I think we have to keep working enormously hard to see that every single Indigenous child - every Australian child - has true equality of opportunity. Weve got to work harder at it. I think, you know, the heartland issue for us is the gap; the gap in life expectancy in this country.

The Australian way of affirmative action is setting goals and recognising discrimination and lack of opportunity and deciding to take action and setting some goals and targets. I guess I prefer that language to talking about quotas.

Begun as a girl from a little country town in central western Queensland, inspired by noble ideas of justice, about fairness, about making the world a better place.

I support affirmative action. I support special measures when you need it.

Seek out a person whom you admire and respect for the support you need - that we all need from time to time.

For a very long time now I've been saying to young women, 'You can have it all, but not all at the same time.' How important it is to take very good care of yourself, of your mental and physical and spiritual wellbeing; it's hard to do. It's easier to be a workaholic than to have a truly balanced life.

All women need support when they're having their babies and their little families are in formation. I have to say I have a lot of concern about the numbers of women - and men, now - who are not getting the support that they need. There are not the families and the communities around that there used to be.