If there was a university degree for greed, you cunts would all get first-class honours.

In the end, rational policy is always good.

In the end, the key ingredient for public life is imagination. You imagine something better, you try to bring the people with you.

I think the Australian people are very conscientious. During the 1980s and 1990s we proved they will respond conscientiously to necessary reforms. They mightn't like them but they'll accept them. But reforms have to be presented in a digestible format.

The Labor Party is a party of conviction. The Liberal Party is a party of convenience.

If one takes pride in one's craft, you won't let a good thing die. Risking it through not pushing hard enough is not a humility.

I've always held the view that great states need strategic space. I mean, George Washington took his space from George III. Britain took it from just about everybody. Russia took all of Eastern Europe. Germany's taken it from everywhere they can, and China will want its space too.