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

With respect to the senator, he really is going through the motions. It is the same question I have been asked time and time again. I have responded and the government has responded. The reality is that the intensity of the scare campaign of Senator Williams, Senator Joyce, Mr Abbott and so many of those opposite is, frankly, fading with the reality that the carbon price impact is pretty much around where Treasury and the government said it would be. That is the reality. If the senator is concerned about regional Australia, I would hope that he would recognise that this government is in fact investing more in regional Australia than any other previous Australian government, with $1.8 billion over six years for the health and hospitals fund, two regional priority rounds—$500 million in the regional priority round for the Education Investment Fund—and so many others. (Time expired)