FED: Quotes of the year

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-1999
FED: Quotes of the year

SYDNEY, AAP - Quotes of the year:



"It was like watching the fifth re-run of Bellbird on the ABC." - Opposition leader
Kim Beazley on Prime Minister John Howard's speech reviewing the government's last four
years in office.



"Everybody get down." - Driver Kevin Sinnett, moments before his train slammed into
the Indian Pacific in the Blue Mountains, killing seven people.



"Can't bowl, can't throw." - Joe the cameraman, heard on Channel Nine talking about
Test novice Scott Muller. Shane Warne repeatedly denied suggestions the comment came from
him.



"I think he should stay amateur for the next 35 years." - Golf professional Stephen
Leaney, fearing 18-year-old Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley will take too much
prizemoney when he turns professional



"Ray, you're a bastard for talking me into this." - Dr Shane Wiley, to his friend,
pilot Ray Clamback, during their eighth hour in rough seas after their light plane ditched
off Hawaii. They were rescued.



"Knowing what I know now, I wish I had been less trusting, more vigilant and more vigorous."

- 2UE chairman John Conde on the sponsorship deals of John Laws and Alan Jones at the
cash for comment inquiry.



"I respect and accept this result." - The Queen's response to Australia's decision
to vote to retain her as the country's head of state.



"It was taken out the back of the paddock and shot. It was an act of mercy by the Australian
people." - Poet Les Murray washing his hands of the constitutional preamble he co-authored
with the Prime Minister after it was rejected at the referendum.



"I think John Howard should open the Olympics -- dressed as the Queen." - Comedian
HG Nelson on the controversy surrounding who should open the Games



"It would be destructive of your reputation if the audience gets the impression you'd
do anything for a quid." - Radio presenter Alan Jones denying that he sold comments on
his radio show for cash.



"If this keeps up, I'm going to take my team from the field." - Wallaby skipper John
Eales, overheard by ground microphones talking to referee Andre Watson about French foul
play during the rugby World Cup final.



"There's only one thing better than beating the South Africans in a semifinal, and
that's to tie with them and still go through." - Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh
in a prophetic message to the World Cup Wallabies.



"Whose bread I eat his song I sing." - Julian Burnside, QC, counsel assisting the "cash
for comment" inquiry.



"I have done this with a heavier heart than you can imagine, given that many of you
don't think I have any heart at all." - Jeff Kennett to the media on his decision to quit
as Liberal leader in Victoria.



"If we vote No on November 6 our next head of state will be King Charles III." - Australian
Republican Movement chairman Malcolm Turnbull.



"Probably the first one was more significant because it was my first one - I know this
is a strange comparison but it's kind of like losing your virginity." - Australian Cathy
Freeman comparing her second 400m world athletics championship to the first won in 1997.



"We have lost the faith (in the monarchy)." - Peter Costello, Treasurer, would-be Prime
Minister and republican.



"If along the way I have trodden on some toes; if I have offended some, I am sorry."

- Mr Kennett, proving that hate means having to say you're sorry.



"It will be like the prodigal son returning." - Trainer Bart Cummings on the return
of jockey Darren Beadman after he retired to pursue religion.



"Australian soldiers. Welcome to East Timor. Graves have been prepared for you. Rest
in hell." - The place card of an anti-UN protester in Jakarta.



"Liam, this is your father speaking. Come home at once for your tea." - Seumas Phelan's
message to his son, an Australian journalist in the UN compound in Dili.



"We have seen the face of evil." - Former Australian consul to East Timor James Dunn,
after being evacuated to Darwin.



"They had a big meal, a big steak, and made a serious dent in the restaurant's stock
of Aussie wine." - CARE International spokesman Antony Robbins on Steve Pratt and Peter
Wallace's first night of freedom.



"Women cause a lot of problems by nagging, bitching and emotionally hurting men. Men
cannot bitch back, for hormonal reasons, and often have no recourse but violence." - An
unnamed NSW magistrate, in a survey on apprehended violence orders (AVOs).



"People are buying paintings for the right reasons, not just because they've got Nolan
or Boyd written on them." - Roger McIlroy, whose company auctioned Brett Whiteley's Jacaranda
Tree for almost $2 million, a record for a modern Australian artist.



"It has always been a privilege to work for workers." - ACTU secretary Bill Kelty stepping
down after 16 years.



"If you want a friend in Canberra, get a dog." - Former Prime Minister Paul Keating,
echoing Harry Truman's sentiments about friendship in politics.



"The young people - certainly the young Australians - who have been killed all shared
the spirit of adventure, the joy of living, the exuberance and the delight of youth."

- Governor-General Sir William Deane in the memorial service for those who died in the
Swiss canyoning disaster.



"The Pakistanis are constantly accused of losing matches in return for money but attempting
to throw a Test match against England is not a task that anyone could undertake with absolute
confidence." - Journalist Martin Johnson on England's coming cricket series.



"It's one small step for Tim, it's one great step forward for my family." - Outgoing
National Party leader Tim Fischer on his move to the back bench.



"An achievement of which I am ashamed." - Prime Minister John Howard disappointed that
Australia has 21 per cent of the world's poker machines.



"Get out of it, you maggots." - Former senator Mal Colston to photographers as he left
Parliament for the last time.



