We will not adopt the fantastic hypocrisy of modern conservatism which preaches the values of families and communities, while conducting a direct assault on them through reduced wages and conditions and job security.

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

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.

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

I think leadership's always been about two main things: imagination and courage.

The great curse of modern political life is incrementalism.