Quotes from Helen Clark

I have no beliefs of a religious kind.

If the market is left to sort matters out, social injustice will be heightened and suffering in the community will grow with the neglect the market fosters.

Never look back' is my philosophy.

In the end, there will always be a fundamental difference of perspective between New Zealand and Australia on defense, whoever is in government.

Equity, dignity, happiness, sustainability - these are all fundamental to our lives but absent in the GDP.

Health and education are always issues.

I don't know that you're ever going to persuade New Zealanders that they're not going to own their own homes and I'm not going to try.

There is also a marked global trend towards sustainable agriculture, building on traditional methods which use fewer chemical inputs, carefully manage soil and water resources, and work hand-in-hand with nature.

I'm not into power for the sake of it.

Although biodiversity loss continues globally, many countries are significantly slowing the rate of loss by shoring up protected natural areas and the services they provide, and in expanding national park systems with tighter management and more secure funding.

I only take on roles that I'm passionate about. Life is too short to do things that you're not happy with.

Business can talk itself into a blue funk.

Innovation applied across the board of development is having a huge impact, and can have more. All sorts of technology can provide shortcuts, can overcome obstacles which once seemed insuperable.

We're a nation in search of an identity, but it's quite exciting. I don't regard it as a problem. It's a challenge.

Any serious shift towards more sustainable societies has to include gender equality.

I've been round Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and China in the last few months and the message that I've been taking is that New Zealand is building an up market dynamic into a connected economy. And that we are not the old-fashioned, ship mutton kind of product the people associate their export in work.

New Zealand's been pretty quiet on human rights issues, which we will be taking rather more interest in, and in international labor issues.

Well of course New Zealand isn't anti-American.

Well, there have been periods in the past when prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand were at each others' throats publicly and frequently. That's not productive at all.

Well, we don't think for a moment that either the U.S. or Australia are out to damage the New Zealand economy, but if there were a sustained period in which they had a free-trade agreement and New Zealand didn't have that same arrangement with the States, that could be both trade- and investment-distorting.

Fortunately New Zealand doesn't have land borders so we are able to be somewhat more rigorous on who gets in and out of our country than perhaps some people.

I think it's inevitable that New Zealand will become a republic and that would reflect the reality that New Zealand is a totally sovereign-independent 21st century nation 12,000 miles from the United Kingdom.

I think that generally New Zealand is respected for the positions it takes because it thinks them through.

In terms of having views and being prepared to express them, yes, I think New Zealand's had a leadership role in a lot of things.