I think all senior politicians tend to be rather more subtle then the commentators would have it. It is a natural tendency for human beings to try to classify. We all have this classification urge - so and so is such and such, that person is in that camp - but look, most sophisticated people defy stereotype.
Tony AbbottA presumption of any fact is, properly, an inferring of that fact from other facts that are known; it is an act of reasoning; and much of human knowledge on all subjects is derived from this source.
Tony AbbottThe one thing that has changed dramatically when you talk to the people of New Zealand and people from Ireland? They feel a darned-sight better about themselves because they made the decision to do what they've done, and I can say to you, we would feel a bloody darned sight better about ourselves once we get an opportunity to put this [vote on same-sex marriage] out there.
Tony AbbottI think that people should come to Australia through the front door, not through the back door. If people want a migration outcome, they should go through the migration channels.
Tony AbbottI am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change.
Tony Abbott