Politics calls for robust debate and criticism, but this should never descend to personal and demeaning slurs.

There's a lot of criticism and public debate, but our plan is workable and we're prepared. Our plan is comprehensive and only getting better.

I was defence minister for a few years,

We don't want to see the Kangaroo taken out of Qantas,

If there were gold medals for biting the hand that feeds you, Mark Latham would be standing on top of the dais.

[While I will admit to a personal bias in Beazley's favor -- he has been a friend for more than three decades -- the fact is that his comments seized the attention of all the Americans in the room. Here was someone willing to lay out an alternative strategy aimed at freeing the United States from an all-consuming mess in a way that could leave its influence intact.] You have to win, you know, ... You cannot lose the war on terror.