I emigrated to Australia when I was 6 (I was born in 1973), and spent the next 17 years living in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. I left a lot of friends behind in England and probably didn't recover from this loss for many years. Where I had been a reasonably confident young child, I became much more withdrawn when I came to Australia and had to put up with the required ostracism applied to newcomers. Changing schools again after a year and a half in Australia probably didn't help either.

My family wasn't poor - we didn't ever starve, or live on the streets - but we didn't go on lots of holidays, we had one car and there were times when my dad didn't have a job, or had to accept one he didn't really like. We lived in an area which was did not have two bmw's in every driveway. This upbringing has undoubtedly influenced my political beliefs, which have always tended towards some kind of socialism.

My education was gained at the local state primary and secondary schools. I was lucky enough to be able to get good enough results (unlike the vast majority of my schoolmates) to gain entry to university. School wavered between being incredibly boring (particularly in primary school) and interesting.

What was very frustrating though was the social structures perpetuated by the teachers and the students. There was a lot of authoritarian tendencies in many of the teachers which were all about making the students into compliant little worker drones and instilling some kind of 'respectability'. From the students there was a lot of crap about who was 'cool' or 'tough'. Most people seemed to be threatened by anyone who wasn't like them.

I went to university a very shy and unconfident boy. It was a good way to hide from having to make decisions about life. Having no real idea about study, I started a course in electronic engineering at the USA Levels Campus, only to withdraw before the first semester exams. Finding myself unemployed in the biggest economic crisis since the Depression, I spent many hours at the back of long lines at the Salisbury office of the then Department of Social Security (DSS).

Having decided I still wanted to go to university, I enrolled in an Arts Degree at Adelaide Uni.I really enjoyed all the reading, writing and sometimes even the discussion. However, I was still a very shy person and kept mostly to myself.

In 1994, I made a decision to try and be more socially active and joined the Touch club, which I am still an active member of. Being a bit more confident meant I also made some new friends with people I was studying with.