The tyranny of distance is such an important element of policy and the allocation of resources.

I think there has only ever been one member of the Federal Parliament from either side found to have been corrupt in the whole history of Australia. I don't think we should create the architecture to solve a problem which barely exists.

A dining club which I was involved in at Oxford University invited Sir Isaiah Berlin to dinner, who I believe was probably the greatest liberal philosopher in the 20th century. I sat beside him and we spoke about liberal philosophy and the events of the 20th century all night over dinner - it was unforgettable!

We have a great literary tradition in Australia. I think the book is very much alive and the more people who are encouraged to read books the better our society will be and the wiser our society will be.

The thing about Dickens is you either love him or you hate him and I fell in love with Dickens, I fell in love with his prose style and I decided that I wanted to read the whole Dickens verve during the course of my life.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika's sentence doesn't expire, I'm told, until 2021, but I think it would be invidious for me as the Attorney-General to talk about individual cases or to anticipate the way in which a court, because it would be a judicial decision, might at some unspecified future time dispose of an application under a law that hasn't even yet been enacted.

I think it's important to have a blend just as we need to have by the way a mix of different opera companies and different arts companies.