"Everyone laughed," she told Weekender.

"That laughter remained with me for a long time. To this day I think I'm still the only politician to come out of St Mary's college Wollongong."

As former prime minister Scott Morrison learned to his detriment this year, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells is not one to forget.

It might have taken her until she was 45, and four preselection processes, to finally make it into parliament, but after 17 years she is proud to claim what few politicians can: she has stayed true to her principles.

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And being a right-wing conservative in a Labor stronghold hadn't actually been that difficult.

"I haven't found it too challenging an issue, because over the years I've worked very well with my state and federal parliamentary colleagues in the Illawarra," she said.

"I saw my role here very much as a parliamentarian, to represent or assist constituents who were of Liberal background and who didn't perhaps feel comfortable going to see my Labor colleagues.

"I've always been very honest and forthright, and I think in the end, when you are up front with people, you say what you mean, you mean what you say, people respect you. They may not agree with you, but they'll respect you more if you are prepared to stand up for what you believe in. So I haven't really had many challenges.

"When you have values and beliefs, they don't change, and for me those are the same values and beliefs as when I gave my maiden speech in the Senate in 2005."

In that speech she told a story of growing up "under the shadow of a chimney stack" in Port Kembla, how her father, who had arrived alone from Italy aged 24, worked at the steelworks through humble beginnings, with no "generous support services" available to migrants now. She also told of his turmoil when unions called a strike, how while he needed the money, he "could not go against the power of the unions" - so she would support changes to industrial relations laws that promoted "flexibility, fairness and freedom".

She went on to describe a set of values on the monarchy, drugs, cultural assimilation, individualism, the military, faith and the "traditional family" that left no doubt that she sat on the conservative side of the Liberal Party.

After working as a government lawyer, then working in the office of Liberal minster Jim Carlton, who she praises as her mentor, she won selection for a vacant Senate seat. Even now, fortified with the thick skin decades in politics demands, Senator Fierravanti-Wells breaks down a little when describing when she saw her father at her office, seeing her name on a plaque as a Senator.

"I wanted to give back [to Australia], and also to my parents, and I was determined to achieve that objective," she said.

"I found myself making my home in the conservative side of the Liberal Party, which has a lot more people of diverse background, a lot more people of diverse faith."

None of it had come as an entitlement, which helps explain why the Senator has not been one to give up on the kind of values which, while some view as outdated, are those that formed her life.

"Many of my colleagues feel intimidated - they don't feel like they can say what they mean or mean what they say. But in my case it's different - perhaps it's my character, perhaps it was my upbringing."

If that means being the "sharp end of the spear", as she put it, so be it. And Senator Fierravanti-Wells has shown herself willing to be just that.

On same-sex marriage, she claimed gay couples weren't interested in monogamy, and changing marriage could lead to polygamy.

In 2020 she told Senators that "left-wing ideology" was "the embryo and source which has fostered most of the problems playing out in today's societies around the world". Later she characterised Christchurch mosque mass-murderer as a socialist and an eco-terrorist.

Most recently she criticised the former government for not heeding warnings - including from her - about China's intentions in the Pacific. In her farewell letter she slammed the cabinet "groupthink" over the visit by Chinese warships to Sydney harbour in 2019, calling it the "most incompetent" decision since the Whitlam government.

"I think my warnings were very prescient," she said. "History will judge me as having been vindicated, especially given events in recent times. I was the tip of the spear - the lone voice at the time."

Pushing for a naval base, or a nuclear submarine base, in Port Kembla also makes the Senator's own list of greatest hits ("it's a no-brainer").

But taking a stand can have its price - not just in abuse from opponents, but in missing out on opportunities from within.

"I know that when I stood up for the family on traditional marriage, I know ... I not always received the respect back I gave other people," she said.

"I know that some of my stances on issues probably cost me promotion. But in the end, I don't resile from what I said or what I did in my time as Senator. If that came at personal cost, which I know it did, I'd prefer to have stood up for what I believed in. History will judge me accordingly."

