Let us be honest with each other. The threat to marriage is not the gays. It is a lack of loving commitment - whether it is found in the form of neglect, indifference, cruelty or adultery, to name just a few manifestations of the loveless desert in which too many marriages come to grief.

We will certainly have to rethink the way in which we design and protect places where large numbers of Australians and indeed this will happen around the world.

Governments enjoying surpluses have a very strong temptation to splash money around, and while tax cuts are always appealing, cutting taxes at the top of a boom runs the real risk of creating a structural deficit when the boom subsides.

The only reason to be in politics is public service. There's no other reason. Frankly, if that's the best job you can get in terms of money, that's too bad, you know. Because frankly, it's not well paid, everyone knows that. So for most people it's a big sacrifice.

We learn from every natural disaster. Whether it's a fire or a flood, we learn something from it so we can respond to the next one better.

I've always been prepared to put my money where my mouth is.

The biggest review of taxation ever undertaken in this country, is now dead in the water.