the concept had needed a while.
The cart includes a chimney with a crackling cellophane fire, a blow up Santa, two Christmas trees, fairy lights and a boom box pumping out Christmas tunes.
The highlight is the giant candy canes made of piping - plumbers putting their tools to good work.
"It's good you can see people smile," Mr Settin said.
While the plumbers finished at work for the year on Friday, we're sure Santa could call them for use of the vehicle (and their security passes) if he needed to deliver any presents to anyone left working at Capital Hill on Christmas Eve.