Anyone who's been a teenager, or raised one, knows growing up is hard. Kids can be cruel to their peers, and many young people go through tough times and experience low moments.

Both casual, unthinking discrimination and deliberate, malicious homophobia erode self-confidence and undermine mental health. Both are far too common, not just in our schoolyards or online but in sporting clubs, in the outer and even in our national parliament.

Ending discrimination and extending equality should always be a national priority.

The appalling rate of incarceration among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples demands we create justice targets under the Closing the Gap framework.

I had a good career. I've been very fortunate.

Sometimes a producer and an artist get together and they make magic like Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. As far as my own music career - you could liken my chemistry with Timbaland to Marty Scorsese and Robert De Niro.

I feel like my entire career and life, I've been judged by people who did not really know me. I definitely think that they probably were right to assume what they had assumed about me, because there was such little to go on out there.

I don't know why, but in my career and in my life, I often find myself in situations where I am the only girl among boys.