National interest
"I can tell you one of the reasons why we work so hard ... is not to make things easy for the Labor Party." — Treasurer Peter Costello quoted in the July 28 Australian Financial Review.
Vital
"For a guaranteed high standard of nuclear medicine practice, a reliable supply of diagnostic and therapeutic radioisotopes from a new research reactor at Lucas Heights is vital." — Dr Barry Elison, president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Physicians in Nuclear Medicine, on June 13. One month later, when asked how doctors coped during the February-May shut-down of the Lucas Heights reactor, Elison was not even aware it had been shut down.
Priorities
"The main thing is wining the next [federal] election, and to make sure everything possible is done to achieve that end." — Soon-to-be ALP national president Greg Sword on what his party will be doing for the next 18 months.
Don't tell the public
"The President should not issue any more ... controversial statements because it could negatively affect the stock market, cause recklessness or confusion, or trigger disputes among the public." — From a petition signed by 252 politicians to the speaker in Indonesia's parliament.
It's clear
"This matter reveals a serious transparency problem." — Sir Anthony Siaguru, chairperson of the PNG branch of Transparency International, on the employment of lawyer Rimbink Pato as chairperson of the holding company for the PNG government's finance arms, on an annual salary of A$2.5 million.