"There is great discontent among Australian voters. Don't be surprised if next week's election witnesses a big informal vote and a sizeable protest vote against machine politics and a lack of vision."

- Ross Fitzgerald, commenting on the election in The Australian on 14th August, 2010.

“As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.  Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility.  And I made it clear that by August 31, 2010 America’s combat mission in Iraq would end.  That is exactly what we are doing - as promised, and on schedule.”

- US President Barack Obama announcing on 2nd August, 2010, that this month will mark the end of the US combat mission in Iraq.

"(T)he election on the 21st of August will be about the future of this country and I believe we are a confident, optimistic people and there’s no challenge in our future, no challenge that’s too hard, that we won’t master it if we do it together and I am an optimistic person."

"(M)y pledge to the Australian people is to end the waste, to pay back the debt, to stop the new taxes and to stop the boats."

- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (top) and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott (bottom), speaking during their televised debate on 25th July, 2010.

"Today I seek a mandate from the Australian people to move the Australian people forward."

- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, announcing on 17th July, 2010, that a federal election will be held on 21st August, 2010.

"That's something this World Cup has brought: nation building and social cohesion. People walked tall. They were very proud of this country."

- Danny Jordaan, chief organiser of the World Cup 2010, speaking about South Africa's role in hosting the World Cup after Spain's 1-0 victory over The Netherlands on 11th July, 2010.

"I hope that all the positive gains that have been achieved in our relationship will not be damaged by the recent event."

- Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin commenting to former US President Bill Clinton in the wake of news that US officials had cracked an alleged undercover Russian spy ring operating in the US (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 30th June, 2010).

"We're pleased with Canada's contributions and some fresh G8 pledges, but I'll still be waking up at night haunted by the thought of the millions of children who will remain unable to get the lifesaving basic healthcare they deserve."

- Dave Toycen, CEO World Vision Canada, speaking in response to the G8 meeting which took place in Canada on 25th to 27th June, 2010, at which governments pledged $5 billion for maternal and child health programmes in developing countries over the next five years including $1.1 billion from  Canada.

"There will be some days I delight you, some days I disappoint you. On every day I will be working my absolute hardest for you."

- Australia's first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her first speech to Federal Parliament following a dramatic leadership coup in which she ousted former PM Kevin Rudd.

"We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused."

- US president Barack Obama in his first Oval Office address on 15th June, 2010, in relation to the oil spill emergency currently taking place in the Gulf of Mexico.

"This is not life and death. This is sport, for goodness sake.''

- Sports psychologist Sandy Gordon, speaking after Australia's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Germany in soccer's World Cup, being held in South Africa. Gordon was responding to TV sports commentator Ken Sutcliffe's suggestion - made before the game - that the Socceroos' 'ANZAC Spirit' might be the difference in them  overcoming the Germans, a comment Gordon said was "over the top" (as quoted on www.smh.com.au).

"People - I have met some of them - are having to come to terms with the most appalling random acts that they will find very difficult to understand, and in some cases there will be no proper explanation."

- British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking on 4th June, 2010, while visiting the communities in Cumbria where 12 people were killed in a shooting spree by gunman Derrick Bird.

"We're going to need credible security forces acting lawfully to take us out of the mess of criminality we have landed in by our unfortunate history."

- Carolyn Gomes, head of humnan rights group Jamaicans for Justice, speaking in the wake of violent clashes in the Caribbean nation between security forces and those of alleged drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke which has left more than 80 people dead (as quoted The Observer, London, on 30th May, 2010)

"This is an important step, we think, both scientifically and philosophically. It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works."

- US geneticist Dr Craig Venter, speaking about his work - announced last week - in creating the world's first synthetic cell (as quoted on www.heraldsun.com.au on 25th May, 2010)

"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who had a dream. You just have to have a dream and set your mind to it.’’

- Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson, the youngest person to circumnavigate the world, solo, nonstop and unassisted, after arriving back in Sydney on 15th May, 2010 (as quoted on www.smh.com.au)

"We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster. The oil that is still leaking from the well could seriously damage the economy and the environment of our Gulf states. And it could extend for a long time. It could jeopardise the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who call this place home."

- US President Barack Obama, speaking on 2nd May, 2010, after seeing the damage from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which followed an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in which 11 workers were killed.

"It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it."

- Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary maker and member of a team from Noah's Ark Ministries International who believe they have found the remains of Noah's Ark on Mt Ararat in Turkey (as quoted on www.news.com.au on 27th April, 2010).

"The flight ban, made on the basis just of computer calculations, is resulting in billion-high losses for the economy. In future we demand that reliable measurements are presented before a flying ban is imposed."

- Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walter, speaking to Germany's Bild newspaper in reference to the closure of European airspace as a result of an ash cloud created following the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano on 13th April (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 19th April, 2010).

"These attacks have struck at the heart of the capital and at the busiest time."

- Sky News' Russia correspondent Amanda Walker, speaking following two bombings which are believed to have killed at least 37 people when they exploded during peak hour on Moscow's underground railway on 29th March, 2010 (as quoted on www.skynews.com on 29th March, 2010).

"Tonight's vote is not a victory for any one party. It's a victory for them. It's a victory for the American people and it's a victory for common sense."

- US President Barack Obama after the successful passage of landmark healthcare reform  legislation in the US (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 22nd March, 2010)

“The accounts of women and children being hacked to death with knives and machetes would sicken anyone. However this is clearly a cycle of violence that will be repeated unless the international community - including Australia - takes greater action."

- Jim Wallace, Australian Christian Lobby managing director, speaking in reference to the killings of as many as 500 Christians in Jos, Nigeria, in early March.

"Hail was up to 10 centimetres in diameter and left a trail of destruction, with roofs and properties also being inundated with water. I've certainly not seen something that ferocious for quite some time."

- Spokesman for Victoria's State Emergency Service Tim Weebush, speaking after ferocious storms swept across parts of Victoria on the weekend (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 8th March, 2010).

"The thugs have taken over the city. Now we are not afraid of the earthquakes, we're afraid of the criminals."

- Marcelo Rivera, mayor of Hualpen, near Concepcion, speaking to a Chilean radio station in the wake of the weekend's earthquake (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk).

"(I) hope that every young Aussie girl can take from this and see that it doesn't matter where you're from, what you do or whatever you dream, whatever you want to do - you can go and do it."

- Torah Bright, winner of Australia's first gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olym,pic Games, speaking after her victory in the women's halfpipe (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"One year ago, our lives changed forever. Many of us lost our loved ones and the people close to us. Our son was killed by the bushfires, and our memories and our house were destroyed. On that day, we lost our past, our present and our future."

- Carol Matthews, speaking on behalf of the bereaved families who between them   lost 173 relatives in Victoria's Black Saturday fires in February 2009, at a memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on 7th February, 2010 (as quoted in The Australian).

"I had to take this decision as prime minister. It was a huge responsibility then and there is not a single day that passes by that I do not think about that responsibility, and so I should."

- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking about his decision to send troops into Iraq, during six hours of evidence given to the Chilcott inquiry looking in to why the UK went to war in Iraq (as published on www.guardian.co.uk on 29th January, 2010).

"I object to having the British flag in the corner of our flag. We have well and truly reached the point where we should have our own flag. I think we have to grow up and move on to the next stage."

- TV presenter Ray Martin, speaking to the Herald Sun newspaper (as published on 25th January, 2010).

"The damage, destruction and loss of life are just overwhelming."

- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated parts of southern Haiti, including Port-au-Prince, on 12th January, 2010. Ki-moon has said the disaster represents the "most serious" situation the US has faced for many years.

"We have had a mild flu - and a false pandemic."

- Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, speaking about the N1H1 virus which he also branded as one of the "greatest medical scandals of our century" (as quoted The Daily Mail, UK).

"I accept that I, at times, have stuffed up. I also believe that when you become leader you make a new start."

- Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott after being elected in a leadership spill on 1st December, 2009.

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear. I dreamed myself away."

- Belgian Rom Houben, who was recently 'discovered' to have been conscious for the past 23 years, despite having been initially diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state - unaware of anything going on around him - following a car crash in 1983.

"In the heart of the First World, I saw scenes more reminiscient of the Third World, of countries torn by war, dominated by repressive regimes, racked by corruption. How is it possible that in 21st-century Australia - in the land of the fair go - its first people should be among those living in abject destitution, in such appalling poverty?"

- Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International, in an address given to the National Press Club in Canberra on 18th November, 2009, as part of a week long visit to the country.

"To you, the Forgotten Australians and those who were sent to our shores as children without their consent...we are sorry."

- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a national apology to the "Forgotten Australians" (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 16th November, 2009) .

“Lord, all those around us search for motive, search for meaning, search for something, someone to blame. That is so frustrating. Today, we pause to hear from you. So Lord, as we pray together, we focus on things we know.”

- Army chaplain Colonel Frank Jackson speaking at a service held in a chapel in Fort Hood, Texas, on Sunday, 8th November, 2009, three days after Major Nidal Malik Hasan is alleged to have shot dead 13 people and wounded 29 more (as quoted on www.nytimes.com on 8th November, 2009) .

"We believe more than five million litres of highly toxic substances have been released into this very near pristine environment, this very important marine environment and that is going to persist for a long time to come."

- World Wildlife Fund's Paul Gamblin, speaking with regard to the amount of oil which has leaked out of the West Atlas rig in the Timor Sea since a leak began 10 weeks ago (as quoted in www.abc.net.au on 3rd November, 2009).

"Asylum seekers should not be penalised because of their method of arrival. The excision and offshore processing regime establishes a two-tiered system."

- Australian Human Rights Commissioner Catherine Branson, criticising the retention of laws which, for the purposes of migration, excise thousands of Australian islands and bar those arriving or taken there from the refugee status determination system which applies under Australian law (as quoted in The Age on 24th October, 2009).

"Such intelligence was of the utmost importance to the safety and security of the UK. It has saved British lives. Many attacks have been stopped as a result of effective international intelligence co-operation since 9/11."

- Jonathan Evans, director-general of UK spy agency MI5, defending Britain's cooperation with the US and other countries accused of abusing and torturing detainees (as quoted in The Times, London, on 16th October 2009).

"There are people out there like Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean leader, who have been struggling for years and years for human rights and for a fair deal for their people who have been ignored."

- Former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer commenting on news that US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 12th October 2009).

"My family is gone, my house is gone, my land is gone, my animals are gone. What now?"

- Indonesian farmer Syahrial whose parents and nephew were killed in a landslide caused as a result of the recent earthquakes off the coast of Sumatra (as quoted on www.theaustralian.news.com.au on 5th October, 2009).

"(T)here remains much work to be done to prevent the unrestrained greed of unregulated financial markets that has wrought such economic carnage across the world these last 12 months from sowing the seeds of future financial crises."

- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addressing the United Nations on 24th September, 2009, (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"I'm going to use the best weapon I have, which is not the Wolverine claws, or my mutant powers, but my voice. To speak on behalf of Takali and the billion other people in developing countries who, well they contribute the least to climate change and yet they are hit the hardest by it. Simply stated, we must not forget the poor."

- Actor Hugh Jackman, speaking on 22nd September, 2009, at the launch of Climate Week in New York ahead of this week's one day UN conference on climate change (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"(A) crisis will happen again, but it'll be different. They are all different. But they have one fundamental source, and that is the unquenchable capability of human beings, when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue. And they begin to take speculative excesses."

- Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, reflecting on the passing of a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers which some say marked the start of the "global financial crisis" (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk).

“We cannot forget the major events that took place during one of the most terrible conflicts in history, that left tens of millions dead and provoked so much suffering for our beloved Polish people. It was conflict that saw the tragedy of the Holocaust and the extermination of so many other innocents.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at an open air mass on 6th September, 2009, marking to the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II.

"My stated preference, as a human being, victim and head of state, is that we, once and for all, close the 1975-1999 chapters of our tragic experience, forgive those who did us harm."

- Jose Ramos-Horta, president of East Timor, in a speech marking 10 years since a UN-sponsored referendum on his country's independence (as quoted on www.jakartapost.com on 31st August, 2009).

"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion...But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days...Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available."

- Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill explaining his decision to release convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was jailed in 2001 for the 1988 bombing which claimed 270 lives. Mr Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was freed on compassionate grounds and flew home to Libya (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk on 20th August, 2009).

"We all need to learn from this terrible disaster.''

- Victorian Premier John Brumby speaking following the release of the Bushfires' Royal Commission interim report into the state's worst natural disaster - February's Black Saturday bushfires in which 173 people died.

"This is not the time to be divisive, to over-react or to unfairly lay blame."

- Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland following a series of raids across Victoria last week after which a number of men were charged with terrorism-related offences (as quoted on The Age on 8th August, 2009).

"Don was the last guy to step on to the ramp of the aircraft as we brought them out."

- Major General Mark Kelly, the Australian Defence Force's Middle East commander, commenting on the fact that Corporal Don Mander was the last of the Australian combat troops to leave Iraq, formally ending a six year involvement in the Middle East nation (as quoted on www.theaustralian.news.com.au on 1st August, 2009).

"The best way to honour all those who part of the Apollo is to boldly go again on a great new mission of exploration."

- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, calling for further exploration of space at a gathering of former astronauts aimed at celebrating the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"Any terrorist attack anywhere is an attack on us all. Any terrorist attack on our friends in Indonesia is an attack on our neighbours. Any terrorist attack is an act of cowardice, an act of murder."

- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking on 17th July, 2009, in response to news that bomb blasts at two Jakarta hotels had killed nine people, including three Australians, and injured scores more.

"Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict and the West has often approached Africa as a patron rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are listed as combatants."

- US President Barack Obama speaking to the Ghanaian Parliament on 11th July, 2009.

"She is doing well."

- Kassim Bakari, father of 12-year-old Bahia Bakari, the only known survivor after a Yemenia Airbus jet carrying 153 people crashed into the Indian Ocean off the Comoros Islands on 30th June, 2009.

"We've just learned Michael Jackson has died."

- US-based website TMZ breaking the news at 4pm on June 25th that Michael Jackson had passed away.

"In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence - both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill."

- US President Barack Obama, writing in Parade magazine on 21st June, 2009,, as the US marks Fathers Day.

"People are tired of dictatorship. People are tired of not having freedom of expression, of high inflation, and adventurism in foreign relations. That is why they wanted to change Ahmadinejad."

- Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, speaking after the election result was announced on the weekend. Mr Mousavi has launched a formal appeal against the result which saw incumbent hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected (as quoted on www.reuters.com on 14th June, 2009).

"Glimmers of hope that the worst of the financial crisis and economic downturn had passed sparked a rebound in risk appetite among investors."

- The Bank of International Settlements, often referred to as the "central banks' central bank", in a statement on 8th June, 2009 (as quoted on www.theaustralian.news.com.au).

