Empowerment of individuals and communities is absolutely central. Getting the community involved in organising their own destiny has got to be a key part of it.

Australia is a very healthy country which goes along with the fact that it's very high on the Human Development Index, high wealth, good levels of education. So Australia ranks right up there, second or third on the Human Development Index. And Indigenous Australians, if you treated them as if they were a separate country, would rank probably about 100th or below 100.

I'm not an Orthodox Jew, I don't practise much in the way of Jewish religion, but I am very Jewish and I think it probably does indeed influence what I do.

The academic life is wonderful. That's why people love to do research.

Angus Deaton has written a wonderful book, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. . . . Deaton's book is a magisterial overview of health, income, and wealth from the industrial revolution to the present, taking in countries poor and rich. Not just jargon-free but equation-free, the book is written with a beautifully lucid style. . . . [P]owerfully argued and convincing.

The differences between Indigenous and not Indigenous Australians can be easily attributed not to differences in their genes but to differences in the conditions in which they're born, grow, live, work and age - in other words, to the social determinants of health.

Our elected politicians do what they judge is the right thing to do. And if we disagree then I'll show them the evidence of why I disagree.