Why did you decide to become a Senator?

At university I was involved in the environment club and I realised that to achieve the environmental change I wanted I had to engage with the decision makers. At university that was the university administration and the body that they considered to be the student voice was the student representative council. I got involved in that and was elected to the student council and later as environment officer at the student union.

After university I continued to engage with decision makers about public transport and uranium mining as part of an environment, peace and Indigenous support groups.

When I was involved in community campaigning on these issues I came across people who I thought were really effective community advocates. I subsequently found out that these people were all members of The Greens. It was a great way to find out about the contribution that Greens members had to make to the community. When one of these community campaigners ran for parliament with The Greens, Lee Rhiannon, I got involved in her campaign.

After being involved in The Greens for a little while I was asked to think about standing for parliament. I hold the view that it is important for environmental, social justice and peace activists to be campaigning in a range of different ways. Parliament is one important part of this spectrum of social action that not everyone wants to do. Having had a turn of being an elected representative at university I thought that I could contribute to social change in this way.

How did you become a Senator?

I joined The Greens in 1998 and in 2000 I was preselected by the Greens NSW to lead the Senate ticket for the 2001 federal election. In the 2001 federal election both Labor and Liberal wanted to turn away the asylum seekers on the MV Tampa. Bob Brown from The Greens spoke out about the need to be compassionate towards these asylum seekers. Many people were looking for a political party that had a more compassionate and humane approach to asylum seekers and The Greens received an increased vote at the 2001 election. I was elected at the 2001 election as the first ever Greens Senator from NSW and the youngest Senator in Parliament.

Why did you choose the Australian Greens?

After university when I was involved in community campaigns about improving public transport in Sydney and opposing uranium mining in Kakadu National Park I came across people who I thought were really effective community advocates. I subsequently found out that these people were all members of The Greens. It was a great way to find out about the contribution that Greens members had to make to community campaigns. It was because of the great work that these Greens were doing in community campaigns that I was involved in that I joined The Greens.

What are some of the challenges you faced when you entered Parliament?

I had to wear a suit to start with! Some of the other Senators did not know how to engage with me when I was elected. It was mainly the older men that had been in Parliament for a long time that did not know how to engage with me. I do not know if they found it hard to work out how to deal with me because I am a women, a young person or because I have more progressive politics that them.

What does your job involve?

I meet with lots of people in the community as part of my job. I visit asylum seekers in detention centres. I have travelled to visit asylum seekers in detention centres on Christmas Island, at Baxter detention centre and at Villawood detention centre in Sydney. I hold press conferences and do interviews with the media on issues such as the need to support public education and university students and young women in leadership roles in our community.

I really enjoy talking to groups of young people about politics and what I do my job. I speak at public rallies and demonstrations about issues such as the treatment of David Hicks and the war in Iraq. I travel to regional parts of NSW to meet with local people and visit the local TAFE or the wetlands that are crying out for water.

I have travelled around the country participating in Senate inquiries into issues such as women's reproductive rights, uranium mining and the rights of Indigenous Australians.

I meet with Australians who have family members living overseas who want the Australian government to speak out in international forums about the situation in their home country. I attend many community functions.

Why do you think there are so few women in positions of power?

The pressures particularly on family life involved in being in positions of power are something that not all women want to experience. What achievements are you most proud of? The work I am most proud of is being able to help people who have been struggling to make a difference in their local community about issues that they are passionate about eg. the treatment of asylum seekers, the value of public education, the protection of their local environment or their opposition to the war in Iraq.

I am pleased to have been able to help many asylum seekers to get out of detention and to have been part of the refugee campaign in Australia that has made some changes to the worst aspects of this government's mandatory detention policies but I still trying to overturn these cruel and heartless policies that ruin peoples lives.

I have been campaigning for many years with university students to remove university fees. I really enjoy talking to students and others about how achievable this is. If the government put as much into universities as it gives to subsidise the fossil fuel industry we could have free university education.

I am proud of the work I have done standing up for the reproductive rights of women.

I am also proud of the work I continue to do in supporting and promoting the great work done in public schools around the country.

When George Bush spoke to the Australian Parliament in 2003, the public were locked out. As a representative of people who are not happy with the role that George Bush has played in international politics I felt that I had a responsibility to let him know that people feel this way. So Bob Brown and I raised with him the treatment of the two Australians who were at that time in Guantanamo Bay. I am proud that I had the opportunity to express these views to George Bush that so many Australians share.

What are the downsides of your job?

Like many people who have busy lives I don't get to spend as much time relaxing with my friends and family as I'd like.

What advice can you give a young person interested in pursuing a career in politics?

Get involved with your local community about the things you are passionate about. There is a place for everyone in the process of social change. You need to find somewhere to work that you are comfortable with. It may be in politics or as an active community member. Check out the work of politicians that you like and you may like to get involved in the political party that best suits your ideas. It is really important to enjoy what ever way you find as the best way for you to make a difference.

What qualifications do you need to become a Politician?

A commitment and a passion to make the work a better place and a willingness to keep trying. You can learn all the rest. institutions.

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