Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've never believed in lower wages. Never. Never believed in lower wages, I've never believed in lower wages as an economic instrument.
Middle-income countries need to attend to the education of their poorest people to build their economies and ensure long-term stability.
I'm direct, I'm unpretentious and I'm pretty dogged, and I hope I've got a capacity to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously.
All my life I've believed that men and women have equal capacities and talents...consequently there should be equality in life's chances.
I think it is just stupid economics for a government to approach economic management from a strand of thinking regarding unions as enemies.
There's not a sense that the person who is waiting on the table is somehow a lesser person that the person who is eating in the restaurant.
Our nation is well equipped to make the transition. We have an abundance of natural resources like wind, natural gas, solar and geothermal.
Compassion is not a dirty word.. it's time we rehabilitated compassion into the national political vocabulary of this great nation of ours.
If you accept it to be natural and normal to be gay then it follows it is not right for two folk who love each other to be denied marriage.
Countries get one chance in history of putting into place a savings retirement scheme on the scale of the Australian superannuation system.
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.
Young people are at risk of being disinherited from their community if that community lacks the courage and confidence to teach its history.
The level of journalism in this country is just so pathetically poor, and I've, in a sense, gone over the top of them, which they don't like.
Our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation, skills and productivity... and these in turn rely on the education of our people.
Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action.
If you are sitting on the title of any block of land in New South Wales you can bet an Aboriginal person at some stage was dispossessed of it.
A literate, skilled workforce is essential for low-income countries to attract investment and fill jobs with local rather than imported labour.
By way of personal instinct, I have an inherent distaste for grandiose rhetorical statements, which don't have any substantive dimension to them
The global economic outlook remains fragile and uncertain. Global economic imbalances persist and we must address them or risk future instability.
If you believe, as I do, that merit is equally distributed between the sexes, then any result that isn't around half and half should be troubling.
The great changes in civilisation and society have been wrought by deeply held beliefs and passion rather than by a process of rational deduction.
In the end it's the big picture which changes nations and whatever our opponents may say, Australia's changed inexorably for good, for the better.
One of the inevitable aspects of debates about euthanasia is the reluctance on the part of advocates to confront the essence of what they propose.
It is a simple but sometimes forgotten truth that the greatest enemy to present joy and high hopes is the cultivation of retrospective bitterness.
Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.
They've been irrelevant to me, the print media, because my link does not depend upon the menial minds of the scribblers in Canberra or anywhere else.
A continuing narrative throughout Australia's history that says it is better to build up than to tear down - this is the continuing mission of Labor.
Our secret thoughts are rarely heard except in secret. No man knows what conscience is until he understands what solitude can teach him concerning it.
One of my prized possessions is still the prefect's tie that I got in this school. I keep it with me. It was the first leadership position I ever had.
I accept that climate change is a challenge, I accept the broad theory about global warming. I am sceptical about a lot of the more gloomy predictions.
If elected, Bill Shorten and his team would hit the ground running, implementing Labor's plans and setting the nation up for a stronger economic future.
This is appalling. The idea that a person could be punished because of their religious belief and the idea they might be executed is just beyond belief.
I hated [Robert Mugabe]. He's one of the worst human beings I've ever met. He treated black and white with equal contempt. He was a horrible human being.
We are constantly being told that we've never been wealthier. And many of us are. On average we all are. But that's just the problem.. no one is average.
Here in Australia we do get impacted by global economic events. But we should have some confidence that our economy has got strong underlying fundamentals.
In fragile and conflict-affected states, education can insulate children from chaos and insecurity and better prepare them to bring about future stability.
I didn't like the way Andrew Peacock was not supported in 1984. He'd done well in that election; he deserved to continue. But by the end of '85, he was out.
What we have to do is make our way in Asia ourselves with an independent foreign policy. Our future is basically in the region around us in South East Asia.
The death of Malcolm Fraser underwrites a great loss to Australia... I always thought Malcolm would be around a lot longer. I must say, I wished he had been.
I am deeply committed to the cause of Indigenous Australians, and not just because of the Apology, but the big challenges which lie ahead in closing the gap.
Politicians today are not highly regarded... there seem to be people young and old and in the middle saying that they have never heard such wretched debates.
[ Elizabeth II] has immersed herself, in the sense [that] she can speak intelligently about any and all members of the Commonwealth and she has played a role.
Australia can no longer afford to go down the path of confrontation and fragmentation which has embittered and disfigured so many aspects of the national life.
I don't think there's any reason on Earth why people should have access to automatic and semiautomatic weapons unless they're in the military or in the police.
When I governed, the overwhelming mindset of the media was to dismiss out of hand any suggestion that anything happening to me was in any way related to gender.
The only reward in a public life is public progress. You stand back and say, 'What did I get out of it?' You look around, and the place is better, and that's it.
We only begin to realize the value of our possessions when we commence to do good to others with them. No earthly investment pays so large an interest as charity.
To be a member of the Labor Party is to be an optimist - optimistic about the future of Australia, optimistic about the ability of government to make a difference.
If it is the duty of the State to educate, it is the duty of the State also to bear the burden of education, namely, the taxation out of which education is provided.
I think I'm seen as trustworthy. I'm seen as having determination and persistence, and I'm seen as having a capacity to reach achievable answers to difficult issues.