John Howard

“Australia will always be closer to the U.S. than she is to China because our values and political traditions are much closer.”

“We won't just automatically click our heels and follow the Americans.”

“I'm not running away from the fact that I had previously said I did not contemplate a major increase, and that was a fair statement of the Government's state of mind at the time I made that.”

“We will decide who comes to our country.”

“The goal of Australian foreign policy should be to promote the maximum harmony between the U.S. and China.”

“We want to assert the very principle that truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.”

“Of all the important relationships that Australia has with other countries, none has been more greatly transformed over the last 10 years than our relationship with China.”

“There will, in my view, come a time when there has to be some kind of political denouement inside China, because the newly enriched generation might put up with being told what to do by their rulers - but their children, who will take prosperity for granted, will not.”

“Nobody should underestimate how much the world changed on the 11th of September 2001.”

“I think I'm seen as trustworthy. I'm seen as having determination and persistence, and I'm seen as having a capacity to reach achievable answers to difficult issues.”

“I have had the view that cutting wages is not the path to prosperity, and one of the great myths propagated about my attitude to industrial relations is that I believe in lower wages. I've never believed in lower wages. Never. Never believed in lower wages, I've never believed in lower wages as an economic instrument.”

“I don't share the view that China and the U.S. need to reach some kind of strategic accommodation to carve up the Asia-Pacific region - that is an arrogant proposition and deeply insulting to other countries in the region, including Japan and potentially also India and Indonesia.”

“On economic policy, my support of smaller government, lower taxes and economic reform is consistent with the mainstream of the Republican Party in the United States and with many Democrats as well.”

“Terrorists oppose nations such as the United States and Australia not because of what we have done but because of who we are and because of the values that we hold in common.”

“It's too much to expect in an academic setting that we should all agree, but it is not too much to expect discipline and unvarying civility.”

“Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.”

“I'm fairly conservative on social issues, but not extremely conservative and not reactionary.”

“This is appalling. The idea that a person could be punished because of their religious belief and the idea they might be executed is just beyond belief.”

“I hate guns.”

“In my estimation, there should always be a mixture of economic liberalism - which means small government, a great emphasis on markets - but also a certain degree of social conservatism, not to favor change unless that change is beneficial. So I describe myself as an economic liberal and a social conservative.”