I am deeply committed to the cause of Indigenous Australians, and not just because of the Apology, but the big challenges which lie ahead in closing the gap.

We are moving toward recognition of the first Australians in the Australian constitution.

If you accept it to be natural and normal to be gay then it follows it is not right for two folk who love each other to be denied marriage.

Something my mum taught me years and years and years ago, is life's just too short to carry around a great bucket-load of anger and resentment and bitterness and hatreds and all that sort of stuff.

Australia is a nation of compassion. Courage and compassion. And the third of these great values: resilience.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

In your telephone call, you [Malcolm Turnbull]said that neither you nor the Cabinet would be supporting my nomination. When I asked the reasons for this, you said that neither you nor the Cabinet has the view that I had the qualifications for the position [of UN's secretary-general].