So he spends his time seeking change through participation, through writing, through speaking. His website is loaded with speeches and articles. His diary is just plain loaded. He is wary, but not cynically so, of the political class and believes that if we do not speak up about change, we cannot expect good results from our lawmakers. He speaks of matters grave, but he avoids being ponderous and earnest, peppering his statements with wit. His eyes sparkle and his exuberance is evident. When he left the bench early last year, he was Australia's longest-serving judge. Now he has more freedom to speak out, not that he was ever accurately accused of reticence. There's more scope for him now to be involved beyond the institutions of our legal system. He has an unerring belief that human rights ought to be codified or otherwise enshrined in our national law, as they are in so many countries. He opens his time in The Zone (read the full transcript at theage.com.au/opinion/the-zone) by advocating a human rights charter, something that has failed to gain sufficient political support despite three attempts over the years, the most recent being last year's Brennan committee report that was shelved until 2014 by then prime minister Kevin Rudd. ''There does seem to be a certain hostility to it. And the hostility was really pioneered in the last debate by a number of very powerful interests, namely a particular publishing house and also politicians on both sides who obviously have come up the greasy pole.''

Kirby argues, in effect, that the political process is undermined by lack of participation.''The number of players is actually quite small. The numbers of people you've got to get to stack a branch to get a seat is actually quite small. The number of people who actually take a part in the political process is small in Australia. ''We vote every three years. And then we say, well, everything done by a government after that is done with authority of the people. Well, that's a fiction … And therefore the idea is to try to make the democratic process work more effectively and that means giving it a stimulus. ''And one way to give it a stimulus is to give the courts the opportunity to respond to something over which the politicians can't wield control - that is, people who go to court and say: 'Steady on, you have ignored or you have breached a basic principle. It affects me and I believe you should be reminded of this and if possible, that the law should be interpreted so that it conforms to the basic principle.' '' Kirby says there has been a decline in respect for the political system. He links it to failure to protect fundamental rights. ''The political parties often think they know best. But if you take, for example, the ban on gay marriage and the ban on any discussion of it and the fact that that is permitted in the public fora of Australia - that is something that just couldn't be ignored if you had an effective human rights mechanism. Then, at least, issues of equality, of citizenship, of principle would be addressed in the courts.''

''Why is it [the parliamentary system] disrespected now, at the moment, as it seems to be? I think the reason is because people are fed up with backroom people deciding the great issues of the day and deciding which issues will be advanced and which will not be discussed.'' Kirby's participation in discussion and action is global. He is part of the United Nations Development Program's global commission on HIV and the law, chaired by Brazil's former president Fernando Cardoso. Cardoso managed to convince chief executives of global pharmaceutical companies to locally produce generic, affordable antiretroviral drugs. ''He's a very interesting, principled politician … And so we were not just a group of theoreticians or judges. We were sitting there with the former president of Botswana and the former president of Brazil, a member of the United States Congress, as well as people who have been involved in the epidemic on the perimeters, as I have. ''We were trying to work out how can we stimulate politicians in other countries to do what we have done in Australia - to get rid of the laws against same sex adult private sexual activity; to get rid of the laws that criminalise the sex workers, the prostitutes; to provide for the access to antiretroviral drugs, to empower women, and so on.'' Another reform role Kirby has taken, at the behest of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, is membership of the Eminent Persons Group on the future of the Commonwealth of Nations.

There have been concerns the Commonwealth is failing to protect human rights. The group started its work with a declaration that silence is not an option. ''There have been serious abuses of human rights in Commonwealth countries that have just been unaddressed. Therefore, by saying that silence is not an option, I think, the group has indicated where it's heading. ''This is not going to be a timid whitewash. If they wanted to have a timid whitewash, they didn't choose the right people in choosing Graca Machel, Asma Jahangir, a human rights lawyer who's just been appointed to the president of Supreme Court Bar of Pakistan but who went to prison in earlier days for fighting for human rights, and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who was foreign secretary of the United Kingdom.'' Like all guests in The Zone, Kirby is asked what is the hardest thing he's done. It involved a principled, personal stand. He credits his partner of more than 40 years, Johan van Vloten, as the catalyst. ''The hardest thing in one way was coming out as a gay man. It was comfortable there in the closet and the rules of the game were generally observed … There are still lots of people, I can tell you, who are there in that comfortable little anonymous space, in the dark.

''And it was basically my partner. Sometimes non-lawyers see things more clearly. Citizens see things more clearly. He said, 'How long are we going to be around? We owe it to the younger generation to take a stand.' And I think it's been a good thing. I think it's a good thing for Australia to know that gay people are everywhere. They're everywhere . . But it wasn't an easy thing, and I paid a price.'' Kirby is energetic and only in his early 70s. We'll hopefully be hearing his clarion contributions for years to come. Those questions of fairness and decency often compel action. ''I am the result of a loving upbringing in a peaceful country, with wonderful parents and siblings, a very long-term relationship, stability, support - but a feeling that life isn't always just and that there is injustice for people and that we should do something about it.'' http://michaelkirby.com.au Loading