[2] Heading back to Brisbane after her hospitalisation, Carnell returned to her studies and graduated from the University of Queensland in 1976 with a pharmacy degree.

[9] After winning 7 of 17 seats in the 1995 ACT election, the Liberal Party formed a minority government with Carnell as Chief Minister.

[10] The Carnell Government was severely criticised following the death of twelve-year-old Katie Bender, when the de-commissioned Royal Canberra Hospital was imploded on 13 July 1997 to make way for the National Museum of Australia.

Bender died instantly when she was struck by a one kilogram fragment of metal sliced through her head which had been thrown about 430 metres across Lake Burley Griffin by the force of the explosion.

The Coroner found that the Government had been cavalier in its attitude to the warnings from a health union about the possible dangers of some aspects of the proposed implosion.

[12] The Coroner summarised that, "the evidence on this topic leads me to conclude that Carnell was poorly briefed and advised on this subject matter.

Carnell had denied any wrong-doing and claimed that the Auditor-General had found that the cabinet was acting reasonably in the matter as she was determined to remain in office.

[26] On 29 July 2007, nearly a decade after her first marriage dissolved, Carnell and her long-term partner, Ray Kiley, married at a ceremony conducted at Old Parliament House in Canberra.