Western civilisation came to this country in 1788 and I’m proud of that.
I am not being negative, I am simply being factual when I say Kevin Rudd is the best friend the people smugglers have ever had.
Now if you are condemned to life on welfare, I’m not so sure that being in a bigger welfare village is that much better than being in a smaller welfare village.
I want to be a very good friend to Indonesia, but there are some things which are non-negotiable. Border protection is just non-negotiable. Maintaining a strong security network is just non-negotiable. I think the Indonesians understand that.
When politicians complain about the media, it strikes me as resembling footballers complaining about the umpire.
I think leadership is knowing what you want to achieve and then purposefully and sensibly taking steps to achieve it, remembering always that you have got to bring people with you if you are seeking to be a successful political leader.
Middle income families with children are Australia’s new poor.
What I would like to see is sufficiently good education and health services being delivered to Aboriginal people so that they are prepared and ready to leave and join the economic mainstream if that’s their choice.
Faith is important to me. It’s important to millions of Australians. It helps to shape who I am. It helps to shape my values. But it must never, never dictate my politics.
There are no factions in the Liberal Party.
I am in favour of the notion of Australia as an immigrant society.
I’m confident that there are plenty of people who have the strength of character and the presence of mind to warn me of difficulties and alert me to opportunities.
I don’t think my religious convictions should be held against me.
Oppositions are not there to get legislation through. Oppositions are there to hold the government to account.
I’m a politician. I’m not going to get into a whole range of scientific argument with scientists.
Like the Governor-General, when asked what you enjoy most about the job my tendency is to say “today”, because of the insights you get into our nation and because of the privileged contact you have with so many people.
Most of the people who are coming to Australia by boat have passed through several countries on the way, and if they simply wanted asylum they could have claimed that in any of the countries through which they’d passed.
I am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change.
I want to run a government, Barnaby wants to be part of a government, which is characterized by the motto if you like, no surprises, no excuses. That will be the motto of an incoming Coalition government. No surprises, no excuses.
Why isn’t the fact that 100,000 women choose to end their pregnancies regarded as a national tragedy approaching the scale, say, of Aboriginal life expectancy being 20 years less than that of the general community?