Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

It is unsurprising that I could have been Deputy Prime Minister, Senator Joyce. Senator Joyce is very quiet while we are talking about all of the things that this government has delivered to regional Australia.

The record of this government stands in stark contrast to the performance of the opposition because after a decade of neglect of the regions which the National Party participated in—and it took a Labor government to turn that around—we see now what Mr Abbott's real plan is, a plan that he has been keeping secret, a plan that has all the rigour of something dreamt up by Senator Joyce, the man who apparently could have been Deputy Prime Minister according to him. But more worrying than the fact that this really does look like Barnaby might have dreamt—