Some quotes from the great former Prime Minister of Australia:
I'm not a banner. I am an encourager and a persuader and an advocate.
I'd like to be seen as an average Australian bloke. I can't think of... I can't think of a nobler description of anybody than to be called an average Australian bloke.
Australia does not need new leadership, it does not need old leadership. It needs the right leadership.
I will be fighting every minute of every day of the campaign because I am determined to win and I think it's important that we have a strong experienced Government that knows it's own mind in these more difficult times.
Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.
It's too much to expect in an academic setting that we should all agree, but it is not too much to expect discipline and unvarying civility.
You can't fatten the pig on market day.
The idea that a person could be punished because of their religious belief and the idea they might be executed is just beyond belief.
Nobody should underestimate how much the world changed on the 11th of September 2001.
I express my horror and disgust at this cowardly attack on innocent people (London 7/7). These sorts of attacks will not alter the determination of free countries to do the right thing.
Terrorists oppose nations such as the United States and Australia not because of what we have done but because of who we are and because of the values that we hold in common.
We won't just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans.
I do believe that if [immigration] is - in the eyes of some in the community - that it's too great, it would be in our immediate-term interest and supporting of social cohesion if it were slowed down a little, so the capacity of the community to absorb it was greater.
We will decide who comes to this country, and the circumstances under which they come.
I thank all of those who weren't born in this country for coming here and making a contribution to Australia. We are the least discriminatory country in the world, in my view.
Australians of this generation should not be required to accept guilt and blame for past actions and policies over which they had no control. However, we must acknowledge past wrongs, understand that they still cause a great deal of personal distress and resolve to improve areas of indigenous disadvantage both now and into the future.
To me, multiculturalism suggests that we can't make up our minds who we are or what we believe in.
I don't think it is wrong, racist, immoral or anything, for a country to say 'we will decide what the cultural identity and the cultural destiny of this country will be and nobody else''.
Australia is incredibly lucky to have a European heritage, deep connections with North America, but to be geographically cast in the Asian/Pacific region and if we think of ourselves as that strategic intersection, then I think we have a remarkable opportunity to carve a special niche for ourselves in the history of the next century.Governments on our side of Parliament in the past have been too timid about change. They've thought people on our side of politics must always be cautious about change. I think that is wrong. I think you've got to be selective about change, be willing to hang on very hard to certain things but be willing to radically change other institutions.
Previous quotes post - Benjamin Disraeli.
