Loose cannons
Appropriate
"It's quite appropriate that we should be prosecuted. If these things occur, we should be prosecuted." — A spokesperson for Sydney Water, which accidentally poured more than 100,000 litres of undiluted bleach, sulphur and caustic soda into the ocean over a month.
For all of us
"According to Mr [Martin] Ferguson, he was 'Labor to the core' and five years as ACTU president was enough." — Sydney Morning Herald, August 15.
Thanks, Bill
"This is America's gift to warfare." — Admiral William Owens, vice-chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on plans to use high tech computers and telecommunications to disrupt an enemy in wartime.
There are limits
"Messing with a country's money represents a fundamental attack. No CIA director has ever recommended it." — A former CIA official, quoted in an August 21 Time magazine story on new forms of warfare.
Novel idea
"There's nothing wrong with buying a house and living in it." — Dr Chris Caton, Bankers Trust adviser, commenting on the fact that Sydney houses no longer seem attractive as investments.
Progress backwards
"We will probably see fewer women in parliament representing Labor after the election than we have at the moment." — ACTU president-to-be Jennie George on the ALP's quota for women MPs.
Show of concern
"We saw the promise as a substantial way to show our concern for the people of western and south-western Sydney." — NSW Minister for roads Michael Knight on Labor's election promise, now abandoned, to remove tolls on the M4 and M5 expressways.