Peaceful penguins
"[The 1987 defence white paper] also forecast that any threat to Australia would most likely come from the north." — Sydney Morning Herald, November 1.
Demanding job
"I think it's true that the Westminster system demands that a cabinet minister has to lie, and lie often." — Former Labor minister Graham Richardson on Channel 9's 60 Minutes program, October 30.
Don't worry about the details
"He just did it without worrying too much about the niceties of democracy." — An admiring Graham Richardson on the political style of former NSW premier Neville Wran.
Pot vs Kettle
"He has trouble separating fact from fantasy." — Nancy Reagan on Colonel Oliver North of Contragate infamy, currently a Republican candidate for the Senate from Virginia. Nancy's husband was president when North was up to his illegal tricks, but nobody doubted Ron's testimony that he slept through it all.
Cultural notes
"It was part of the culture. It had been the practice of all participants in the industry." — Wal King, chief executive of Leighton Holdings, on building industry payments of unsuccessful tenderers fees, concealed by false invoices.
Guess who!
"I was flabbergasted. We let it be known we were not happy." — Guyana President Cheddi Jagan on US President Bill Clinton's appointment of William Doherty as ambassador to Guyana. Doherty was head of the American Institute for Free Labor Development in the early '60s, when AIFLD funded a destabilisation campaign against a government headed by Jagan. Among other things, the campaign included burning down most of Georgetown, the capital.
Pie in the sky
"There is no more cheap labour in Indonesia." — Indonesian labour minister Abdul Latief on government proposals to raise the minimum wage to $2.85 a day.
Capitalism marches on
"The Russian owners of space station MIR are asking $2 million for the urine and faeces of European Space Agency astronaut Ulf Merbold. ESA hired the Russians to fly fellow worker Ulf to the space station and back. But when ESA asked for samples of Ulf's waste, the Russians set the price at $2 million." — IWW News, quoting the Ottawa Citizen, October 14.