My portfolios of Citizenship & Multicultural Australia, Environment & Water and the Arts capture much of the conversation about national identity. They cover the land and its people and the creative ways in which we express who we are. Add in Indigenous Affairs and I’d probably have the lot. The stories that we tell help…

When I think about the values I bring to parliament, I think about my upbringing and the experiences I had as a child. For each of us, it’s typically those early experiences that are pieced together to form our adult selves. It’s funny what you remember from your childhood that hasn’t healed or faded with…

I started my career as a management consultant, where I was constantly encouraged to focus on the impact I was having on clients and on colleagues. I realised very quickly that creating an impact was a natural mission for me. It was exciting to discover that what drove me as a person, was in fact…

My Mum was what you might call a practical environmentalist. Her parents spent a big part of their life in Tasmania, so from an early age Christmas presents were Wilderness Society diaries and pictures of Tasmanian forests. Through Mum’s influence, I understood very clearly that there’s only one planet. We only get to use natural…

I came into parliament in 1996, after Labor suffered a terrible election defeat. Even though we were in opposition, as a new member of parliament, it was an exciting time for me. Being in opposition meant that I had time to learn; to understand how parliament works, and how to be an active member of…

I grew up on a Dairy farm, the youngest of seven children, six boys and a girl. It was a very basic, modest life, but good fun. We went to school in Shepparton. I’d catch the school bus each morning and home again in the afternoon. It would take an hour for the 30km trip…

We live in a fast-paced world, and everybody is asked to do more and cram more into the same amount of time. One of the ways I’ve always sought to respond to this challenge and maintain a balance in my life is through exercise. We are really fortunate, where I live and work, in Waverley…

Joe Hockey is a friend of mine and like many of us he had a dual personality. When parliament was sitting it was on for young and old! When we were in the House we were combatants, but then we’d meet on the touch football field where we played together in the Parliamentary World Cup…