One of the things I say is I don't think any of us should be average. Everybody's got a gift. The chance of finding your gift and then sharing it. There's just no room in this world to be average, you need to be the best you can be.
You don't do anybody any favours by being less than you are.
You see it in schools all over... the concept that 'I'll be somewhat less than my best in order to make those around me feel more comfortable' is alive and well... I'm very keen that they understand that if they make themselves a little less than they can be, it is a one-way street to mediocrity.
Australia has got some of the best sports people in the world, but we've also got some of the best scientists and innovators too, and that needs to be celebrated more.
People can lose so much skin that it has a huge effect on the body and when they scar they are affected for life. I've worked in this area and have for years tried to improve spray on skin cells, but this is just one part of the jigsaw towards making it better. We needed to get it on quicker then we can reduce the scarring. That's my motivation, my drive towards making it better.
We're not able to do anything about the bomb, but we can do something about the results. We're able to heal the people - not all of them. Some people died. But we're able to heal people, so we're doing something positive. And that's a great motivator.
Sport...teaches life's lessons. But there's no substitute, in my book, for education, because that gives you choice.
My mother's great line was, Grasp the nettle with two hands, girl, because if you don't somebody else will.
My father's saying, The harder you work, the luckier you get.
I can do something about people who need me, who have been injured. So the biggest thing about being a doctor is my education and training means I can help people to reduce their suffering and that's what being a doctor is, to reduce suffering and to try to improve the life of people who have been injured.
I always feel sad, to be honest, to see people badly injured. That's important because if someone's life is being changed like that it's extraordinarily important for that person - and you can't forget whether it was ten years ago, twenty or today. So I feel the same each time - I feel sad but I also feel that I should do the best I can to make it the best I can for them. So that's how I cope - by working.
Mothers are generally starvers or feeders
Being able to influence the outcome, being able to do something about it, to be able to stop the bleeding. You're not being useful if you're just standing there going "Oh, that's awful!" You're only useful if you actually do something about it and I think that goes for everything. If you actually do something about what's in front of you, then you are actually contributing and you haven't got time to be self-centred or sorry for yourself. You should be doing something about the person you really should feel sorry for.
I think plans failing is a really interesting question. I've been on a long journey. I'm 54 now and that's seriously old. I hope I still have heaps of years to go. Every day there's new success and some failures. But believe you me you can always get better - but things don't always go how you'd expect all the time. What you have to do is pick yourself up and keep going. That's part of life.
I used to be squeamish a long time ago and I guess, secretly squeamish, no... but I have a huge respect for the human body and what we do and so I think it's a massive privilage for people to let you operate on them. And I used to be very "OOOH GOSH! THIS IS BAD!" but to see people bleeding and suffering is bad and I will never get over that, but being able to do something about it, means that you're no longer squeamish.
