Frank Lowy

I believe in a big Australia. I am an advocate for an ambitious immigration program.

I don't think of myself as a hard man, but other people may think otherwise. You know you have obligations to do the best you can for people, for your job, for your shareholders... it all has to be balanced between the hardness and the softness.

The human being is very resourceful. When you fight for survival, you don't think much; you just do. If you think too much, you sink.

All I was looking for is to be successful. I had the opportunity with Australia, with what it provided for me economically.

I wanted to build a family very strongly because I lost my family when I was 15, 14, and I missed the family unit very much.

I was in Australia for many years. And the system there is a two-party system and the government changes from time to time.

I knew that Britain and the United States were beacons of freedom and democracy at a time when my life - and Western civilisation itself - was at grave risk.

I have... been disturbed by the negative tone of the debate over immigration... there is a rising crescendo of opinion from columnists and politicians saying we should reduce our immigration intake.

We are focusing too much on the problems and forgetting about the opportunities of immigration. Let us learn from our history. Immigration has been great for Australia in the past. I believe it will be great for Australia in the future.

From morning when I wake up until I go to sleep, I am working. I go to bed and I want to switch off, but the brain doesn't switch off.

Democracy needs to be nurtured and treated with care.

If I had stuck to my knitting, I would have had a wonderful career having a delicatessen in Blacktown.

So you've got to test the envelope, find out what are your abilities and if you falter, pick yourself up and test it again. Otherwise, what is it all about, you know?

All my life from a young man I have worked very hard and I enjoyed it very much and I was really afraid with what I would do when I no longer had the responsibility.

I did a lot during my lifetime and I think it is time to make a change to my life at a young age of 87.

The game needs to be funded by sponsors, by members, by broadcasters. There needs to be a commercial relationship between the FFA and the people who supply the money so it is a natural alliance. Sport is not a charity.

My family are big philanthropists, but not at putting big money into sport. Today sport is professional. It has to support itself or it won't exist. It cannot depend on a few wealthy people making donations.

As a child I learned what it meant to be persecuted. But, even then, at the worst of times, I knew there was good in the world.

We need to give the prime minister of the day a chance. If he or she cannot win an election, so be it. But no prime minister can push through the reforms we need if they cannot even finish a term in office.

I am 84 years old and have not retired because I feel I have something to contribute.

When I was a lone soldier I didn't have a penny with me. Everybody was eating hummus with tehina and ate falafel, and I couldn't buy it. I was a little hungry, but I managed.

The loss of my father was the most traumatic event in my life - I can't forget the pain.

The loss of my father marked my life. I'm 88 years old and I'm still mourning him because it's such a drama for me. It was just after my bar mitzvah and it was so tragic. The effect on me, I carry it all my life.

As a boy I stood at the doorway of our hiding place in Budapest and watched Russian troops fight house by house to liberate the city and therefore rescue us from certain death.

It was very frustrating when I was president of Hakoah. You could not make any headway. We couldn't attract the public because it was an ethnic game. Australians were not interested.