What I personally would like to see and work towards is the cultural change, the actual conversations men have between men, calling it for what it is – it’s a low act, it’s a weak act – and the community response, where we’re not judging the victims by being critical and asking questions like, ‘Why doesn’t she leave?'”

Every day counts in these kids’ lives, the damage that is done by this sort of neglect is huge and we – everyone, not just the government, the community – everyone needs to speak up on behalf of these kids and urge our politicians to make a legislation that serves the kids.

We really have to remember that the only people who know who the offenders are, are their victims, so if we don’t reach out and support them, encourage them to come forward and just be grateful when they do and thank them for it and support them, then that’s not going to happen and the offenders continue to offend and our 59,000 Australian children every year will continue to be sexually assaulted.

We’re smart but we’ve got to be, I think, even smarter in the future [with] all the challenges the world is facing. Australia is not exempt from those and so that’s why I’m so keen to make sure that every young person has the chance to learn and to love science – whether they become a scientist or not – an awareness is going to be important for the next generation.

What I hope for my grandchildren is that they take their place as equals within the safety of the existing culture of their people, which are the First Nations people, and from there access any knowledge from around the world. But that doesn’t only apply to First Nations people, it also applies across the sphere with our young people … that’s where I would like to concentrate: on the children, as well as the elderly and also to try and assist in the elimination of poverty which should not exist in Australia.

Why do same-sex partners have to wait any longer to be able to walk down the aisle? Why do the young people we’re talking about have to wait any longer to have their message sent to them that they are equal and that they belong and that they don’t need to feel excluded from society? This reform is going to happen, let’s make it happen soon and move on.

I think we see what’s going on around the world and we realise what a great country Australia is and people with a disability often do not have the voice to be able to be heard, to talk about how they could be better integrated within our community, the service they could bring, the genuine joy they can deliver us and better where we live today.

It’s to address this conversation of how do we, in the face of constant rising fear both nationally and internationally – a fear from the growing sense of terrorism – build then a confidence within ourselves to not only meet that fear but overcome that fear and work through that fear to another side. And that’s what Being the Bridge was about: how do we become advocates for a more unified society?