born and bred in Geraldton which is a regional port about 400north of Perth. It's a fishing town. It's also the regional centre for the'cultural hinterland. father worked in the building industry in

haldton. I went to the local primary school and the local high schoold had a very typical Australian rural upbringing playing cricketd football. I very much enjoyed my schooling. My most treasuredmories are in relation to the schools I went to at Geraldton and alsocommunity life and participation in sport.

father was always employed and had a good wage. \J\1e lived in ate housing suburb until we moved into my grandmother's house whenpassed away. I never lacked anything I needed fix a much fulfilled

ind that little things would excessively burden me even though I wasically very happy. I do recall feeling anxious, and at times somewhathtened, about the big world in which we live. I remember I had this1Y notion that somehow, when you became an adult, some of these

ngs went away; but of course in some ways they impact more onthan when you're a child. One of my friends from my school daysmented to me recently that he always felt I was very highly strungeven though I was a high achiever and very outwardly happy, therea sense there was anxiety there.

emernber worrying about doing the right thing. Achieving was a veryelement in my make up. I had this funny recurring dream

I hadn't completed my mathematics homework. For some reasonalways caused me some anxiety.

There were periods of stress. I think it's just the way individualsto that, and I worry. Therefore it impacted on me significantly.

obviously my wife and I have arelationship and she was

yhelpful, but I guess I didn't reallyn up in the way in which I didlier this year. There is a differenceink between having problems and

and being able to consultyour loved ones. That's really

"WellIook, there's an issue heregot to deal with that requires a

er circle ..."

although I think quite a lot of environments are stressful. I don'tpolitics is necessarily that much more stressful than other areas.

more of a constancy; that's theterence. It's constant. It's ongoing. Even

you're on holidays you can't reallyYou're part of the system.

"f~Sl)orlse to fairly minor issues. Again, I just grinned and beared. II pretty well managed through my political career, but from time

the pressures involved in the job are quite burdensome. I alwaysbDJnrmlttecl to it and I was quite good at it, in terms of consulting and

and thinking, and working out what needed to be done.

a physiological element. You feel as though you are enveloped byof panic and it's very, very difficult to escape from it. Ifyou're in a

ressed state, you're prone to it. Any little thing can cause you a degree'('nnCl~rn that far outweighs the reality of the situation.

Ultimately, as I recall, it sort of faded

and you get . a

With all these issues I felt as though it's part of life and I'm just adifferent from everyone else I don't really need to do anything.do remember some periods of fairly heavy duty anxiety when sometitI felt that if I didn't wake up in the morning it would be quite ncacetu

I just gritted my teeth and battled on and eventually ...

The human condition carries with it uncertainties. It carries witheventual mortality. For some people, these generalised anxietiesbecome heavy. I remember early in my university days feeling n""H",

down but I came through it quite well ...

Basically excessive worry; and losing sleep. Ultimately, as I recall,sort of faded and you get back into a routine and you forget abouthappened before,

Yes. I studied in the UK and our two children were born there. Ithere for quite some time and then came back to work atUniversity. They were very happy times. Newly married, we LULl1LU

around England and had some lovely friends. I worked hard, Iwas quite suited to the academic lifestyle and the research associatedit. There were pressures there but I could manage those pretty

Early on, when I went into politics in the '80s, I remember a oeriodwhere I felt depressed and extremely anxious and I'd have panic

else:

Ireally distressed me more

11, we all live inside ourselves. I had a strong sense of public duty anded to literally grin and bear it. There are things you can do to reduceimpact you have on others when you're not feeling so well.

. The blackness of it. Despite the fact that he was receiving a majorard, he described going through a dinner where he had to talkh people, and what should have been a very wonderful and happyasion, and he just couldn't relate to it. I recognised that reality wherengs should be good, but they're not. I'll tell you the thing that really.essed me more than anything else: losing the ability to laugh. I love

ghing. I think it's a wonderful thing. Not being able to respond tod humour is a terrible position to be in. The inability to laugh, theden of time and the feeling of being trapped-- Styron captured thesegs very well in his book.

day. hard to explain, moment as though anernity. The whole point is that we work welllen we can take in all of the world experiences. When you'retally wrapped up in yourself and feel anything outside yourIn mind which is thumping a very depressing experience. Irtainly hope I don't have to experience that again.

