Julia Gillard quotes - page 2

I know the Leader of the Opposition [Tony Abbott] has an unhealthy kind of obsession with the so-called "faceless men in the Labor Party"; what he really should be obsessed about is the useless men sitting behind him. (Julia Gillard)
When there was bad behaviour – and Kevin consistently danced right out on that line of bad behaviour – I couldn't do that much to discipline him because the nature of minority government is kind of everybody's got their hand on the grenade and anybody could pull the pin. View quote
Julia Gillard
Good sense, common sense and proper process are what should rule this parliament. That is what I believe is the path forward for this parliament, not the kinds of double standards and political game playing imposed by the Leader of the Opposition, who is now looking at his watch because, apparently, a woman has spoken for too long [loud protests from the Opposition benches]-I have had him yell at me to shut up in the past! View quote
Julia Gillard
Tactics hadn't gone [Rudd's] way – I had taken a view about something else forming the issue of the day – and after the tactics meeting broke up he very physically stepped into my space, and it was quite a bullying encounter. It was a menacing, angry, performance. View quote
Julia Gillard
It was inconceivable to me that the kind of anti-Labor work that Kevin had been involved in – the destabilisation, the leaking – would be rewarded by the leadership. View quote
Julia Gillard
I could hear the forces massing. I was very keen to make sure that I got our big reforms done before those forces could reach a critical point. View quote
Julia Gillard
I don't see what alternate reality was possible other than the one's we lived through. So I think people are really wistfully hoping for something that was never going to be. View quote
Julia Gillard
I really don't know why this wasn't a career ending moment for Tony Abbott. Sexism is no better than racism. View quote
Julia Gillard
In terms of the big decisions before the Government, he was incapable of making them. He, as a seasoned politician from the TV cameras could turn it on, but his demeanour behind closed doors was absolutely miserable, irritated. If I was going to summarise it: personally miserable, politically paralysed. View quote
Julia Gillard
Here he [Abbott] is, trying to fudge one way and fudge the other; This morning he went out and accused me of a crime. Back it up or shut up. View quote
Julia Gillard
It did seem to me that tomorrow you could wake up to anything, and that there just are no rules anymore. (Julia Gillard)
It is not normal for a Deputy Prime Minister to end up running a Prime Minister's diary, chairing staff meetings. It's not normal for a Deputy Prime Minister to be trying to manage so that quality speeches are given. View quote
Julia Gillard
"There was no cataclysmic moment of revelation, but as I moved into my 20's, doubts grew and then overwhelmed." ... View quote
Julia Gillard
My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create wealth together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game. View quote
Julia Gillard
I was very offended personally when the Leader of the Opposition, as Minister of Health, said, and I quote, "Abortion is the easy way out.” I was very personally offended by those comments. You said that in March 2004, I suggest you check the records. I was also very offended on behalf of the women of Australia when in the course of the carbon pricing campaign the Leader of the Opposition said, 'What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing.' View quote
Julia Gillard
'Because it's there' could never be enough of an explanation for entering politics. ... My focus on work comes from my own childhood and my own personal experience. My parents, particularly Dad, taught me through word and deed that the world does not owe you a living. That you should expect throughout your life to be required to earn what you intend to spend. View quote
Julia Gillard
Afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for terrorism. View quote
Julia Gillard
Those of you who have spent time with Australians know that we are not given to overstatement. By nature we are laconic speakers and by conviction we are realistic thinkers. View quote
Julia Gillard
I know people are looking at what's happening in Washington and then they also look at events in Europe, in Greece and Portugal and other places and worry about that. View quote
Julia Gillard
We encourage China to engage as a good global citizen and we are clear-eyed about where differences do lie. View quote
Julia Gillard
I don't support the idea of a big Australia with arbitrary targets of, say, a 40 million-strong Australia or a 36 million-strong Australia. We need to stop, take a breath and develop policies for a sustainable Australia... I support a population that our environment, our water, our soil, our roads and freeways, our busses, our trains and our services can sustain. (Julia Gillard)
The Leader of the Opposition says, 'Do something'; well he could do something himself if he wanted to deal with sexism in this parliament. He could change his behaviour, he could apologise for all his past statements and he could apologise for standing next to signs describing me as a witch and a bitch-terminology now objected to by the frontbench of the opposition. He could change standards himself if he sought to do so. But we will see none of that from the Leader of the Opposition, because on these questions he is incapable of change. He is capable of double standards but incapable of change. View quote
Julia Gillard