"I said to Prime Minister Singh that the more than 90,000 Indian students in Australia are welcolme guests in our country."

- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemning recent attacks on Indian students Federal Parliament on 1st June, 2009, after he spoke to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the issue (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"May you never forget the great dignity which derives from your Christian heritage, or fail to sense the loving solidarity of all your brothers and sisters in the church throughout the world."

- Pope Benedict XVI, addressing a crowd of 20,000 at an open air mass in Jordan on 10th May - the visit is part of a pilgrimage he is making to holy sites in the Middle East (as quoted on www.latimes.com on 11th May, 2009).

“There do some good signs that…this disease may be slightly slowing, that the spread may be reducing, or its virulence may be reducing. But we’re still in a situation where it’s a novel disease. No-one’s entirely sure how it will develop into the future...and we intend to keep making sure that we are erring on the side of caution..."

- Federal Health MInister Nicola Roxon, speaking on 4th May, 2009, as the World Health Organisation says it has recorded 506 cases of swine flu and 19 confirmed deaths in Mexico (as quoted on www.theaustralian.com.au on 4th May, 2009).

"What this can really be interpreted as is a significant step towards pandemic influenza...a pandemic is not considered inevitable." 

- World Health Organisation Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda speaking in reference to an outbreak of swine flu, believed responsible for more than 150 deaths in Mexico (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk on 28th April, 2009).

"It is essential...that in re-entering a public debate on asylum seeker issues, we learn, as a nation, from past mistakes and focus scrupulously upon the facts. What must be avoided
at all costs is any return to the divisive and destructive debate surrounding Tampa, ‘children overboard’ and the Pacific Solution.” 

- John Gibson, president of the Refugee Council of Australia, in a statement issued on 17th April, 2009, following an explosion off Ashmore Reef near the Western Australian coast on 16th April in which it is believed five asylum seekers were killed.

"It's no use talking endlessly - preaching endlessly - about reconciliation and forgiveness and liberation. No argument can persuade anyone about this, only the lived reality. It's worth remembering that Paul of Tarsus joined the Christian community not as a well-meaning religious enquirer but as someone who had been the equivalent of a terrorist gunman, someone who had supervised the activities of a private militia devoted to abducting and imprisoning members of the Christian sect. He is a perfectly intelligible figure in the back streets of modern Beirut or Baghdad. And he has to find his 'heaven' by going, undefended and unvouched for, to the people he has been trying to silence and kill. Can anyone live like this?"

- Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in his 2009 Easter sermon.

"As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act...So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment and desire to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." 

- President Barack Obama speaking in Prague following last week's G20 Summit in London (as quoted on www.telegraph.co.uk on 5th April, 2009).

"We have been able to account for a number of people who were initially presumed missing as a result of the fires and this has impacted on the final figure." 

- Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe announcing that the death toll from the Black Saturday bushfires had been lowered from 210 to 173 (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 30th March, 2009).

"The situation remains extremely worrying and difficult. It is the first setback for the world economy in over 50 years...It will be at the roots of social unrest, some threats to democracy and maybe for some cases, it can also end in war." 

- International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, speaking in Geneva on 23rd March, 2009, days after the IMF forecast a one per cent contraction on the world economy this year.

"I am painfully aware that I have deeply hurt many, many people, including the members of my family, my closest friends, business associates and the thousands of clients who gave me their money. I cannot adequately express how sorry I am." 

- Bernard Madoff, speaking in New York on 13th March after pleading guilty to the largest swindle in Wall Street history (as quoted in The Australian on 14th March, 2009).

"The thought that the Sri Lankans are guests and my country's image will be ruined if any of the players got seriously hurt spurred me." 

- Bus driver Meher Mohammad Khalil who drove the Sri Lankan cricket team to safety amid a hail of bullets after the players' bus - along with a bus of officals -, came under attack by a dozen gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan, on 3rd March, 2009 (as quoted in www.theage.com.au).

"You know there's sharks always going to be out there...But I mean really, I mean these are extraordinary situations, I don't think sharks are coming in and preying on beaches or doing what that film Jaws showed was to happen." 

- Adam Wilson, organiser of the Sydney Harbour Swim Classic, speaking in the wake of the third shark attack on Sydney's beaches in three weeks (as quoted on The World Today in www.abc.net.au).

"Simply know this - you who suffer are not alone." 

- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaking at the National Day of Mourning for victims of Victoria's bushfires at Rod Laver Arena on 22nd February.

“February 7th will become etched in our national memory as a day of disaster, of death and of mourning and it is very important that the nation grieves." 

- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announcing the National Day of Mourning for victims of Victoria's bushfires, later revealing it would be held on 22nd February.

"It's just like a bomb blast, like street after street is just no longer there. You see fireplaces and remnants of tin roofs still there and car bodies, cars that are half alight still." 

- Dixons Creek firefighter Drew Adamson describing the scene in Kinglake (as quoted in The Age in 9th February, 2009).

"If you invest in girls, if you educate girls, if you get girls into jobs, you solve many problems." 

- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank, speaking at a special session on educating girls in developing countries at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on 31st January, 2009.

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

- US President Barack Obama in his inaugural speech on 20th January, 2009

"The fighting must stop...To both sides, I say: just stop now. Too many people have died." 

- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in relation to the ongoing strife in Gaza in which at least 900 people have died since late December (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 13th January, 2009).

"The deaths and suffering of the last three days are dreadful and shameful and will achieve nothing but more deaths and suffering.” 

- World Council of Churches General Secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, speaking in reference to Israel's air strikes on Gaza in late December, 2008, in which more than 300 people have been killed and 1,000 injured.

"The time has come for Robert Mugabe to answer for his crimes against humanity, against his countrymen and women and for justice to be done. The winds of change that once brought hope to Zimbabwe and its neighbours have become a hurricane of destruction, with the outbreak of cholera, destitution, starvation and systemic abuse of power by the state. As a country cries out for justice, we can no longer be inactive to their call...The time to remove them from power has come."

- Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, writing in Britain's Observer newspaper on 7th December, 2008.

"We believe that there can be no justification whatsoever for such despicable acts of terrorism and indiscriminate violence." 

- The World Council of Churches general secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, on 27th November, 2008, referring to the Mumbai terrorist attacks in which 172 people - including two Australians died - and almost 300 were injured.

"The entire basic structure in education, healthcare, feeding people, social services and sanitation has broken down. These are all indications that the crisis in Zimbabwe is much greater, much worse than we had ever imagined." 

- Former US President Jimmy Carter. speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, after he was part of a delegation refused entry to the African nation (as quoted in The Los Angeles Times on 25th November, 2008).

"The Government's thoughts are with the thousands of families that have been caught up in this disaster and most particularly with the family of the young man who tragically lost his life."

 - Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard in references to a storm - one of the biggest in 20 years - which struck parts of southern Queensland on 16th November (as quoted in The Courier-Mail on 17th November, 2008).

"Today is a time for us all to bear in our thoughts and our prayers the 200 Australian and Indonesian families who were shattered by the Bali bombings six years ago. Their lives remain shattered. They've been changed fundamentally by that murder."

 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd following news of the execution of the Bali bonbers on 10th November, 2008 (as quoted in The Age).

"Change has come to America."

 - Barack Obama, elected the first African-American president of the United States, in his acceptance speech in Chicago on 4th November, 2008.

"This is going to turn into a landslide."

 - Ed Rollins, who masterminded Ronald Reagan's second presidential victory in 1984, has called the US election for Barack Obama (as quoted on www.theage on 27th October, 2008.)

