She has been a Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council since 2005, representing the region of South West.
[4] At 16 she finished her secondary schooling and attended the Royal College of Music in London, specialising in the cello.
[6] While attending Murdoch University in Perth in 1983, she joined the staff as a federal member of parliament, her first formal job in politics.
[5] Her doctorate in philosophy from Murdoch University was published, "Partial Reason: Critical and Constructive Transformations of Ethics and Epistemology".
[7] She has since married Jon Ford, a former Minister in the Gallop and Carpenter governments[8] and they live in Denmark, Western Australia.