The PM Years Quotes

“The irony was that it was the failure of neo-liberalism itself during the crisis that had caused its principal exponents to cut and run to the social democratic state, both domestically and internationally, to save neo-liberalism from itself. And then, having done so, to later blame social democrats for the cost and consequences of the resulting intervention, which had taken the form of budget deficits and higher public debt arising from a classic Keynesian response to the crisis. This took a breathtaking level of political and ideological hypocrisy from the right.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“perfidious”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“Just after his election I sent him a handwritten note of congratulations. He told me some time later that I had quite a knack for grabbing someone’s attention in the opening lines of a letter. Apparently, after the mandatory salutation of ‘Dear Mr President’ I had followed with the immortal phrase: ‘You poor bastard. Welcome to Messiah syndrome. Infinite expectations. Finite resources.’ He told me he laughed and laughed when he read it. It was certainly of a different hue to the correspondence he received from other”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“As Tony Abbott said to me one day, describing the Liberals’ approach to Opposition: ‘Kevin, if we see a head, we kick it. That’s it.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“Malcolm was a man in a hurry. His chutzpah was of almost imperial dimensions. Unfortunately, it was not grounded in a knowledge of the facts, nor in the exercise of sound political judgement.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“Swan felt enormous pride when in 2011 Euromoney magazine named him the world’s ‘finance minister of the year’. There was an almost audible dropping of jaws around the departments of Treasury, Finance, and Prime Minister and Cabinet. In fact, the core policy work throughout this period was undertaken by Ken Henry, Nigel Ray and David Gruen in Treasury, Jim Chalmers in the treasurer’s office, and Andrew Charlton and Steven Kennedy in my own. Swan’s talent, in fact, may have lain in knowing to not get in their way – and for some ministers, this was an important attribute.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“The truth is I desperately wanted Swan to succeed in the portfolio. I needed him to succeed, and so did the government. But people’s confidence in Swan as treasurer never lifted off the ground; he always conveyed the impression that he was out of his depth.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years

“As growth collapsed and economies went into recession, budget surpluses would disappear as taxation revenues fell and social security outlays rose to support the unemployed. This meant that government borrowing and public debt would increase.6 Budget deficits were now inevitable.7 But who would pay for these deficits in the long term? It wouldn’t be the financial institutions. No, it would once again be the little guy, the long-suffering taxpayer who, once economies eventually returned to growth, would see their taxes increase through ‘bracket creep’ until the debt was gradually retired.”
― Kevin Rudd, The PM Years