Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The minister has had 16 seconds to respond. The minister is responding, as the Minister representing the Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Leader of the National Party, to a series of questions that are clearly related to National Party decisions and National Party deliberations and discussions. The minister was clearly on a trajectory of talking about those National Party decisions, those National Party discussions, and, in doing so, obviously addressing the broader issues that are raised. It is certainly very premature, and probably erroneous, for the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate to suggest that the minister is at any point yet not being relevant.