One of the things about federal politics is that it has been remarkably free of corruption.

I joined the Young Liberals when I was 16 and it was a good way for me to understand how the Liberal Party worked and to learn basic political skills and techniques.

The arts are part of a nation's identity, they are part of a nation's soul and when we look at a country from the eyes of people overseas they are part of a nations branding in the world as it were.

The tyranny of distance is such an important element of policy and the allocation of resources.

It is a necessary precondition for the success of a referendum that there should be broad community consensus and bipartisan support for it.

The crime of bribery of foreign officials is an offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

I don't really know a lot about these 'anti-protest' laws. I'm only vaguely aware of them, but I don't have enough detailed knowledge about them to comment.

I was President of the Queensland Young Liberals in 1981.

I was interested in politics since the age of 14.

There have been 44 constitutional referenda in Australia and only eight have succeeded.

The modern Australia, the Australia of the 21st Century, Malcolm Turnbull's Australia has nothing to do with the kind of protectionist and xenophobic attitudes that Pauline Hanson represents.

My soul shines brightly in the light.

...before you, life was desolate - the past hardly worth remembering - and now, each moment a keepsake I can't throw away ...

The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit. Of course, Tally thought, you’d have to feed your cat only salmon-flavored cat food for a while, to get the pinks right.

It's difficult to talk about, you know, my inadequacies, my inability to stay sober when I'm a relatively bright man and I've had a lot of great blessings and a lot of great opportunities.

[Barack Obama] has been a very negative force. I think you see this when you see the tremendous division in the country, when you see Baltimore, when you see Ferguson and St. Louis.

I already know what things look like - I don't want description. People believe in appearances, and I don't believe in appearances at all.

Vibrato is the badge of tonal maturity.

We are so afraid of the idea of having to die... that we always try to find excuses for the dead, as if we were asking beforehand to be excused when it is our turn.

Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities.

I don't usually read reviews. I usually read the interviews, just because I figure it's a good way to try to do them better if I ever have to do them again.