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.

There is a tendency to try to dumb everything down and turn everything into a one-paragraph press release or even less, just a slogan.

I have always been generous because I know that I have done well in life and I believe it is part of my duty to give back. So I am always been philanthropic.

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.

I am an ambitious person, but I am not ambitious in the sense that I want jobs only for the sake of them... I am here to do things I think are worthwhile. I am always careful that the political positions I take are consistent with good policy. I would not want to be prime minister of Australia at any price.

Gone are the days when your indiscretions at university were recorded in a roneoed college newsletter of which there is only one copy left tucked in a filing cabinet at the back of a library. Today that same college newsletter is online, accessible by the whole world now and forever.

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.