With his name now legally cleared, David Hicks doesn't care about an apology from the federal government but wants help covering medical bills following years of torture at Guantanamo Bay.
An overnight ruling by a US military court vacated his terrorism conviction bringing to an end to an almost decade-long legal saga.
The 39-year-old Adelaide-born man is relieved the ordeal is over, but says he's not angry.
"It is just unfortunate that because of politics, I was subjected to five-and-a-half years of physical and psychological torture that I will now live with always," Mr Hicks told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
"No, there is not anger. I think I am too defeated to have anger. I am worn out."
He won't be seeking compensation at this point but wants help with medical expenses because his time locked up in the US military jail in Cuba has led to ongoing health problems.
He needs operations on his left knee, right elbow and back.
"My teeth keep getting pulled because I couldn't brush them for five and a half years," he said.
"It is becoming an expensive exercise to fix myself from torture."
Earlier his father, Terry, called on the federal government to apologise to his son, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott was unsympathetic.
"He was up to no good on his own admission," Mr Abbott told reporters in Launceston.
"I'm not in the business of apologising for the actions that Australian governments take to protect our country."
Asked if Australia had done enough to help Mr Hicks, Mr Abbott said: "We did what was needed."
Mr Hicks said he didn't care about an apology, he just wanted to live a normal life.
"It's all over with," he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten thinks the government has questions to answer about Mr Hicks' treatment.
"There is no doubt on one hand David Hicks was probably foolish to get caught up in that Afghanistan conflict, but clearly there has been an injustice done to him," he told reporters in Melbourne.
In March 2007 Mr Hicks pleaded guilty while in Guantanamo to providing material support to terrorism.
This was part of a plea bargain that allowed most of his seven-year sentence to be suspended and Mr Hicks to return to Australia.
In 2014, a US appeal court ruled that providing material support to terrorism was not a legally viable war crime under the jurisdiction of the Guantanamo court.
Prosecutors had argued his conviction should stand because he had agreed not to appeal as part of the plea deal.
But this was rejected in a unanimous decision by the US Court of Military Commission Review.
Mr Hicks' story began about 15 years ago when he left Australia and later travelled to Pakistan and on to Afghanistan, where he joined an al-Qaeda training camp.
He was handed to the US and taken in 2002 to the US Navy base and military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Asked on Thursday what he was doing in Afghanistan in 2001, Mr Hicks replied: "Having a holiday".
Mr Hicks hit out at his critics.
"I think they're supporters of torture," he said.
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