That has been put down to logistical and timing issues.
But English voted against the gay marriage bill - and even though he has since said he would vote differently today, he is set to get a sceptical reception.
English said he was not nervous about that.
It was far from heated at the shearing - politicians generally take their election year victories where they can but even English said his win in the contest against Fagan was undoubtedly a jack-up.
"He wasn't going as fast as he might have, put it that way."
Fagan, who retired from professional shearing in 2015, rather nobly denied he had thrown the contest.
"Of course I wouldn't have done that - he won it fair and square.
"It was brilliant - how often can we get a Prime Minister along to shear a sheep?"
The sentiment was shared by an official on the Australian team, who observed he didn't expect to see Australia's PM Malcolm Turnbull shearing a sheep any time soon.
However, Fagan stopped short of recommending the PM return to farming: "He should stick to his day job."
It had been years since English last sheared a sheep and he had travelled down south a day early and stayed at his family farm but denied that was to get in a sneaky practice shear ahead of his bout with Fagan.
Negotiations leading into the contest had been intense - the Prime Minister's office's starting bid was for Fagan to shear 10 sheep to English's one. That went down to five but by crunch time it had turned from a race to a 'demonstration' on one sheep each.
His decision to take part carried its risks. The last thing English needed was a cut, bleeding sheep in his hands and there were some sensitivities whether animal welfare issues raised about rodeos would seep into events such as the World Shearing Championships as well.
