I would have thought the idea of flights to/from Canberra is to get people to/from meetings. No, not just politicians. The politicians are tiny fraction of the flying market. The flights carry Canberra government people from the Government Departments, and the flights into Canberra carry Business people going to visit those Government Departments.
Flights into or out of Canberra in mid morning will not carry many business people. I would guess that a lot of people from Tasmania going to Canberra will still catch the first flight of the day, through Melbourne, so that they can get into a meeting by 10 am. They will want to leave Canberra about 5pm. Day return Business Travel is about trying to avoid hotel costs, and mid morning flights will not achieve that. The mid morning flights may be good for Canberra people who want a holiday in Tasmania, but will the market fill a daily flight?
Canberra to Townsville might get some traffic if Virgin Blue has done a good job of winning some Government Travel Contracts. Canberra people need somewhere warm to go during winter, but daily?