It was the end of her time in the Senate which caused perhaps the greatest stir - after being demoted to an unwinnable spot on the NSW Liberal Senate ticket, she lashed out in a speech at the internal skullduggery for which she blamed Scott Morrison, saying he was a "bully" who "lacked a moral compass".

The scorched-earth approach was not just compelling as political drama, or because an MP was speaking freely. On Morrison, who had held himself as a man of faith, but whose substance was in question, it stuck.

"The dodgy preselection I faced - it was just a farce," Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

"I thought it was appropriate to put some things on the record. As I reflect on that Senate speech, particularly in light of the election outcome, the election result was as inevitable as it was predictable. Two out of three Australian voters did not vote for us. I feel strongly vindicated in the comments I made ... in many ways the result of the election reflected the fact that many, many people agreed with my assessment and voted accordingly."

Peter Dutton took the wheel of the Liberal Party amid debate on whether the path back to relevance is a move towards the centre on social issues, trying to win back the "teal" supporters who may return to the fold - or harden up the right flank given the threat from One Nation and others, and galvanise the base as per Republicans in the US.

Unsurprisingly, the outgoing Senator, who has recently written a major essay (edited by Alan Jones's protege Jake Thrupp) on the topic, doesn't recommend softening up towards the centre, and thinks the party has moved too far to the left.

"When you've lost your way, you need to retrace your steps," she said.

"Go back to what the basic tenets of what a Liberal government should be. In the article I go back through the [party] constitution and I outline where, according to those tenets and beliefs we have fallen down, where we have lost people, why we have lost people, and offer the path back.

"Family life, for example, is fundamental to the wellbeing of society, and I believe that some of the things that we as a party have done have eroded those issues," she said.

"For example, the issues related to the same-sex marriage debate. There was at the time an undertaking that religious freedom would be protected, however those of us who pushed for those protections to be afforded were told we'd do that ... but it didn't happen.

"There's Safe Schools (the Victorian gender education project). And we've seen the way government has entrenched itself in our daily lives - that goes to issues of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association."

Weekender had asked whether the party should try and win the "teal" supporters back.

"The teals were able to galvanise a sentiment in the community about key issues - leaving aside the issue of climate, where there are different views in the community. But on the issue of integrity, I actually think one of the issues where the teals were able to harness support was because as a Coalition government I had advocated for a strong integrity commission, and I think the failure to establish a strong federal integrity commission has contributed to the erosion of trust in the body politic.

"I often quote Marcus Aurelius in my work. One of his quotes was 'if it's not right, do not do it; if it's not true, do not say it'. I believe that if the body politic adopted that philosophy, there would be greater trust in us.

"I think what happened at the last election was very much a reflection of the lack of trust the Australian public had in the political class, and therefore is looking for something different, something that articulates their concerns, and a return to that trust."

If the Liberal Party is to be the party of small government and free markets, not encroaching into people's lives, Weekender asked, it will always be in conflict if there is also a desire to protect certain moral values, given this requires government intervention in people's everyday lives. How can a Liberal party do both?

"Liberal governments have been successful when they have found that appropriate balance between the conservative view and the moderate view," Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

"Under Sir Robert Menzies, there were two wings - we often talk about this broad church. The broad church is the moderates and the conservatives.

"Over the years we have been successful when we have found the appropriate balance on a particular issue. It is that ability to understand the public on a particular issue, and design policy that is going to find that appropriate balance. Perhaps in later years we have not been as successful as we have been in the past.

"In my time in politics, I was part of the ... later end of the Howard years. What is important is for a leader to understand his or her party room, and ensure that appropriate balance is reached, and most importantly, to ensure that in any discussion, that all the points of view are heard, digested, and the result is the compromise that happens.

"You don't win every policy argument. But it is important that you go through the process of having that discussion and valuing the pros and cons. Leaders who do not do that find that as a consequence there is a resulting unrest and dissatisfaction amongst your team."

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