"For the poor, the costs of the crisis could be lifelong. The poorest and must vulnerable groups risk the most serious - and in some cases permanent damage."

 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick, speaking in reference to the global financial crisis (as quoted on www.telegraph.co.uk on 13th October, 2008.)

"It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed is good ideology. And today we are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st Century children of Gordon Gekko."

 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a speech to a group of business leaders in early October (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 6th October, 2008.)

"This is an epidemic, a cancer in Pakistan which we will root out. We will not be afraid of these cowards."

 - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, speaking after a suicide bombing killed at least 53 people and injured some 266 others at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk on 21st September, 2008.)

“What Australia needs is real leadership. It needs strong leadership, it needs leaders that say, `This country is strong. It can do anything'."

 - Newly elected Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Tunrball after he ousted former leader Dr Brendan Nelson in a party room spill on 16th September, 2008 (as quoted on www.canberratimes.com.au on 17th September, 2008.)

"On the medical, surgical side, to do an abortion at 24 weeks is, for even an obstetrician, a horrific event. The thought of what goes on for a 24 (weeks) and later abortion appals even my hardened obstetrics colleagues."

 - Bionic ear pioneer and surgeon, Professor Graeme Clark, addressing a rally of faith leaders in Melbourne on the eve of a debate in the Victorian Parliament over new laws to give women legal access to abortion (as quoted on www.theage.com.au on 8th September.)

"We'll still get some nasty weather but we've dodged a big-time bullet with this one."

 - New Orleans stockbroker Peter Labouisse, speaking after Hurricane Gustav weakened to a tropical storm before hitting the US city on 1st September, 2008 (as quoted on www.reuters.com.)

"We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness."

 - US Ambassador to China, Clark Randt, in a statement released hours before the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

"I have decided to resign from the presidency...I am not thinking on personal levels, but Pakistan first. Take care of Pakistan."

 - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, announcing his resignation in an hour long live telecast on 18th August, 2008. Mr Musharraf had been in power since 1999.

"What they are doing is nothing to do with conflict, it is about annihilation of a democracy on their borders."

 - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili speaking in reference to the Russian role in a bloody conflict which has broken out over the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia (as quoted by the BBC).

"His works changed the consciousness of millions of people, forcing them to think about past and present in a different way."

 - Last Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in a statement about dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who has died on 3rd August, 2008, at the age of 89 (as quoted on www.telegraph.co.au).

"I just thought, 'I'm really happy with life. I have a beautiful fiance, family, friends - I have had a wonderful life.' And I thought, 'I'm on a plane, there's nothing I can really do about it.' "

 - Tara Kynnersley, a passenger aboard Qantas flight QF30 which suffered an explosion after leaving Hong Kong bound for Melbourne on 26th July, 2008, but was able to be safely landed (as quoted on www.smh.com.au).

"He has asked for a haircut and a shave."

 - Lawyer Sveta Vujacic, speaking about war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, following Karadzic's arrest in Serbia this week after more than a decade of hiding. He has been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide over the massacre of up to 8,000 mainly-Muslim Bosniaks at Srebrenica in 1995. Mr Vujacic has said Karadzic will represent himself at his trial to be held in The Hague (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk).

“Young friend, God & his people expect much from u, because u have within u the Father’s supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus – BXVI"

- Pope Benedict XVI in a text message sent to 150,000 pilgrims attending the opening mass of World Youth Day in Sydney.

"Such a perfect operation is unprecedented."

- Ingrid Betancourt, a hostage of Colombian rebels for six years, speaking after and she and 14 other hostages escaped in a daring rescue last week without a shot being fired (as quoted by the BBC on 3rd July, 2008).

"We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate, sham of an election process."

- Zimbabwean Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarai announcing his withdrawal from this week's presidential run-off poll (as quoted ABC News on 23rd June, 2008).

"I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric."

- US President George W. Bush, commenting on the 'gun-slinging' language he used in the early days of the Iraq war (as quoted in The Times Online on 11th June, 2008).

“To use the threat of hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life."

- Douglas Alexander, the British Secretary of State for International Development, accusing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of “callous contempt” for the poorest Zimbabweans after his government announced its decision to halt all aid operations in the country in the run-up to the deciding presidential vote (as quoted in The Times Online on 7th June, 2008).

"Tonight, we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America."

- Barack Obama, claiming the Democratic Party presidential nomination in the US on 3rd June, 2008 (as quoted in The Age on 5th June, 2008).

"I hope and believe that any hesitation the Government of Myanmar may have had about allowng international humanitarian groups to operate freely in the affected areas is now a thing of the past.”

- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking after a meeting with Burma's leader, Senior General Than Shwe (as quoted at www.un.org on 25th May, 2008).

"It's difficult in there. It's like walking a tightrope."

- World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello talking about how his attempts to convince the military junta that rules Burma that the aid agency was only in the country to help in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis (as quoted in The Age on19th May, 2008).

"The authorities of the country need to open up to an international relief effort. There aren't enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the country to run the relief effort of the scale we need. It's urgent that the authorities do open themselves up."

- Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations, speaking in reference to the crisis in Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nargis (as quoted in The Wall Street Journal Online on12th May, 2008).

"This is really a war zone and great devastation...done by mother nature."

- Aung Din, from the US campaign for Burma, speaking to Radio Australia's Connect Asia program about the cyclone has left Rangoon without transport, water or communications and killed, according to revised government figures, almost 4,000 people in the Asian nation with thousands more still missing (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 5th May, 2008).

"My decision not to participate reflects the changed symbolism of the Olympic Torch Relay...The Uniting Church and ACOSS have proud histories of standing with those who suffer violence and injustice and of working for a world in which the dignity of every person is valued and human rights are upheld."

- Lin Hatfield Dodds, president of the Australian Council of Social Services and national director of UnitingCare Australia, talking about her decision not to take part in the Olympic Torch Relay (as quoted on www.smh.com.au on 22nd April, 2008).

“Look, there's some really good stuff there."

- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking after the weekend's 2020 Summit about the outcomes that came from it (as quoted on theaustralian.com.au on 21st April, 2008).

"I grew up in a little bush town in Queensland of 200 people, and what this day says to Australian women and to Australian girls is you can do anything, you can be anything."

- Quentin Bryce on being named Australia's first female governor-general (as quoted on news.com.au on 14th April, 2008).

"It's bittersweet really, isn't it? But, to know where they're resting is really something."

- Widow Pat Ingham, whose 21-year-old husband John died when the HMAS Sydney was sunk in 1941 with the loss of all hands, speaking after the first pictures of the wreck were seen following its discovery in waters off the coast of Western Australia last month (as quoted on ABC's Lateline in 5th April, 2008).

"We have won an election. Mugabe's victory is not possible given the true facts."

- Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, commenting on elections in the nation (as quoted by Associated Press on 1st April, 2008).

"We don't talk turning points, there are no lights at the end of the tunnel, we don't do victory dances, and we've moved the champagne to the back of the fridge."

- US General David Petraeus, commanding general of the multi-national force in Iraq, speaking about the situation in Iraq ahead of next month's report to Congress on the success of the "troop surge" (as quoted on www.telegraph.co.uk on 24th March, 2008).

"These most recent developments in Tibet are disturbing and from my point of view, I would call upon the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint."

- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd commenting about a Chinese Government crackdown on pro-independence activists in Tibet in which at least 80 people have reportedly been killed (as quoted www.news.com.au on 17th March, 2008).

"New sins have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation."

