I try to use the Australian idiom to its maximum advantage.

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.

No choice we can make as a nation lies between our history and our geography. We can hardly change either of them. They are immutable. The only choice we can make as a nation is the choice about our future.

I think Australia has to be a country which has the 'Welcome' sign out.

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.

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

I try to use the Australian idiom to its maximum advantage.