None of the serious maritime incidents I had to deal with as transport minister off the pristine Queensland or Western Australian coastline involved an Australian flagged and crewed vessel.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Nobody has ever been hurt by the actions of ships I have been on.
It so happened that I was on a German sailing vessel on the way to Australia when the ship was captured, and on the high seas I was made prisoner by the French.
Media were never allowed into an Australian dressing room until I became skipper. I changed that and invited them in at the close of play each day, thereby confirming for many administrators they had appointed a madman as captain.
But I did a lot of boxing and I was captain of an Australian surf club.
Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck.
No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
As a child, I had the opportunity to meet the captain onboard a British Airways flight. It was so exciting to see the cockpit and controls. I was in awe of the captain, and he stamped my log book, which I still have to this day.
There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
Mum told me stories about her time in the Women's Royal Navy, and about her dad, who had died before I was born - he'd been sent to Australia as a child, then joined the Australian Army in the First World War and fought at Gallipoli.
One could drive a prairie schooner through any part of his argument and never scrape against a fact.
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