- Catholic Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti talking about the addition of new sins - including polluting, genetic engineering, obscene riches, taking drugs and abortion - to the seven deadly sins defined by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century (as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald on 11th March, 2008).

- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking after becoming the first Iranian head of state to visit Iraq since the bitter war between the two nations in the 1980s (as quoted by Reuters on 2nd March, 2008)

"The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution is unique, Fidel is Fidel, as we all know well, he is irreplaceable."

- Cuba's new president, Raul Castro, after being unanimously selected by the nation's National Assembly to succeed his ailing brother, 81-year-old Fidel Castro (as quoted by BBC on 24th February, 2008).

"To the stolen generations, I say the following: as Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the
government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry. I offer you this apology  without qualification."

- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a speech made after he read a formal apology to the stolen generations in the Australian Parliament on 13th February, 2008.

"For there to be a coordinated attempt to assassinate the entire democratically elected leadership of a close neighbour and friend of Australia's is a deep and disturbing development."

- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaking in response to news that East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao had been attacked in raids by rebel gunmen on 11th February, 2008. President Ramos Horta was airlifted to Darwin after he was shot in the chest and stomach while Prime Minister Gusmao escaped harm.

"It's not a baby doll - it's alive!"

- Rescue worker David Harmon after finding 11-month-old baby Kyson Stowell lying about 100 metres from his Tennessee house after it was destroyed by a twister. Fifty-five people have been killed in tornadoes which unleashed their fury across five US states this week (as quoted in The Washington Post on 7th February, 2008).

"It was clear ethnic cleansing in the Rift Valley."

-The top US offical for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, US assistant secretary of state, describing violence in parts of Kenya since the 27th December presidential election as "ethnic cleansing" (as quoted in Guardian Unlimited on 31st January, 2008).

"All the crew did their job absolutely brilliantly, but I think some thanks has to go to the man upstairs for giving us the little lift at the end."

- John Coward, co-pilot of a Britsh Airways jet that crash-landed at Heathrow Airport in Britain late last week (as quoted in Herald-Sun on 21st January, 2008).

"I don't know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything...but there's no doubt, either, that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics. That has given me more satisfaction that a footprint on a mountain."

- Sir Edmund Hillary, who became the first man known to have climbed Mt Everest - the world's highest peak - in 1953. The New Zealander, who founded the Himalayan Trust which built schools, hospitals and clinics, died on 11th January at the age of 88 (as quoted in The Weekend Australian on 12th January, 2008).

"The impact will be that Pakistan is in more turmoil. There is a very real danger of civil war in Pakistan."

- Riaz Malik, of the opposition Pakistan Movement for Justice party, following the death of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a suicide bombing attack (as reported on www.telegraph.co.uk on 27th December, 2007).

"God guided me and protected me."

- Security guard Jeanne Assam who shot gunman Matthew Murray after he murdered four people - including two teenage girls at a church and two YWAM workers at a training centre - in Colorado on 9th December (as reported on www.thedenverchannel.com on 10th December, 2007).

"In Africa the lifetime risk of dying of pregnancy-related causes is around one in 22. In industrialised countries, it's one in 8,000."

- UNICEF's chief of health, Dr Peter Salama, commenting on a report which shows that while remarkable progress has been made in reducing child mortality rates, maternal mortality, HIV prevention and pneumonia are all key areas that need improving (as reported on www.abc.net.au on 10th December, 2007).

"My class was delighted and were making wonderful progress with their studies. I will miss them terribly and I am very sad to think that they have been distressed by this event."

- British school teacher Gillian Gibbons in a statement following news that she was being released from prison early in Sudan. Ms Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail for allowing children in her class to name a teddybear Muhammad (as reported on www.bbc.co.uk on 3rd December, 2007).

"Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward to plan for the future, to prepare for the future, to embrace the future and together as Australians to unite and write a new page in our nation's history."

- Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd after news of the Labor party's victory on 24th November, 2007.

"Can I say to all the people of Australia that it has been a tremendous honour, opportunity and privilege to serve you...I wish this nation well. "

- Outgoing Prime Minister John Howard in his concession speech on 24th November, 2007.

``Slowing and reversing these threats is the defining challenge of our age."

- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the launch of the final report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (As quoted on on 19th November, 2007).

"China's religious affairs authorities and the Olympic organisers have not - and could not - issue a rule banning the Bible in the Olympic village."

- China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao responding to reports last week that Bibles would be banned from next year's Beijing Olympics. (As quoted in The Guardian on 8th November, 2007).

"I cannot allow this country to commit suicide."

- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf speaking in a television address after imposing a state of emergency in Pakistan late last week. (As quoted on www.reuters.com on 3rd November, 2007).

"We cannot declare the execution of Australians to be barbaric and the execution of Indonesians to be acceptable."

- Former chief justice of the Australian High Court, Sir Gerard Brennan, in comments in which he said Australia's stance on the death penalty for the Bali bombers was jeopardising the nation's international credibility. (As quoted on www.abc.net.au on 1st November, 2007).

"The people who died belonged to the poor classes."

- Fasal Edhi, mortuary director, commenting on the deaths of at least 138 people following a suicide attack on the homecoming procession of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Karachi, Pakistan, on 19th October. (As quoted in The Age on 21st October, 2007).

"This country does not need new leadership, it doesn't need old leadership. It needs the right leadership."

- Prime Minister John Howard, after announcing the federal election will take place on 24th November. (As quoted on www.abc.com.auon 14th October).

"I intend to make the case for why Australia needs new leadership now."

- Opposition leader Kevin Rudd in response to the announcement of a poll date. (As quoted on www.abc.com.au on 14th October).

"It's with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust."

- Fallen US track star and three-time Olympic champion Marion Jones in a statement made after she pleaded guilty to lying to US government investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs (As quoted on www.news.com.au on 6th October).

"I would like to deeply apologise to the people for causing trouble to them. I regret that I couldn't meet people's expectations."

- Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in a statement made on 24th September, 2007, at his first public appearance since his abrupt resignation on 12th September (As quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"My position is today as it was last week and as it was last year. I'm going to this election as a team. John Howard asked me to go to this election with him as his deputy leader and his treasurer. Last year, I said I would. I will. That's it."

- Federal Treasurer Peter Costello hosing down speculation he would challenge Prime Minister John Howard before the upcoming election (as quoted on Channel Nine on 16th September, 2007).

"It's a very important milestone in the march towards a sensible international agreement on climate change, which recognises the need to make progress, but also recognises that different economies bring different perspectives to addressing the challenge of climate change."

- Prime Minister John Howard, referring to the 'Sydney Declaration' made by APEC leaders. The declaration commits APEC members to trying to improve energy efficiency by at least 25 per cent by 2030 (as quoted by ABC on 9th September, 2007).

"We owe a big debt to the nation and people."

- Yoo Kyung-shik, one of 19 South Korean missionaries released last week after being held hostage for six weeks by the Taliban in Afghanistan (as quoted in The Independent on 3rd September, 2007).

"I want God with all the power of my soul - and yet between us there is terrible separation.”

- Mother Teresa in one of numerous letters to friends and confessors published in a new book 'Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light' (as quoted in The Times Online on 24th August, 2007)

"This type of politics that takes an indiscretion from the distant past is unworthy of our democracy. It is low politics."

- Monsignor Les Tomlinson, Vicar-General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, in reference to revelations Kevin Rudd visited a New York strip club in 2003 (as quoted in The Age on 20th August, 2007).

``We've heard about climate change, the economy and work laws. It's time to get religion back on the agenda."

