Bring back Pig-iron Bob
"If export market intelligence for the region to our north, which I suspect already resides in the defence intelligence organisation, can be made available to Australian Industry on request, and, without going overboard, if defence attaches, as a normal standard activity would promote Australian exports and exporters, defence exports could become a useful element of Australia's overseas trade." — Bernie Sullivan, Defence Manufacturers of Australia, in a paper for the Commercialisation of Defence Conference in June.
Spiritual guidance
"I'm just hoping that the bishop sees fit to answer my question properly, because last time I asked it, he said he didn't even know what a homosexual relationship was." — Anglican priest Father David Johnson on asking the bishop of Tasmania whether homosexuals would be allowed to continue to hold a ministry licence.
'We'?
"These [WA Inc royal] commissioners have not had political experience. Their perception of what is right and proper may differ violently from the perceptions we all had at the time." — Former WA Labor premier Peter Dowding.
Optimists
"I suppose it's fair to say that the [royal] commission is looking for a new level of honesty from its politicians." — Dowding again.
Don't play around
"Real guns are intended to kill. This is intended as a toy." — A legislator in the US state of Michigan who opposes any regulation of gun sales but wants to ban "Super Soaker" water guns.
It figures
Wages at Buckingham Palace "are on the low side. A junior housemaid is paid just over £6,000 (A$13,500) a year, less than half what she could earn outside." — Sydney Morning Herald, October 24.