The prerogative of mercy should be extended to them, australia opposes the death penalty at home and abroad.

Tony Abbott

Categorized in : World

I think all senior politicians tend to be rather more subtle then the commentators would have it. It is a natural tendency for human beings to try to classify. We all have this classification urge - so and so is such and such, that person is in that camp - but look, most sophisticated people defy stereotype.

senior people thinking

In respect of Indonesia, I am determined to be the best possible friend of Indonesia that I can be, consistent with my overriding duty to protect our country. We would never do anything that was damaging to Indonesia, because we want Indonesia to flourish. We want Indonesia to take its rightful place as one of the really important countries of the world, as it will, sooner or later.

countries-of-the-world important country

Like the Governor-General, when asked what you enjoy most about the job my tendency is to say "today", because of the insights you get into our nation and because of the privileged contact you have with so many people.

today jobs people

I'm confident that there are plenty of people who have the strength of character and the presence of mind to warn me of difficulties and alert me to opportunities.

presence-of-mind opportunity character

Every prime minister has a whole series of networks, and there are official formal networks and there are unofficial informal networks. I'm lucky in that I have good official formal networks, starting with my own office, the leadership group, the cabinet and the party room.

party office rooms

We are a very like-minded group, the senior members of this government. The outliers are not very far away from the mainstream.

senior groups government

The media - and I'm not blaming them - obviously like to seize on the differences between people and, sure, there are some senior members of the government who are in a slightly different philosophical space to mine. But do not underestimate the substantial single-mindedness of this government.

philosophical senior differences

There are some issues where ministers should come and talk to the prime minister, if the prime minister hasn't already talked to them. Any issue which a minister thinks is going to be profoundly controversial, where we do not have a clear existing position, it is important that there be a conversation between the minister and the prime minister. I think they all understand that and I think it is working very well.

issues important thinking

I've always avoided those sorts of self-assessments because if you give yourself a 10 out of 10 people think you're a big head, if you give yourself a 6 out of 10 they think you're plagued with self-doubt, so I'm just not going to rate myself.

assessment self thinking

I think we've produced a stronger prohibition on real racism, while maintaining freedom of speech in ordinary public discussion. So I'm very comfortable with where we're at. We're not dogmatic or impervious to a further argument, that's why we released it as an exposure draft rather than simply releasing it straight into the parliament.

real racism thinking

So, of course, it's disappointing for us here in Warringah, but what matters is what's best for the country, and what's best for the country is not so much who wins or loses Warringah, but who forms, or does not form, a government in Canberra.

All of us I suppose get carried away but when you make a mistake, fix it, people should be better than that.

I have other calls on my time as prime minister, but I will certa... by Tony Abbott

I have other calls on my time as prime minister, but I will certainly support a ‘yes’ vote.

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This is not an attempt to build a liberal pluralist market democracy overnight in the Middle East. That's been tried and it didn't magnificently succeed, surely all human beings are entitled to a government which doesn't commit genocide against them.

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The only free trade agreement that members opposite have complained about is the free trade agreement with China. What have they got against China?

Obviously there is a lot of community debate going on, i have views on the subject which are pretty well known and they haven't changed.

The RET represents a bipartisan solution, and we applaud the Coalition and ALP (Australian Labor Party) for achieving that, it's important that the views of all groups are heard, and that any concerns are addressed with fact and science.

I accept that same-sex marriage is a significant issue, but frankly, this government's absolute fundamental priority ... is to get the most urgent budget measures through and by far the most urgent budget measure is the small business budget boost.

There will be more of this, and it's important in the next couple of years that the relationship beds in because otherwise ... you could quickly find it isn't a self-sustaining relationship.

It’s good that we’re now exchanging information at a very deep level between our various agencies because the threat posed by violent extremism, particularly by the Daesh death cult, is real and it is global.