- Jim Wallace, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, quoted on Bloomberg in the lead-up to last week's event in which both the Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd addressed Christians around the nation (as quoted on 9th August, 2007).

"By authorising the deployment of a hybrid operation for Darfur, you are sending a clear and powerful signal of your commitment to improve the lives of the people of the region, and close this tragic chapter in Sudan's history."

- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement to the Security Council following its resolution to deploy a UN-African Union force in Darfur (as quoted on 31st July, 2007).

"The Korean government strongly condemns and urges an immediate end to these heinous acts of killing innocent people in order to press for demands that it can't meet. Kidnapping and killing innocent people can't be justified for any cause.''

- The South Korean Government in a statement released after the murder of the second of 23 South Korean Christian missionary hostages being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan (as quoted on www.koreatimes.co.kr on 31st July, 2007).

"I think we are done with the mortality of AIDS in treated people. Only five years ago hope was an abstract notion, now hope is a reality."

- Michel Kazatchkine, newly appointed executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria speakng at the International AIDS Society conference in Sydney (as quoted on www.smh.com.au on 23rd July, 2007).

"It means the Pope is a Catholic, actually. Of course, they would think that - we think they're a bit dodgy, too, but we've come a long way from saying the Pope is the antichrist."

- Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, commenting on the release of a document by the Vatican stating that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church (as quoted on www.theage.com.au on 12th July, 2007).

"You are Live Earth!"

- Eco-crusader and former US vice-president Al Gore speaking at the weekend's Live Earth concerts, 7th July 2007 (as quoted by the ABC).

"It's obvious that we have a group of people - not just in this country, but round the world - who are prepared at any time to inflict what they want to be maximum damage on civilians, irrespective of who the religion of these people who are killed or maimed are to be."

- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking after terrorist attacks in London (which were foiled by police) and Glasgow (which involved a car exploding at the airport) in late June (as quoted by the BBC).

"Many Australians, myself included, looked aghast at the failure of the American federal system of government to cope adequately with Hurricane Katrina and the human misery and lawlessness that engulfed New Orleans in 2005. We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina, here and now. That it has unfolded more slowly and absent the hand of God should make us humbler still."

- Prime Minister John Howard in a speech at the Australia Institute on 25th June, 2007, referring to the issue of sexual abuse of children in remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. The Federal Government last week unveiled their plan to intervene in remote communities in a bid to stop the abuse. (as quoted on www.smh.com.au on 26th June, 2007).

"It just seems impossible sometimes. I left Sudan because they force us to join the army and I would have ended up killing my brothers, people just like me."

- Sudanese refugee Abueldasim Adam, one of refugees which gathered in Sydney on 20th June, 2007, to call on the Federal Government to send peacekeepers to Darfur (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"It's heartbreaking. I've been through the earthquake and a fire in the building, but the water damage is the worst experience I've had in 40 years of retail life. Just pure devastation."

- Newcastle businessman Paul Murphy, whose business was among those ransacked by looters in the wake of the floods in New South Wales (as quoted on www.news.com.au on 12th June, 2007). Nine people died in the floods with damage estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

"China will not commit to any quantified emissions reduction targets, but that does not mean we will not assume responsibilities in responding to climate change."

- Ma Kai, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, which steers climate change policy in China (as quoted on Reuters.com on 4th June, 2007).

"I hope this anniversary marks a renewed effort by all Australians to use all the tools and knowledge of today to achieve a genuine and full reconciliation and equality of our peoples, both indigenous and non-indigenous."

- Governor-General Michael Jeffery referring to the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum in which voters supported changing the constitution to allow the Commonwealth Government to make laws specifically for indigenous Australians and remove barriers to counting them in the census (as quoted in The Canberra Times on 28th May, 2007).

"David is well and he enjoyed the trip, and he's very, very glad to be back on Australian soil."

- David McLeod, Australian lawyer of former Guantanamo Bay internee and convicted terrorism supporter, David Hicks, following Hicks' homecoming on the weekend (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 20th May, 2007).

"Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right."

- British Prime Minister Tony Blair sums up his legacy on 10th May, 2007, as he announces he will be stepping down in late June.

"Let's boycott and not go there so that in this way we can embarrass and put pressure on the Zimbabwe government and Mugabe and his cronies."

- Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, calling on Prime Minister John Howard to stop the Australian cricket team touring Zimbabwe in September (as quoted on ABC Online on 3rd May, 2007).

"The truth of war is not always easy to hear but it is always more heroic than the hype."

- Former US Army private, Jessica Lynch, testifying before a congressional committee in the US on 24th April, 2007 (as quoted by The Guardian newspaper).

“We must hope and pray there is rain”

- Prime Minister John Howard speaking with regard to the ongoing drought in Australia on Thursday, 19th April, 2007 (as quoted in The Herald-Sun).

``We feel today that we are stronger than yesterday. The parliament, government and the people are all the same - they are all in the same ship which, if it sinks, will make everyone sink."

- The Iraqi Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, speaking in response to the suicide bombing in parliament's dining hall, since claimed by al-Qaeda, which killed eight and wounded 23 on Thursday, 12th April, 2007 (as quoted on Guardian Unlimited on 14th April, 2007).

"It is okay in the day, they play around the camp, but when night comes and we are putting them to sleep, they start thinking of their friends and cry because they didn't play with a mate that was killed."

- Tastre Ataria, the co-ordinator of the destroyed village of Titiana, referring to the 11 children who died in the village. As many as 20 of the 38 people who died after a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands on 2nd April were children (as quoted in The Australian on 10th April, 2007).

"I was a hero to a lot of people and I want that to remain...I want all the kids who have admired me to continue to have that admiration."

- Retired Australian swimming champion Ian Thorpe speaking in response to relevations he had elevated levels of testosterone and luteinising hormone (as quoted in The Age on 2nd April, 2007).

"It just seemed like it was coming in too quick - I looked out on the right hand side and saw how fast we were coming in, which was not a normal landing from the descent and how low we were to the ground - that's when we hit the ground."

- Leading Aircraftsman Kyle Quinlan, of the Royal Australian Air Force, who was among the injured in last week's plane crash at Yogyakarta airport. Five Australians were among the 21 killed in the crash (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 8th March, 2007).

"I obviously made the wrong decision in this case, so I think what I have learnt in life is that you make some mistakes, you admit them, you cop it on the chin and you dust yourself off and you keep going.''

- Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, referring to now controversial meetings he had with former West Australian premier, Brian Burke, during an appearance on Seven Sunrise (as quoted on PerthNow on 2nd March, 2007).

"(Government-sanctioned slavery) ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history".

- From a resolution passed by law-makers in the US state of Virginia, believed to be the first US state to apologise for slavery (as quoted on BBC on 25th February, 2007).

"The separation that exists at the present time is a scandal to people outside the church who say 'Why can't these Christians get together?'."

- Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby, co-chair of the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission which is preparing a statement looking at the common ground and differences between the Catholic and Anglican churches. (as quoted on CNN, 20th February, 2007),

"If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."

- Prime Minister John Howard in a TV interview broadcast on the Nine Network on 11th February, 2007, in which he attacked US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's opposition to the Iraq war.

"This is my son, David. He's been missing for five years - held in Guantanamo Bay. Without trial."

- Terry Hicks, father of detainee David Hicks, in a national television advertisement which goes to air from 6th February.

"Christianity has been an enormous force for good and has done more than anything else to shape the lives, not only of millions of Australians, but the character of our nation."

