Australian Politics Quotes

“Every time I do an interview people ask similar questions, such as "What is the most significant story that you have revealed?" […] There really is only one overarching point that all of these stories have revealed, and that is–and I say this without the slightest bit of hyperbole or melodrama; it's not metaphorical and it's not figurative; it is literally true–that the goal of the NSA and it's five eyes partners in the English speaking world–Canada, New Zealand, Australia and especially the UK–is to eliminate privacy globally, to ensure that there could be no human communications that occur electronically, that evades their surveillance net; they want to make sure that all forms of human communications by telephone or by Internet, and all online activities are collected, monitored, stored and analyzed by that agency and by their allies.

That means, to describe that is to describe a ubiquitous surveillance state; you don't need hyperbole to make that claim, and you do not need to believe me when I say that that's their goal. Document after document within the archive that Edward Snowden provided us declare that to be their goal. They are obsessed with searching out any small little premise of the planet where some form of communications might take place without they being able to invade it.”
― Glenn Greenwald

“... being true to the multitudes within himself that are one and many.”
― Richard Flanagan

“journalists fea their loss of authority in the digital age will undermine their ability to hold government to account. Yet the government has much more to worry about because the internet has empowered vested interests, and Oppositions, in a way that effectively cancel an election result within weeks of the final ballot being counted. p236”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal

“Laura tingle: "So it's not jut that we see Gillard as a backstabber who brought down an elected prime minister, it is that we see her as the very reason we have minority government. Gillard has become the embodiment of a crushing number of uncertainties and disappointed expectations, both about politics and Australia's future, which makes voters uncomfortable -and in some cases angry.”
― Laura Tingle, Quarterly Essay 46 Great Expectations: Government, Entitlement and an Angry Nation

“The argument that mining already paid its fair share [of tax] was also wrong.... On the figures the [Minerals] council supplied, mining enjoyed the fourteenth-lowest effective company-tax rate out of nineteen sectors. It paid a lower rate than manufacturing and construction, the very sectors it was crowding out. p196”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal

“Rudd proved to be too conservative for the nation he led, while Gillard's campaign for re-election was too cynical. But the problem goes deeper than any individual's failure. Labor in office suffered a return of the identity crisis that has plagued it in its wilderness years in Opposition... the party had given up its soul to the machine. p208”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal

“Government is weaker today because the public it serves is quicker to anger, and because the Opposition has realised the safest way back to power is opposition, not policy renewal. No mandate need be respected because the Opposition can trust the media to set impossible standards for government to meet. p237”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal

“Alone among the community of nations, only Australia and America define any departure from groupthink and conformity as 'un-Australian' and 'un-American'.”
― Allan Behm, The Odd Couple: Re-configuring the America-Australia relationship

“Australia's failure to adopt the constitutional amendments that would have recognised prior occupation of the continent by the First Peoples and their right to a constitutional voice indicate that racism is not even subcutaneous.”
― Allan Behm, The Odd Couple: Re-configuring the America-Australia relationship

“Politics is in everything we do, even when we choose to do nothing.

My definition of politics includes the activities of all lawmakers, including
governments, and how they are influenced.

Politics is also someone's opinion abouts about societal matters and how they use their opinion to influence others.

As well, politics is about relationships within a group or organisation that allow particular people to have power over others.

For some, let's call this group the 'Bad Actors', politics is their path, or their method, to achieve personal gain and power.”
― Thomas Mayo