Kevin Rudd
By way of personal instinct, I have an inherent distaste for grandiose rhetorical statements, which don't have any substantive dimension to themCollection: Humor
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.Collection: Country
Politics is about power. It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the state as applied to individuals, the society in which they live and the economy in which they work. Most critically, our responsibility in this parliament is how that power is used: whether it is used for the benefit of the few or the many.Collection: Leadership
It is unlikely that you'll have anything emerge from MEF (Major Economies Forum) by way of detailed programmatic specificity.Collection: Way
John Howard has gone a bridge too far by not going far enoughCollection: Bridges
Of course I base all my election promises and policies on opinion pollsCollection: Promise
Compassion is not a dirty word.. it's time we rehabilitated compassion into the national political vocabulary of this great nation of ours.Collection: Dirty
Would you like to work at home and earn $150 per hour with data entry?Collection: Home
For Australians, climate change is no longer a distant threat. Our rivers are dying, bush fires are more ferocious and more frequent and our natural wonders - the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, our rainforests - are now at risk.Collection: Fire
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.Collection: Gay
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.Collection: Leadership
I just don't really get into all that sort of personal negative stuff. My job is to outline some positive plans for the country's future and perhaps Mr. Howard and the Government don't like the fact that I'm putting out some positive alternatives. What's their preference.. for me to be a negative carping opposition leader?Collection: Country
Mr Howard's problem is for so long he's been a climate change sceptic, how can he, therefore, put himself to the country as part of a climate change solution for the future.Collection: Country
I was elected by the Australian people to bring back a fair go for all Australians. I have given my absolute best to do that.Collection: People
Compassion is not a dirty word. Compassion is not a sign of weakness. In my view, compassion in politics and in public policy is in fact a hallmark of great strength. It is a hallmark of a society which has about it a decency which speaks for itself.Collection: Dirty
The alternatives [to the stimulus packages] were to do nothing or, worse, effectively replicate the Premiers' Plan of 1931 when governments cut expenditure, thereby compounding the problems created by a private sector already in retreat. The result, of course, was an economic rout, appalling unemployment and a decade of negligible growth through the 1930sCollection: Cutting
Senator Obama's message of hope is not just for America's future, it is also a message of hope for the world as well. A world which is now in many respects fearful for its future.Collection: America
Having a go at kids with a terminal illness is really beyond the pale, absolutely beyond the pale.Collection: Kids
It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life. Heath Ledger's diverse and challenging roles will be remembered as some of the great performances by an Australian actor.Collection: Lost Ones
My task, as a member of this parliament and a 30-year member of the Australian Labor Party, as its former leader, as its former foreign minister and its former prime minister, is to now throw my every effort in securing Julia Gillard's re-election as Labor prime minister at the next election.Collection: Party
We want a national emissions trading scheme, the Government does not and has rejected one for years. We want to boost the mandatory renewable energies target, the Government has failed to do that. We want a national demand side management strategy for the country to reduce electricity consumption and the Government, up until now, has done very little on that score.Collection: Country
No diplomatic intervention will ever be made by any government that I lead in support of any individual terrorist's life. We have only indicated in the past, and will maintain a policy in the future, of intervening diplomatically in support of Australian nationals who face capital sentences abroad.Collection: Past
We have seen this complete right wing takeover of modern liberalism, and it is an ugly spectacle to behold.Collection: Wings
John Howard's credibility on the entire Iraq war has been torpedoed by John Howard's own intelligence agency.Collection: War
In your telephone call, you [Malcolm Turnbull]said that neither you nor the Cabinet would be supporting my nomination. When I asked the reasons for this, you said that neither you nor the Cabinet has the view that I had the qualifications for the position [of UN's secretary-general].Collection: Views