Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, the manless face! Paul Howes is the only man I know who has written more books than he has read. Of course, the people opposite therefore decided to change their leadership.

We must go to their managerial critique. The ceiling insulation program was a roaring success! All they had to do was get fluffy stuff into the ceilings for the rats and mice to urinate on, and they could not even do that without setting fire to 190 houses and resulting, tragically, in the deaths of four people, which is serious.

There were the $900 cheques. Of course, this was how they were going to reboot the global economy with the purchase of flat screens. That was another absolute stroke of genius. Then they claimed responsibility for saving us from the financial crisis. I thought it was demand from China—I really did. I thought it was the sale of iron ore at record prices, the sale of coal at record prices, the fact that during that period our dollar had depreciated by 30 per cent, the fact that real interest rates during that period had gone down, the fact that the 31 March shipping figures showed we had record export of wheat. But, no, it was not that; it was the $900 cheques, used in poker machines, put in bank accounts, used to buy electronic goods, used to go on holidays to New Zealand. Of course, we rebooted the global economy from South Korea. That is how it was supposed to have worked. That is how the $900 cheques worked.

Then we had the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme—the greatest moral challenge of our time. They were going to cool the planet from a room in Canberra. Of course they could do it! Penny Wong was behind it. She was so driven by this that, when the greatest moral challenge—