read some books. I think the best one I read is bv William Styron/ ,ho died recently. He wrote Choice and when I read it, I thought:hivers. Absolutely spot on with the way I

The feeling of melancholy anel gland being trapped inside myselfto the point of where every secon

I was on holidays and when I cameback from holidays I really had to ma decision. I either had to go back twork or tell people: "I'm going to han extra holiday". I guess if I wasn'tperson who was in the public eye anwas in a normal job, I could have shelp. It would have been quite diffWhen you're in my sort of positionharder because I have a public dut

I didn't th ink of it that way because I just wanted to get better. I got tthe point where I really wanted to feel a lot more and to be able to e

life a lot more than I was.

Some of the earlier experiences that I worked through were difficult,but there's a huge difference between being in a very senior position liPremier, and being a back bench mernber of parliament. When you'rback bench member, there are many members of parliament who haythese difficulties and work through them. When you're in the positioPremier, it's not so easy because you've got to make a decision. If you'going to seek help, that's going to be a public issue. Everyone who seemedical help in a sense is being open. If you're in a position withoutpublic exposure you can just do that and respond, and do all the thinyou need to do. When you're in the spotlight every day, then you mathat decision. I think that's what's different; it was the situation that v

different rather than the feelings.

You know, you've got to have beliefs,but you've got to have an element of doubt

so that you can cope with difference.

the idea of being able to live with now.

the mindfulness aspect as opposed to allowing the past to weigh youor being obsessed about the future. I mean the future is the future

it? The past is the past, and every day, every second you're makingfuture. But some future out there that hasn't happened, or somethat's gone, in a way, they're irrelevant. I really found that useful.

the concept oflinking breathing, activity, lifestyle and exercisea routine that gets captured inside you and allows you to cope with

little stresses that come along.

were educational. lot of them came with tapes and books fromiffererlt traditions; some from a more religious framework, some fromDS'ycJlOloglGll framework, and some from a medical/pharmaceutical

To receive these letters, where people really spoke to me aswas just an uplifting experience and I treasure them. I was

in that sense. I was different from other people and that's where theaspect of it probably helped me, whereas before it probably didn't.

reading I found most helpful at the time was the Buddhist literature.

nce a day, and I've always had a swimming routine. The meditationapes in the morning, and in the evening, I found very, very helpful.ctually I was probably doing them once a day lor about an hour. I thinkshould be doing more on the meditative side. But as you feel better theeed's not there, and that's a bad sign, a danger sign and I know that

well!

here's a lovely book by a Buddhist friend of mine, Ajahn Brahm,Ie's a Buddhist monk in Perth and he was very helpful. He's written aonderful book based on stories. I found that book very insightful. Itelped me come to terms with things that I hadn't quite seen the same

before.

In a serious way, that was the first time. He's in a very high stressand he was obviously very supportive of me as a politician. He wasto sec me finish some of the things I was doing and try as best Iwork my way through it all; but in the end I thought I just couldn't

Not really, no. I didn't and this I think is a major problem. I've beenthat the Indians have a lovely concept that every person should have'listening aunt'. It's a term they use, apparently, and I think you needpeople like that. I tended to lock it in and brood rather than to talkthink that's part of the problem. The more you do it the more ititself

it became a big issue for me. In the last V'J'UIJ.',",

I was thinking about it. I have a very strong sense of dutyI really enjoyed being able to participate in politics and bring aboutchanges. But I started to wonder if there was another world outsomewhere where I could get some advice about dealing with thisand secondly, where the environmental pressures wouldn't be so

I had started to take some medication and I was under treatment attime. So I was really still just working my way through it and I d~',pt",rl

to feel better actually. After a couple of weeks, I started to fee! a bitbalanced.

First of all I had medication prescribed. I did some cognitive nl'n'"""",.treatment. I certainly had some very, very good meditation tapes Iworked on and I read a lot. I find reading quite therapeutic and evenitself it's probably a therapy in its impact. The medication actuallystarted working very quickly, I also received more than 1,200 letters.They're beautiful letters. They were encouraging; they were tnouzntnu

I lived in rural "Western Australiaand I have memories, as a kid, of thecaptain of one of the cricket teams-- a very fine guy, a farmer --- andhe drank poison, killed himselfThen later one of my cousins tookhis own life. It's just unbelievableyou know, the sort of things thathappen in rural Australia.

