I have always loved listening to stories. Stories have been a big part of my life from my earliest memories as a boy at Sunday school, until just last night when I had to explain to Susan why there were no Tim Tams left in the packet and how the child-proof lock came to be smashed into bits and scattered on the floor next to a hammer.

Stories draw us in and allow us to learn about ourselves, and for others to also learn about ourselves. Stories cover every spectrum of life, weaving knowledge around movement and emotion, and my word if the first 50 years of Steve Fielding havent been full of movement, emotion and weaving. The world is made up of both expected twists and unexpected twists and no matter how much you try to expect the unexpected twists you often cant. As well as lots of expected twists, my life has had some unexpected twists, not least my election to the Senate in 2004, which for many was remarkable and a big twist in the tale.

If youd told me a decade ago that I would one day be prime minister of the Family First Party in the Senate of Australia, representing the entire country of Victoria and writing legislation that affected the whole wide world, I wouldve called you a lying liar who lies. If youd told me a decade ago that a humble engineer with an MBA who had a successful career as a senior executive could one day balance the power of politics in this great nation, I also wouldve called you a lying liar who lies. Call me what you will, but never say that I dont call a shovel a spade.

Lots of stories have been told about my time in the Australian Parliament House and as we all know, some stories based on fact are more incredible and stranger than fiction. While many of the stories told about my term have certainly been stranger than fiction, some have just been complete fantasy. The biased media with its anti-family bias and Barnaby with his neverending gossip have a lot to answer for.

But those stories have only been one side of the story. So thats why, after six years as a politician slogging my guts away in the service of Australia, Ive put together and published all of the both sides of the story to set the historical record straight once and for all.

Download Crikey’s ebook, The @Fake Fielding Diaries

Autobiographies and memwa memmwar rememberances written by politicians are by no means a new thing, but The @FakeFielding Diaries is different to all those other ones. The @FakeFielidng Diaries is not just a factual account of one politicians time in Parliament, it also tells the inspiring story of simple boy from Resevoir who swam against the tide, againsted the odds, and redefined politics in Australia.

As I bow out of public life, Id like to thank everyone who came along with me on this ride. And as much as I am looking forward to a new chapter in my story, I very much enjoyed looking backwards to write this book. I hope you enjoy reading all of the both sides of the Steve Fielding story.

Until next time.