Dunedin South MP Clare Curran intends spending a lot of this year working to make open and transparent government a majpr Labour Party policy. She also wants to learn more about sport, she tells political editor Dene Mackenzie.
For years, her mother had told her to learn how to say ''No'' to some requests.
''I have to learn how to prioritise. That is the hardest thing for me. There are so many issues, so many things I care about and more keep walking through my electorate office door every day.
''Burnout is the thing I have to be most careful about.''
It was not just juggling work in two places - Parliament and Dunedin South - but also being a solo mother to her children.
As the interview progressed, she worried that her son was five minutes late and she was trying to recall when she was first allowed to go into town on the bus and on her own. She thought it was about 11 years old.
Ms Curran is communications and IT spokeswoman for Labour.
Her belief is that within Labour circles, the portfolio is not seen as being as senior in ranking as, say, finance and the economy.
''I would argue that it is as senior as the economy, as IT and communications are our future. Broadband was a central issue in the Australian election.''
One of the problems was that many people did not grasp the detail of the industry, she said.
In the coming year, Ms Curran wants to work more on how Labour formulates its policy with OpenLabourNZ, a structure where Labour supporters and interested people had their say on policy development.
Also, she will be working more on making transparency of government a priority for Labour and New Zealand.
The support for WikiLeaks had shown there was a demand for open government.
''Some things have to be conducted behind closed doors, but people want to trust their government.
Why hide so much information? It doesn't make sense. It can't be done in these days.''
Ms Curran said the concern was that if Amazon and PayPal had blocked people from donating to WikiLeaks through their sites, would other sites decide to block subscriptions to liberal news sites that published the leaked material?
A political ambition for 2011 was to increase her majority in Dunedin South so she could feel like she had ''really become the member for Dunedin South.
''I can prove that by making Dunedin a stronger Labour town.''
Parts of Dunedin South were the poorest in the country, and issues such as the lack of jobs, paying the bills, being denied access to services like ACC and benefits were always being dealt with in the electorate office, she said.
Discussions with community leaders were being planned and Ms Curran intended working with those leaders through 2011.
On a personal level, she intended learning more about sport.
Her children were growing up and getting more into sport, so she felt she needed to know more about rules and players.
''I'm not that good on sports and sporting facts. I feel a bit inadequate. I'm more of a tramping type of person. I may be not a proper New Zealander if I don't know the names of the All Blacks.
''I'm too serious and don't have enough fun and I need speech projection lessons. I like heckling in Parliament but when I do want to make a point, I'm a bit disappointed when it comes out in a high squeak.''
This is the first of a series to be published this month featuring Southern MPs and their hopes for 2011.
