Loose cannons

Issue 

Maybe

"Maybe if the Liberal Party were a little less tense about the public examination of its sense of direction and some of its policy positions, then we might do a little better in the future." — Liberal front-bencher John Howard, claiming that "policy" discussion has nothing to do with a leadership challenge to John Hewson.

It has so far

Allowing non-unionised workers into enterprise bargaining "is playing with fire for the Labor government because the Labor Party derives much of its organisational and financial strength from its association with the trade union movement ... you can't negotiate an accord with a dishevelled rump." — ACTU vice president Anna Booth.

Capitalism doesn't work — 1

"Drugs continue to ravage our young people and our streets, law-abiding citizens can be caught in the cross-fire between gangs today equipped like armies, white-collar swindlers practise inventive forms of what Al Capone once called the legitimate rackets, and our nation, so long immune from the terrorism plaguing the world, now faces that threat, too." — US President Bill Clinton in an optimistic mood.

Capitalism doesn't work — 2

"I don't think there are many Japanese politicians who are not criminals." — Minoru Morita, "respected independent commentator", quoted in the July 22 Sydney Morning Herald.

Capitalism doesn't work — 3

In a survey by a British publication, The Banker, Westpac was rated 1000th out of the world's top 1000 banks. The bank lost $1.5 billion in 1992.

And an ALP member?

"If you could transport Bob Menzies from the era in which he lived, and put him down in this one with all the necessities it imposes on us, and all the opportunities, I am pretty sure he would [be a republican]." — Prime Minister Paul Keating.

Togetherness

The federal opposition has complained that the Tax Office has spent $5 million on conferences at hotels and resorts. According to the Sunday Telegraph, "The Tax Office has defended its conferences as essential for teamwork and educating its workforce of 18,000, saying staying together makes it possible for staff to take shorter breaks and to work after evening meals."

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