Loose cannons

Issue 

Getting to the point

"The young people who used to hang around now move off when police are around. One person was searched 38 times without finding a knife on him so it was getting to a point of harassment." — NSW Police commander Richard Holland, from the minutes of an April 5 meeting of NSW Police Local Area Command chiefs.

But not for all

"[There should be] a degree of socialism in what we do in this country ... We're all equal." — Dick Warburton, director of the Reserve Bank board and five other companies, on why he "gets annoyed with inequities and unfairness".

Must be good

"This is not recognised by the IMF!" — Treasurer Peter Costello in parliament on June 1 lambasting the ALP for its "backward" pledge to abolish individual workplace contracts.

Trust us

"We don't deny to the Chinese that the system has some capability against Chinese missiles, but that is not what it is designed to do." — US undersecretary of defence Walter Slocombe on Chinese objections to US plans to build a missile defence system.

The new feminism

"Working with employers to advance women and business." — On the masthead of the government's Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.

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