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Canberra was my home for many years, and there's a lot to love about it. It has a small population with a strong sense of community and is top-heavy with interesting, highly educated, socially progressive people - the opposite of the stereotypical image of dull public servants.

When you're asked/told to come to Canberra by your Prime Minister, in the country I grow up in, you obey that.

When I left school I went to Australia for a year and worked in the drama department of a school in Perth.

While I was trying to save money to go to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia I ended up getting all of this experience which meant that by the time I had enough money in the bank to go to school I didn't really need to go to school anymore.

One of the most enjoyable things I do at Government House and when I travel around Australia is to talk with children. I tell them about our parliamentary democracy - and I often do that as I'm walking into an Executive Council meeting next door!

I don't have any office; I can write everywhere. So, I put a piece of paper on the table, and then I travel. Literally, writing for me is like travelling. It's getting out of myself and living another life - maybe a better life.

My work in the House of Representatives, at this time in my life, is completed. It is time to return home.

I just spent three years on 'The Office.' I made enough money that I can take five weeks out and do a play.

What do you do with what you're given, and how do you transform it into something worthwhile?

The hardest thing about living in Canberra is that almost everyone who doesn't live here asks: 'Why on earth would you live in Canberra?' Loudly, and in a way they would never use to discuss anywhere else. And they never listen to the answer.