The lesson of the Federation should be that the lesson is over. Australia must have a new idea of itself. We have to strike out in a new direction, in a new way, armed with our own self-regard, our own confidence and fully appreciating our own uniqueness. All other roads will lead us into the shadow of great powers.

You see, before I became prime minister, the Australian prime minister only attended ever two meetings in the world: the British Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the South Pacific Forum.

Nobody wants to have in their CV in the upper echelons of the American economic family that they nationalised major banks.

The great curse of modern political life is incrementalism.

The United States being in Asia is unambiguously a good thing for the region.

Politicians come in three varieties: straight men, fixers, and maddies.

You see, psychologically, Australia must understand it has to live in the region around it. Australia must find its security in Asia; it cannot find its security from Asia.