Phelps reflects on career in service of the public

But there is a common thread to her myriad careers - a calling to serve the public good.

"I came to realise, through taking one or two wrong turns along the way, that you have to have a clarity of purpose in what you're doing," Dr Phelps told AAP.

"It's important to have a clear understanding of the reason that you are undertaking a project or doing something, and for me that's about community service.

"I wanted to see, in the various aspects, better outcomes for my fellow humans."

At every juncture, career decisions have been governed by a fierce sense of altruism: first, in her decision to train as a doctor; then to improve health communications to help people avoid disease; later as president of the Australian Medical Association, where she worked to improve the experiences of doctors and patients alike.

At the same time, her personal life and public "outing" of her same-sex partnership in the early 1990s Australia forced Dr Phelps and her wife Jackie Stricker-Phelps to put themselves forward as examples of a same-sex relationship for the benefit of the public, she says, putting them at the forefront of a long and hard-fought battle for gay rights and marriage equality.

The politicisation of her career would lead her to her role as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, and eventually into federal politics, winning ousted prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's seat of Wentworth in 2018 - traditionally a safe Liberal seat that had never previously been won by a woman.

She and a number of other independents would hold the balance of power for a short but rocky time in Canberra, although her tenure was short-lived (she conceded defeat in the 2019 federal election, which saw Wentworth return to the Liberal Party).

But even in that short time, Dr Phelps was able to deliver changes to legislation to improve medical care for asylum seekers held in detention.

Throughout her career, Dr Phelps says, she has often found herself in the right place at the right time, and for the right cause.

"A popular prime minister was removed from his position, and he happened to be the member in the area where my medical practice was," says Dr Phelps, who has documented her stellar career in a book - The Power of Balance: a Life of Changemaking - to be released on Wednesday.

"Many members of the community started approaching me saying 'Would you stand' because, I guess, I had a track record for my values.

"I was able to articulate the concerns that people had about the direction the country was headed, absolutely, and I was also able to personify the frustration that a lot of people felt about a lack of gender balance in parliament, about a lack of actual climate change action and the range of other issues like Australia's treatment of refugees.

"Somehow I got the numbers to achieve that swing and win the seat."

An early member of the "teal" movement, a trend of centrist community independents running on socially liberal platforms, Dr Phelps says even in her short time in federal politics, she witnessed a shift in the two-party system.

"... It's been a quantum shift in the way people think about politics," she said.

"I don't know that we've actually landed on the ideal combination or the ideal political landscape at this stage.

"I would like to see the influence of more community-led independents in future because ... it can really have a very significant effect on the quality of legislation and the engagement of communities and legislation and policy.

"That's a good thing for democracy ... there is still that desire for people to have a little more control over the way their communities are represented."

Dr Phelps doesn't intend to run for parliament again, but she has every intention of continuing her life in the service of the community.

"There are many ways of engaging with community and contributing to community that I can pursue down the track," she said.

"You know one of the other things I've learned is that ... it's almost impossible to know what's around the corner.

"You just make a decision at the time - whether it's something that you have a passion for, something that you want to devote your time and expertise to.

"You see the need for transformation, you see the need for change. And if you're the one with the skills and the passion to do it, then who knows what will happen?"

Australian Associated Press