On why so many people attempt to move to Australia: "For some it might be the excitement and challenge of testing their resourcefulness" — National Press Club speech, March 3, 1998.
On torture: Ruddock rejected Amnesty International's demand that he overturn the deportation of an asylum seeker who faced torture in his native Somalia because "in the absence of a central government in Somalia, there are no officials to inflict torture" — Amnesty Annual Report 2000.
On the stolen generations: "If you look at a generation, you are looking at all people of that age. The question is do you allege that all of a particular age were affected by these measures? The actual answer is no" — Lateline, March 3, 2000.
"The policy [of removing children] is only now inappropriate. At the time it was essentially lawful" — quoted by Peter Yu, Australian, April 3, 2000.
On a government apology to indigenous Australians: "We want to move on. And revisiting these issues isn't going to help" — AM, August 25, 2000.
On welfare agencies helping asylum seekers: "Many of them have obtained mobile telephones and I'm sure there are many necessitous people in the Australian community that wouldn't be using the money that is provided for food to buy mobile telephones and then go to charities to try to top up their income" — Daily Telegraph, August 14, 2000.
On refugees who have contacted more than one charity: "That suggests to me double dipping" — Four Corners, October 6, 2000.
On why Aboriginal people are disadvantaged: "We are dealing with people who were essentially hunter gatherer. They didn't have chariots. I don't think they invented the wheel" — Washington Post, July 4, 2000.
On why access to detained asylum seekers is denied to human rights organisations: "Should an asylum seeker be identified, it could give rise to claims which did not previously exist" — press release, December 10, 2000.
On why the government refused to search for two missing boats carrying refugees from Indonesia, in contrast to launching expensive searches for missing solo sailors in the last two years: "That was where people had taken proper precautions in terms of using beacons ... These [refugees] get onto flimsy boats which have little in the way of life saving equipment, have certainly little in the way of navigational devices, and are a very high risk" — ABC's The World Today, December 14, 2000.
On offering sympathy to relatives of those on the missing boats: "[The relatives] are knowingly taking part in illegal operations, breaking Australian law and putting their relatives at risk. My department will be investigating the extent of their complicity in the illegal arrivals. They should be in no doubt they are breaking the law" — press release, December 22, 2000.