"It has been a whirlwind really, it all happened so quickly! I auditioned for Australian Idol for the 3rd time... to see where I was and if I had improved with my singing; and the next thing I knew in the final 12 and it went nuts from there - I walked straight off stage at the finals into a press conference and didn't have a days rest 'till New Years Day."

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I must say that when I first learned of the existence of the Australian Greenhouse Office, I assumed it was responsible for supplying tomatoes to the Parliament House kitchen. But, no, as I soon learnt as industry minister, it was in fact a government funded redoubt of veritable soldiers in a war against carbon dioxide. The zealotry and obsessive passion of these warriors in the battle against the apparent evils of carbon dioxide remains a curiosity to me. After fighting these people for three years as industry minister, I really did wish they would just go away and grow tomatoes.

— Nick Minchin