They were among the messages delivered by former Labour Party deputy leader Annette King in her delivery of the sixth annual Dame Dorothy Fraser Lecture at the Burns Hall in Dunedin last night.
Laughter and claps of approval were heard throughout the address to about 150 people in which the former MP recounted ''the good, the bad and the ugly'' of her career.
She spent 15 years as a member of the government, and 15 years in opposition.
Being a woman in Parliament was ''much tougher'' 30 years ago than it was today, however it was not perfect, she said.
''One of my regrets was the things I gave up for Parliament when I should have been with my family, when I should have been with my daughter.''
She emphasised the need for a continued increase in the number of women in Parliament, which was up to 30% from 8% when she joined in 1984.
However she said it was still ''far too low''.
Mrs King said during her career there had been changes both big and small, from days of eating fish and chips in Parliament lobbies and a lack of women's toilets, to establishing New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance which was today entrenched in the country's identity.
She was most proud of her involvement in the 1986 Homosexual Law Reform Act.
''That is one of the things I will be proud of to my dying day.''
When she voted in support of the Bill, Mrs King was told that ''rural people'' would never vote ''for a person who votes for homosexual law reform''.
However, in 1987 she tripled her vote in her Horowhenua constituency.
Equally, she said she would always regret being minister of police during the 2007 Urewera raids.
''It happened on my watch, and the way those raids were carried out involving children and families, I very much regret and will regret to my dying day.''
Her talk was followed by a question and answer session.
The annual lecture series celebrates the life and work of Dame Dorothy Fraser, a former Dunedin city councillor, life member of the Labour Party and community leader.