- Prime Minister John Howard in a DVD message presented at an Australia Day gathering of 4,000 Christians in Melbourne organised by Catch the Fire Ministries.

"Our models indicate that it is highly likely that it will continue to weaken and will disappear within the next few months."

- Climatologist Blair Trewin, of the National Climate Centre, referring to El Nino (as quoted in The Age on 24th January, 2007).

"It seems this man wants to live in controversy..."

- Ameer Ali, chairman of the Prime Minister's former Muslim advisory group, referring to Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali in the wake of comments the sheikh made on Egyptian television claiming that Muslims who paid their own way to Australia were more 'Australian' than Anglo-Saxons who came in chains  (as quoted in The Age on 13th January, 2007).

"The Australian Government has unequivocally condemned last month's coup against the democratically elected government of Fiji..."

- Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer reiterating Australia's condemnation of the Fiji coup as he announced a new high commissioner to the island nation (as quoted on www.news.com.au on 9th January, 2007).

"Saddam's execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq's history."

- A scrolling headline on Iraq's state run Iraqiya television on 30th December, 2006, following the execution of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by hanging (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk).

"The cricket we've played is as good a Test cricket as I've seen from this team for a long time. We've probably set a new standard for ourselves."

- Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting after the Australian team regained The Ashes from England (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 18th December, 2006).

"General Augusto Pinochet symbolised a dark period in South America's history, a long night when the lights of democracy disappeared, stamped out by authoritarian coups."

- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a statement following the announcement of Pinochet's death in Chile (as quoted by Reuters on 12th December, 2006).

"This visit will help us find together the way to peace for the good of humanity."

- Pope Benedict XVI, after pausing to pray alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, Mustafa Cagrici, in the Blue Mosque during his controversial visit to Turkey (as quoted in The Age on 2nd December, 2006).

"We didn't just wake up on a Monday morning and say, 'Let's call this a civil war'."

- Matt Lauer, host of the NBC Today Show in the US explaining that NBC News, against US Government policy, has decided to characterise the situation in Iraq as a civil war (as quoted in The Boston Globe on 28th November, 2006).

"I do have a brother. That brother, along with both sides of politics, has failed to see with the same moral clarity what your generation gets".

- World Vision chief executive and co-chair of Make Poverty History Tim Costello speaking at the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne on 17th November, 2006 (as quoted in The Age).

“MPs should reflect on Senators’ confusion and uncertainty over this controversial vote and clarify for themselves that the issue is genuinely about overturning a unanimous decision to ban cloning in 2002.”

- Jim Wallace, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, in a statement released on 8th November, 2006, after the Senate passed legislation to allow the cloning of human embryos.

"Down with the invaders and down the the traitors."

- Part of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's response to news that he had been sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the murder of 148 Shia villagers in 1982 (as quoted in The Australian on 6th November, 2006).

"It's the worst in a century. I would expect this drought to leave a very big impression on the Australian psyche."

- Prime Minister John Howard (as quoted by Reuters on 13th October, 2006).

"If the most backward, poverty-stricken, hermetic regime in the world can go nuclear, it is a sign that any country that wants to can eventually do the same."

- Jon Wolfsthal, a security specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, following news North Korea had tested a nuclear weapon (as quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, 10th October, 2006).

"I believe words have great weight and I want people to know exactly what I mean."

-Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez responding to a question from Time Magazine after an extraordinary speech at the United Nations in which he accused US President George W. Bush of being the 'devil' and of leaving the smell of sulpher in the UN hall.

"My Daddy was my hero."

- Eight-year-old Bindi Irwin in a speech she made at her father Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's memorial service in Queensland on 20th September, 2006.

"Our major priority must be to maintain peace and harmony within the Australian community, but no lasting achievements can be grounded in fantasies and evasions."

- Cardinal George Pell, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, in a statement responding to the reaction to a recent speech by Pope Benedict in which he controversially quoted from a medieval text.

"It is a struggle for civilisation. We are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations."

- US President George W. Bush in an address to mark five years since 9/11.

"I would never blame an animal if it bit me, that is for sure, because I'm at fault, not them."

- Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, whose death from a stingray barb was reported on Monday, 4th September (as quoted in The Age, 5th September, 2006).

"We thought it was just a little ball."

- Hassan, one of three children, aged 10 to 12, who was injured when they encountered a cluster bomb while playing in he village of Aita al-Shaab, in southern Lebanon. He spoke these words from his bed in the intensive care ward in a Tyre hospital where he was being treated after his abdomen was cut open. (As reported in on Guardian Unlimited, 21st August, 2006).

"To those who did not return home, the 18 we lost at Long Tan and another 500 who gave their lives during the 10-year war, and the 2,400 we lost wounded or maimed in various ways, let us remember them. Lest we forget."

- Retired Lieutenant Colonel Harry Smith, commander of Delta Company, 6RAR, at Long Tan, (as quoted on 17th August, 2006 on www.smh.com.au)

"No political party owns God."

- Kevin Rudd in a speech given at the National Christian Heritage Forum in Canberra on 7th August, 2006.

``My hope is that there will be an opportunity for voices of freedom to be heard within Cuba, that this would begin a moment of transformation and transition to a better life and better day.''
- Former Cuban resident and now a US senator for Florida, Mel Martinez, on news that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was handing power over to his brother Raul as he enters hospital for surgery (as quoted in the Miami Herald 1st August, 2006).

"It is urgent that we reach these children with emergency relief and supplies that can make the difference between life and death."

- UNICEF executive director Ann Veneman quoted as the first UN convoy carrying humanitarian relief arrived in the strife-torn city of Tyre in south Lebanon (as quoted by ABC Online 27th July, 2006).

"We see the terrible, tragic loss of life that is happening. It is an appalling situation, and a dangerous situation for the whole of the region, the whole of the world."

- British Prime Minister Tony Blair in reference to the Middle East crisis involving Israel and Lebanon (as quoted by Associated Press,18th July)

"We will work to defeat the evil designs of terrorists and will not allow them to succeed.''

- India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after bomb attacks in Mumbai killed more than 170 people and injured hundreds more (as quoted on Bloomberg,12th July).

“This is a grave crisis. The slightest turn of events could easily set off another full-scale conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, bringing greater dangers to civilians, and with serious regional repercussions. All parties must recognise this, and act with wisdom and care, and in full conformity with international humanitarian law."

- Assistant UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane (as quoted on UN website, 30th June).

"We're obviously happy we've got this far but so disappointing to go out in the fashion we did."
- Australian Socceroos captain Mark Viduka after Australia bowed out of the World Cup, losing 1-0 to Italy (as quoted on ABC online, 27th June).

"I've had a chance at great wealth and with great wealth comes great responsibility. It is time to give back to society those resources in the best possible way to help those in need."

- Bill Gates, the world's richest man, announcing he intends stepping down from running software behemoth Microsoft over the coming two years so he can devote himself to charity work (as quoted in The Australian on 17th June, 2006).

"It is not a question of discriminating against them; it is a question of preserving as an institution in our society marriage as having a special character."

- Prime Minister John Howard, answering a question about why the Federal Government was scuttling the Australian Capital Territory's plans for gay civil unions (as told to ABC's AM program on 7th June, 2006).

"If we do not unite, everything we have will be lost. We have to stop the violence. We have to solve, one by one, all the problems."

- East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao addressing demonstrators outside his office in Dili on 6th June, 2006, referring to the destruction and violence that has rocked the fledgling nation during the past couple of weeks (as quoted in the Melbourne Herald Sun).