"I am an Aussie. I've been an Aussie since I came here." - One Nation member Heather
Hill after a High Court ruling that she wasn't an Aussie when she nominated for the senate
and therefore could not take up her seat.



"We saved our best until last." - Australian Cricket captain Steve Waugh after Australia
defeated Pakistan to win the World Cup.



"We are living at the moment in what could be regarded as the third golden era of economic
performance." - Prime Minister John Howard on Australia's wellbeing.



"In the past old soldiers faded away but the modern old soldier wants to go out with
a bang." - RSL official Tom Griffith calling for subsidised Viagra for veterans.



"They've got lengths on me ... especially Phar Lap." - AFL player Tony Lockett, when
asked if his feat of kicking a record 1300 goals put him up there with Australian sporting
icons like Bradman and Phar Lap.



"It prepared me for politics." - Embattled north Queensland MP Warren Entsch on his
former occupation as a crocodile catcher.



"I'm scared of horses and I'm scared of heights ... I don't know what Junior's (Pearce)
got planned next." - NSW rugby league halfback Andrew Johns on recent team bonding sessions
in which players rode horses and climbed the Harbour Bridge.



"Having just paid our respects to the highest mountain in the world, I then had no
choice but to urinate on it." - Extract from the autobiography of Sir Edmund Hillary,
who conquered Everest but not nature's call.



"I have to ask myself whether I am going to be party to imposing an impersonal, indiscriminate
tax on my children, my grandchildren and their children for generations to come. I cannot."

- Independent senator Brian Harradine rejecting the Howard government's GST.



"A greater health hazard than smoking." - Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell's
view on homosexuality, after denying the sacrament to 60 gay activists.



"Make sure you've got somewhere big enough." - National icon Gough Whitlam, 82, when
told of a tribute dinner in his honour.



"I lived to use, and I used to live." - Former addict Joe Latty, 43, tells the NSW
drug summit of the days when his life was consumed by heroin.



"He was not whistling Dixie." - Melbourne Major Events boss Ron Walker on why he thought
Australian IOC member Phil Coles had called the Atlanta Olympic bidding team 44 times
when he said he was supporting Melbourne.



"Switch off the television and get outside. Get bored, for God's sake. Stop being entertained."

- What film director Peter Weir thinks parents should tell their over-stimulated children.



"In the Balkans, when you hate once you hate forever." - A young Kosovo refugee, told
on the flight to Sydney that in multicultural Australia, people tried to forgive and forget.



"I didn't die, I just stopped playing."- Rugby league star Alan Langer downplays the
reaction to his sudden retirement announcement.



"We own nothing; all we do is possess things for a short period; you don't even own
your wedding ring; nothing." - Artist Arthur Boyd, who died aged 78, and whose multi-million
dollar gifts to the nation included his NSW property Bundanon.



"She reminds me a little bit of Manuel in Fawlty Towers. She knows nothing." - Judge
Kenneth Moore on the testimony of socialite Rose Porteous in a case in which he granted
an order restraining her from contacting her former clairvoyant.



"I do not wish my grandchildren to grow up in a world where the bottom line is king
- and where all measurements are in terms of dollars." - Janet Holmes a Court - current
net worth $260 million.



"They've been out to lunch for three years." - John Howard's view of the NSW Liberal
Party after election defeat.



"There is a history with this gentleman of, shall we say, a reluctance to stay in custody."

- Detective Inspector Aldo Lorenzutta on armed robber John Killick, who staged a daring
jailbreak using a helicopter hijacked by his girlfriend.



"I'll remain a big cuddly bear." - Opposition Leader Kim Beazley announcing that his
vision for the ALP doesn't include changing his personal leadership style.



"It's still suicide - it's just a slower version." - Chiquita Sturgess, 19, of Sydney,
comparing heroin use in the city with teenage hangings in the country, in a video just
before she died from injecting liquefied Vegemite.



"It seems that litigation is becoming the roulette wheel of the rich." - Author Bob
Ellis on the $277,500 defamation payout to Howard government ministers Tony Abbott and
Peter Costello and their wives over one paragraph in his book Goodbye Jerusalem.



"I thought the only thing missing was the guillotine in the city square." - IOC member
Phil Coles complaining about media treatment of claims that he accepted lavish Olympic
hospitality from Salt Lake City.



"Killen, you have been wrong so many times. It's nice to know that you were right for
once." - Former Liberal minister and believer Jim Killen's idea of what the late 'Diamond'
Jim McClelland, atheist, might say when they meet in the afterlife.



"I feel that my heart's not quite in it." - Retired Test skipper Mark Taylor.



"I was hopeless at school and my parents would say to each other: 'Whatever will happen
to Dick? I believe that in no other country than Australia could I have turned such failure
into success." - Dick Smith, honoured on Australia Day.



"We didn't win it (the bid) on the beauty of the city and the sporting facilities we
had to offer." - AOC president John Coates, who admitted giving African IOC members over
$2 million for sports training programs in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics vote.



"I get to stay up all night, I work with explosives and I play with really big toys.

Scientists are really just people who have never lost the curiosity of their childhood."

- Astronomer and Young Australian of the Year Dr Bryan Gaensler.



AAP dc/jjs/arb

KEYWORD: YEARENDER QUOTES

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.