What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up.

I'm a politician. I'm not going to get into a whole range of scientific argument with scientists.

The media - and I'm not blaming them - obviously like to seize on the differences between people and, sure, there are some senior members of the government who are in a slightly different philosophical space to mine. But do not underestimate the substantial single-mindedness of this government.

I don't bring religion into the square.

For small business men and women, less paperwork means higher profits, boosted sales and more time with the family.

I'm not saying that people on welfare don't contribute in their own way, but as many as possible should be encouraged to be economically active as well as socially and culturally active.

We accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen.