Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I can. For 100 years the leadership of the National Party has been the gift of the party room. We have had 14 party leaders in 100 years. In fact passing on the National Party leadership baton is an incredibly boring process. 'Black Jack', who ended up in a tie, had to wait 18 years for Fadden to retire to assume the leadership. Even in recent times deputy leaders have waited patiently for the current leader of the National Party to retire before they proceeded to leadership, because they aspire to ensure that the leader of the National Party, whoever that may be, is able to continue the strong commitment and delivery for rural and regional Australia.