Before this journey I often wondered what "qualifies" someone to be considered for public office. So as someone does these days, I searched the internet for some info. I found this:
http://www.washblog.com/story/2009/2/6/16647/59571 and this http://www.iofc.org/clean-elections-campaign-qualities amongst other readings.
I had always assumed that to be a "politician" you had to have a law degree or have won a Rhodes scholarship or something similar. On top of that was the impression that one had to be a union official (if labor oriented) or a merchant banker (if liberal is your flavour).
I (we) am lucky that in this country we have a party such as The Greens who rely on "grass roots" democracy in order to function. When calls came out for Senate pre-selection I didn't entertain the idea because I simply thought there's no way I'd be considered. But considered I am, and I put my hand up because I know I can represent the people of NSW well.