"Hospitals, the whole medical infrastructure, are overwhelmed. It's Day Three after the earthquake, many have severed limbs, crushed limbs, as in all other earthquakes, and it's a race against the clock to save their lives."

- The UN's top relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, referring to the aftermath of the earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale which struck close to Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java on 27th May, 2006 (as quoted on www.bbc.co.uk). At least 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed with many times that injured.

"In regard to the Aboriginal people of your land, there is still much to be achieved. Their social situation is cause for much pain. I encourage you and the Government to continue to address with compassion and determination the deep underlying causes of their plight."

- Pope Benedict XVI in a statement to Anne Maree Plunkett, the new Australian ambassador to the Holy See (as quoted on www.abc.net.au).

"I made a film about this mysterious steam locomotive that appears on front lawns and whisks kids off to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus and that is as much as a piece of fantasy and film-making, believe it or not, as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code."

- Tom Hanks, star of the movie 'The Da Vinci Code', likening the movie's basis to his earlier film, 'The Polar Express' (as quoted in the Sunday Herald Sun, 14th May, 2006).

"Both Brant and Todd are out of the tunnel and well"
- Text message sent by Beaconsfield mine manager Mathew Gill to reporters shortly before 5am on 9th May.(as quoted on www.theage.com.au on 9th May, 2006).

"This town, the prayers...it's just a miracle..."

- Kaye Russell, mother of miner Todd Russell, after hearing he was alive despite being trapped for five days nearly a kilometre underground inside Tasmania's Beaconsfield mine (as quoted on www.abc.net.au on 1st May, 2006).

"The fact that there has been no truth and reconciliation commission means emotions are still bottled up, repressed."

- Solomon Islands' Catholic Archbishop Adrian Smith in comments on the recent violence in Honiara (as quoted in 'The Age' newspaper on 24th April, 2006).

"(T)he Church does not exist just to transmit a message across the centuries through a duly constituted hierarchy that arbitrarily lays down what people must believe; it exists so that people in this and every century may encounter Jesus of Nazareth as a living contemporary."

- Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in his Easter sermon on 16th April, 2006.

"They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas."

- Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, referring to the 'Gospel of Judas' in his work 'Against Heresies', written in about 180 AD. The recent discovery of the text in the Egyptian desert was announced by the US National Geographic Society earlier this month. Scholars say they have long been looking for the 'Gospel of Judas' because of Bishop Irenaeus' reference to it. (As reported in the New York Times, 6th April, 2006).

"I trust God for inspiration"

- Unconventional artist Pro Hart who died at the age of 77 after a long battle with motor neurone disease in March, 2006. As quoted in The Australian, 28th March, 2006.

"I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must die, I will die.''
- Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman quoted in Rome's 'La Repubblica' (as reported by Associated Press). Since the statement, reports suggest Rahman, who faced a death sentence for his conversion to Christianity, will be released by Afghan authorities pending a review of his case. The move follows a massive global outcry over his case.

"Let me go to God."

- Pope John Paul II's last words as quoted in a new book on the late pope, 'Let Me Go'.

"A billion (dollars) just isn't what it used to be"

- Forbes magazine associate editor Luisa Kroll as quoted in a Reuters report on 10th March, 2006.

"If you believe in God (the judgement) is made by God...the only (way) you can take a decision like that is to try and do the right thing according to your conscience."
- British PM Tony Blair during an interview with TV host Michael Parkinson on his decision to commit British troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq (as quoted in the Sunday Age newspaper on 5th March, 2006).

"It's a church being organised on corporate logic. That can be quite dangerous if we are not very careful, because this may become a Christianity which I describe as 'two miles long and one inch deep'."

- World Council of Churches General Secretary Samuel Kobia in a reference to the "megachurch" phenomenon, as quoted in an interview with Reuters which took place at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Brazil (14th to 23rd February, 2006).

"Somehow up to 100,000 abortions a year is accepted as a fact of life - almost by some as a badge of liberation..."

- Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott during the parliamentary debate held on 15th February over who should decide whether Australian women can access the abortion drug RU486.

"These decisions should be taken on their journalistic merits by Australia's news media - we should not be kow-towing to anybody when it comes to freedom in this country."

- Federal Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd saying that decisions about whether to publish cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammed should be made solely on editorial grounds (as quoted in an ABC online report on 6th February, 2006).

"(T)here is a fundamental contradiction between armed group and militia activities and the building of a democratic state. A two-state solution to the conflict requires all participants in the democratic process to renounce violence and terror, accept Israel's right to exist, and disarm, as outlined in the (diplomatic quartet's peace) roadmap."

- From a statement by the Middle East diplomatic "quartet" -  consisting of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - issued on 26th January, 2006, following Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections.

"There are people walking around now who after the use of RU486 will be dead, and we won't be able to legislate them back to life, so I think it is very important that we give this inquiry its proper airing."

- Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce quoted in 'The Age' newspaper on 19th January, 2006, in relation to his push to extend a Senate inquiry looking at the question of who should decide whether Australian woman can use the controversial abortion pill RU486. The inquiry is expected to report to Federal Parliament on 8th February with members to make a conscience vote on the issue the next day.

"Today, as we recall our collective failures in places like Rwanda and Srebrenica, it remains my hope that we may never again be found wanting where so many lives hang in the balance."

- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking on the 55th anniversay of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, on 12th January, 2006.

"We urge prayer for his health and for the person of Ariel Sharon, as well as for his nation, which is facing much sudden uncertainty."

- Malcolm Hedding, executive director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, in a summons to prayer issued on 6th January, 2006.

"Australians should greet 2006 with hope and optimism. This is a strong and respected country. Our nation's standing abroad has never been higher. As 2005 showed it is also a compassionate country with a big heart."

- Prime Minister John Howard in his New Year's message to the nation.

"(T)he fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom."

- US Federal Court Judge John Jones in his ruling that intelligent design cannot be taught in high school sciences classes in Pennsylvania (quoted in The Age, 22nd December, 2005).

"Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians irrespective of their own background and their politics."

- Prime Minister John Howard responding on 12th December to the violent attacks on people of Middle Eastern appearance which took place at Sydney's southern beaches on the weekend.

"Mr President, we talk about work and family, but this Bill is about work or family. That is a choice Australians should never have to make."

- Family First Senator Steve Fielding in a speech in  Federal Parliament on 1st December, 2005, following the second reading of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005.

"My hope is that the Government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly."

- US President George W. Bush quoted during his visit to China earlier this month where he went to a worship service at an officially sanctioned Protestant church.

"All schools and kindergartens should be able to have nativity plays and Christian celebrations."

- Victorian Premier Steve Bracks quoted in a Herald Sun story on 21st November, 2005. The State Government's stance on Christmas celebrations comes after several schools banned nativity scences and carol singing last year for fear of offending non-Christians.

"I believe that it is a matter of concern that Australia, as a Christian country, does not mention God in our anthem in the same way God is mentioned in the anthems of other countries..."

- Federal MP Peter Slipper addressing Parliament on 8th November 2005, arguing that God should be mentioned in Australia's national anthem.

"In the time it took you to read this article, 13 people died of tuberculosis, 20 people died of AIDS, and more than 5,500 babies died of preventable respiratory infections."

- From Time magazine's 7th November issue (2005) in relation to an article on world health that barely runs for more than half a page.

'God' to guide deal on fair pay

- Frontpage headline from 'The Sunday Age' newspaper, on 30th October, 2005, referring to comments by the head of Australia's proposed Fair Pay Commission, Ian Harper, that he will rely on his Christian faith and values to make decisions.