Quotes of the Day

I STAND FOR THE THINGS THAT I'VE BEEN DOING ALL MY LIFE - WORKING HARD TRYING TO CLIMB THAT LADDER OF OPPORTUNITY." "Economic aspiration is good and social mobility is even better." A place called Green Valley. "When I was young, my Mum used to tell me there were two types of people in our street - the slackers and the hard workers. We had our troubles at home, sure, but we were hard workers."

The coming man. "You've got to have a go. Get stuck into it." Conga line of suckholes. "If the other side is throwing punches, it's my job to whack them back as hard as I can." "I'm a hater." Arse licker. "It's a great Australian phrase … and it's an accurate description of the Prime Minister's behavior in Washington." Australia First. "Bush himself is the most incompetent and dangerous President in living memory." Deformed character.

LATHAM BREAKS TAXI DRIVER'S ARM. "I turned and chased and tackled him from behind, Johnny Raper style, and he hit the deck." "I've grown up in the western suburbs of Sydney." All my life. "Well, every now and then you've got to hold your hands up to defend yourself." Whack.

"Hey, Knucklehead." Roosters. "The new divide is between the true believers who want modern Labor to stand up and fight for our policy beliefs and the machine men, with their over-reliance on polls, spin doctors, the daily media cycle and a command-and-control style of politics." Third Way. "The taxi driver was trying to steal my property, and Kim Beazley's trying to steal the Labor leadership off Simon Crean - and I'm happy to tackle them both."

LATHAM 47 - BEAZLEY 45. New Sensation. "I'm the same Mark Latham but I'm in a new role." All my life. "I love the larrikin Australian role, but no more crudity." New politics. "Modern politics is broken, and we need to fix it." Democracy in the raw. "If in doubt, let's have more democracy, more direct voting, more public participation." Town-hall style meetings. Possum Magic. "If we all read books to our infant children, they will be reading themselves by the time they go to school." What did you learn today? "Quality teaching is a passport out of poverty." "You don't need a safety net unless you're turning Medicare into a high-wire act, and families are at risk of falling off." Waiting-list nation. howard backflip on m.p.s' super. The Opportunity Express. "The Australia I believe in is a big country. Big in size, big in spirit, big in character." Man boobs. "You will never hear me call Australia a deputy sheriff." Troops home from Iraq by Christmas. LATHAM CLOSE TO TEARS OVER RUMORS. "I didn't have a buck's night the second time around, I had one the first time and that was enough." Lay off my family. "I refuse to relive a marriage break-up publicly." "I believe I've got the character and policies to be a good Prime Minister of this country." Crash. Biff. Bling.

HOWARD'S $3,000 BABY PAYMENT. "It's like the reform of parliamentary superannuation. It doesn't matter where good ideas come from - Labor or Liberal. Let's get them done for the benefit of the Australian people." Class warrior. "All schools will be funded on the basis of need." King's School. "That's my goal - to give this country a government every bit as big and warm-hearted as the Australian people themselves." All my life. "Under our policy, young people will have just two options: they can be either learning or earning. No third option of just sitting around doing nothing." Pancreatitis.

THE TRUST ELECTION. "I want to ease the squeeze on middle Australia." Mogadon Man. L-plate. Liverpool Council. Gough Whitlam. "As the leader of the team, I make a full commitment to be there for the long haul and the benefit of the Australian people ... I'm 43 years of age, I feel like I'm in the prime of my life, I've got a lot to contribute for the future." Low interest-rate guarantee. Medicare Gold. Trees, not jobs. The handshake. HOWARD'S HISTORIC WIN.

Train wreck. "A good fighting opposition plays a role not only in being constructive with their own policy agenda, but holding the government to account." Where is Mark Latham since the tsunami struck? LATHAM'S BLACKOUT. Anyone But Latham. "The news about my health has not been good." DEAD IN THE WATER. "I have decided to resign both as Labor leader and as member for Werriwa." Whack. "Public life can take it out of people and, after 17 years and two serious life-threatening illnesses, the time has come to put my family and my health first." Bring Back Beazley. "In politics everyone talks about family values. I would like to practice them in a normal way." END OF THE ROAD.

• Tom Dusevic
• Mark Latham's legacy? A whirlwind of headlines, insults, big ideas and slogans