The thing about social media is that it is anonymous, so it can be much more vitriolic and extreme than normal media and yet it is there for everyone to see. It is kind of like electronic graffiti. The political process is accelerated and intense in a way that I don't believe it ever really has been before.

The problem with politicians getting to know the issues in indigenous townships is that we tend to suffer from what Aboriginal people call the 'seagull syndrome' - we fly in, scratch around and fly out.

Look, good government doesn't look for excuses, good government gets on with the job.

We've got to maintain freedom of navigation of the seas and in the air.

Whether carbon dioxide is quite the environmental villain that some people make it out to be is not yet proven.

So, my friends, in a week or so the Governor-General will swear in a new government.

I think my wife and my kids are incredibly good to allow me to stay in public life given that they have to cop a whole lot of collateral attention that, being human, they'd rather not get.