How do you get them to talk about

Well, the male culture could be the problem. Men definitely don'tabout these things as much as women. There's no doubt in my mind

that. But there's an improvement happening. I think people are~'n~hnn to get more open about it, but it's still an issue. How do you get

to do it? You've got to try to recognise those who are predisposeddepression early. I'm cautious about saying that because the last thingthe world we want to do is to institutionalise the problem, like ADHD

these kids go on drugs very early and all that sort of thing. Ithere is a physiological element in this as well as an emotional andone. Early treatment can help, because I think if you recognise

sOlnethmj2,", you can actually cope with it better.

we've got to ask questions about the nature of our lifestyle.hat's not a "solution" but we are working extremely hard. Australians

under a lot of pressure. Governments have got to think about thelings that we're expecting of people these days, whether or not it's toouch. Secondly, I think we need to encourage non-government self-help

orgarnsauons. There's lots of them there and I found that out from theI've been invited to speak at a few.

"

It's a very good one Graeme, and I think it tells so much. You know,you've got to have beliefs, but you've got to have an element of doubtthat you can cope with difference. I think this is a very importanthe has taught us.

. .. the male culture

"You should let all the winds and breezes of all cultures and renzionsblow through your house, but don't let them blow you off your feet."

It's a lovely quote isn't it?

He was fantastic, You know what I often used to think aboutJesus, Ito be interested in the question, what would his politics be? Now Imean by that would he be in the Labour party. I mean what was hisphilosophy of politics? What did he stand for in terms of action? I thinif there is such a thing as the politics of Christianity, Ghandi was there.They're the politics of non-violent confrontation of injustice, because ycan't accept injustice, but if you challenge it by acting unjustly you creathe same problem again. So I think Ghandi is a very important thinkein the history of modern politics.

I must confess I have resorted to sleeping tablets from time to time,that's not dealing with the issue.

I don't think anyone person is the same. I think everyone is differentbecause all of our genes are different and our inheritances are ,.1; 1:·f:c..ro,.,J­

and all of our environments are different. Therefore everyone isto have their own responses and I'm very pleased that it kicked inquickly. And it did impact. I just seemed to balance out.

me

are

the ability to do things. You askedthe question about government. Politics is so ,', )1]>(\1'1

influence things. You can do thi ngsrespect for the process even though from

iticise what's going on. It's so importantilling to put their hand up and go into IJ'jULLC""' IA"\.<il""'~"

really encourage debate and create change in thee best way to do anything is through dialogue.

joy. And reading; I love reading.things that I've had to repress

a long time, like writing. I'menjoying that.

politics you have to be disciplined.nothing wrong with that;

ou have to be. There are lots ofitle things you'd like to follow upn but you can't. Like: "Oh, that'sgood idea. I'd like to do more

11 that". Then something elselappens and you forget about it.'m now following up on thosettle things.

I've looked that up. beyondblue is good too.

They're all a bit different. You need your medical backup, but 110"1'",'0

nothing like being able to sit down and talk to people who knowlike, to lift: you up a bit. But with funding, there are always issues.and state governments have certainly put a lot of money aside. Oneissues I've had frustrations with in government is the slowness withthe money is delivered to services in the community.

I know GRO\i\T. They used to be in my electorate. I got to know aof these people. The other one is the Richmond Fellowship. They'reaccommodation service for mental illness. There are goodout there.

I think I would have learnt more about, not just the theory, but thepractice of meditation a lot earlier. I think that would be my numberone priority. VVe need to take on board within our systems some ofwisdom of the East. I know that sounds trendy, but this is not passinz

wisdom. The wisdom of the East contains centuries and centuries ofunderstanding about the human mind and I think we ignore that at ouperil. And I'm convinced that emotional intelligence is now recogniseda very important asset in being able to work and be productive. Also, adeeper level, I think it is part of a solution to this depression epidemichave. The word solution ... I'll use a different word because everyone'different. There's not one solution, but you said one thing and thatbe the one I would focus on.

My wife and I just had three days in Angkor Wat, VVe sat down anda beer overlooking the town square and it was unsupervised happiness:

Just being able to relax and enjoy the company of other people brings