Joan Kirner

Dad was a great advocate for social justice and a very quiet advocate of the essential Labor values.

A lot of young women ask me, 'Can you go into politics and maintain your ideals?' Well, I think you can. You might not, in any one interview, tell the whole truth, but to deliberately deceive the public who've elected you is totally unacceptable.

Just by making a decision to stay out of politics, you are making the decision to allow others to shape politics and exert power over you. And if you are alienated from the current political system, then just by staying out of it, if you do nothing to change it, you simply entrench it.

I used to get into the government car and switch on Chopin or someone I liked to hear at the end of a parliamentary day.

I've never had any problem with criticism. I've given a lot, and I've copped a lot. But I believe I've got a role to play by insisting that women be judged by their contribution - not somebody's view of what they should be about.

Going across the Tannai Desert was one of the spookiest experiences I've ever had. Not driving during the day; that was fine. And so we camped in an old sort of truck siding, I think. And the silence. The eerie silence and then a dingo howling, and it was just so spooky. I didn't sleep all night.

I'm a workaholic. I would not pretend to be anything else. I rarely go to bed before one o'clock in the morning. I might kind of have a spa between half-past twelve and one and relax, and that's when I do my thinking, or my non-thinking. That's when I have a bit of space for myself.

Isn't that what we come into politics for? To say to people: 'You can do it, too - there is a chance to serve your community. There is a chance to shape it co-operatively and democratically, without fear or favour.' And that is what I tried to do.

I was very happy being education minister and deputy to John Cain.

Mum was an absolutely determined woman. She was determined I would have a good education, and they went without all sorts of things to ensure it.