"There was one sort of trauma in having an election forced. There would have been another sort of trauma in having that government stay in power for another six of seven months."

On Australian refugee policy

"If they are genuine refugees, there is no deterrent that we can create which is going to be severe enough, cruel enough, nasty enough to stop them fleeing the terror in their own lands."

"Australia is now known around the world as the most inhumane, the most uncaring and the most selfish of  all the wealthy countries."

"If you embrace a positive view and embrace the courage of the people who are prepared to try and get a better life for themselves and their families, I think the political pressure starts to diminish."

On the death of his friend and former political nemesis Gough Whitlam

"The line's broken. In this world, anyway, it's broken forever."

On the modern Liberal Party

"The departures from the principles underlining that Liberal Party are substantial and serious. The party has become a party of fear and reaction. It is conservative and not liberal. It has not led positive directions, it has allowed and, some would say, promoted race and religion to be part of today's agenda. I find it unrecognisable as liberal."

On Indigenous reconciliation

"Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action."

On Tony Abbott after February's vote on a leadership spill

"You know, the Prime Minister has got his back to the wall. He's just survived a near rebellion from his own party and he has demonstrated since then that he has not changed, he has not learnt, he has behaved in the same bully-boy fashion, which is a reputation that has haunted him since long before he was prime minister."

On Australia's role in international affairs

"Australia has never lacked a sense of independence and I think it is only Australians with a massive inferiority complex who have ever felt that Australia is not independent and does not make its own decisions."

Quoting Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw

"Life wasn't meant to be easy, my child, but take courage: it can be delightful."

On politics

"You have to be an optimist. Why involve yourself in issues of public policy unless you are?"