Cormac Farrell has been the head beekeeper of Parliament House for close to five years. It's a voluntary position and he oversees the bees in four honeybee hives and two native stingless beehives.<br /><br />He says that hives, like ministries perhaps, can be a little placid or a bit angry depending on a few different things, but he's sure the bees get to know the handlers, and vice versa.<br /><br />"I was really nervous the first time I opened a hive and saw all the happenings inside," he says. "It was just a maelstrom of bees going everywhere, luckily not angry ones, a friend had set me up with quite a nice colony, with a nice easy going queen and they were very forgiving of my clumsy beginner fingers."
