On Barnaby Joyce and coalition dinners

We will probably never know what was on the menu, but we do know a few other things. This was hidden at the bottom of a Sydney Morning Herald report:

In another small flare-up, the National Party senator Barnaby Joyce has revealed he walked out on a speech by Mr Howard to an annual dinner of Coalition senators in Canberra on Tuesday night. Senator Joyce took offence when Mr Howard lauded the voluntary student unionism bill, which Senator Joyce opposed. "It should be called the 'demise of regional university sporting facilities Bill'," he said.

But he was most offended when Mr Howard attributed the Coalition winning four Queensland Senate spots at the last election to a letter he sent urging people to vote Liberal in the Senate and National in the lower house.

Senator Joyce has long been angry at the letter. He left the dinner in protest and went for a walk along the lake. "And they complain about me not supporting the leadership," he said.

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