Loose cannons

Wednesday, November 27, 1991 - 11:00

Nazism for beginners

"The message of David Duke is this, basically: big government and anti-big government. Get out of my pocketbook, cut my taxes, put welfare people back to work. That's a very popular message. The problem is the messenger: David Duke, neo-Nazi, ex-Klansman, basically a bad person." — US Vice President Dan Quayle.

Just so

"I saw David Duke on television and there is not one thing he said that a conservative could disagree with." — Pat Buchanan, former speech writer for Ronald Reagan.

Mates

"I'm happy to be a mate of Keating's ... No, I don't see much of him, never have, but I have a pleasant feeling being around him. There's something there that clicks." — Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser.

What a relief

"I'm not a conservative, but I'm not a mad radical that wants to change things overnight." — More from Bernie Fraser.

Egalitarian

"I get very pissed off with people who just take, and that applies to whether they are at the top level of society who are ripping off the tax system and indulging in property speculation and all the rorts, or whether they're people down the other end cheating on unemployment benefits." — Bernie Fraser.

Them's the breaks

"There's no doubt some mistakes were made. It would be nice if you had no overheating, but things got away in the late '80s. No-one has worked out how to get rid of the business cycle." — Bernie Fraser on the recession.

Optimist

"I'm an optimist about the Australian economy ... If the world economy doesn't fall into a hole, one should be optimistic." — Bernie Fraser.

Standard practice

"Methods of protecting yourself accepted by this department are kicking and breaking fingers." — Ron Woodham, now acting assistant commissioner in charge of prisons, in a mid-'80s investigation into the bashing of a prisoner at Mulawa women's prison.

Tactful

"These ill-bred people have to be shot ... Our armed forces are not like armies in other countries. Our people's army is very esters] persisted with their misdeeds. In the end they had to be shot. And we shall shoot them." — Indonesian general Try Soetrisno, explaining what happened in Dili on November 12.