The calm and collected Mosman Mayor Carolyn Corrigan is no exception.

The busy clinical nurse had nothing to do with the cut and thrust of local politics when she decided to get involved in a community protest — over parking.

About 10 years ago Mosman Council was pushing to install parking meters at Balmoral Beach and, for locals, this controversial move was seen as the thin edge of the wedge.

Campaigners had the unfounded fear that meters would soon pop up across the suburb and they were driven by the sense that the beach should be free.

Ultimately, they weren’t successful in stopping the beach meters, but for Corrigan it was a turning point in her life.

“That was the catalyst that got me involved,” Corrigan said.

“At the time it was a very big campaign. I actually really enjoyed working with the community.”

She was well and truly bitten by the political bug and before long was standing for election for Mosman Council and knee-deep in another series of grassroots campaign.

Plans were revealed to turn a former defence force site at Middle Head, known as 10 Terminal, into a private aged care home and this really fired up a group of residents.

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The community protest lasted two years and eventually the federal government made a backflip, withdrawing approval for the site.

Soon after popping the champagne on this win, the next battle on her agenda was forced council amalgamations.

Mosman Council was on the verge of extinction and had been earmarked by the state government for a merger with its neighbours North Sydney and Willoughby.

It was this campaign where she made a name for herself in local politics and felt so strongly she stood as an independent in the by-election for the state seat of North Shore against Liberal candidate Felicity Wilson.

While she didn’t win the seat (she took an impressive chunk of the vote and took a big snip off its blue ribbon status nonetheless) the merger plan was eventually ditched by the government and Mosman was one of the Sydney councils that survived.

For Corrigan, it was a learning ground in the lesson of never giving up.

“You never say no and you never give up if you believe in it,” she said.

“If you didn’t believe in it you would never do the amount of work that’s involved because you are fighting a large bureaucracy.

“Have your guiding principals and stick to them. That’s the route that got me into politics.”

Corrigan ran for Mayor two years ago and became the suburb’s first woman to be elected by popular vote into the position.

But what many residents may not know is that alongside the huge time commitment of being Mayor she has also kept up her career in nursing.

Seven nights a week she is on call for Mayoral functions and her days are divided between council and St Vincent’s Hospital.

In a way her medical career prepared her for the challenges of politics.

Corrigan works in clinical research into pulmonary hypertension.

This complex disease affects the lungs and heart and before specialised medication was developed it had a high mortality rate.

When Corrigan joined the hospital research unit in 2000 the outlook was so poor that without medication or a transplant most patients would die within three years.

For patients the reality was blunt.

“It was an illness where you are told to go home and get your affairs in order and get your family prepared,” she said.

A new drug called Bosentan became available in 2004 and the Australian research community desperately wanted it to be subsidised to save their patients’ lives.

It was very expensive and initially the government was reluctant to provide the funds.

Funding was knocked back by the government appointed gatekeepers, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, and Corrigan decided to take action.

She asked all her patients to write to the chairman of the PBAC to tell their personal story and explain why it is so important to get the drugs on the market.

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She also wrote a letter herself saying how devastating it would be not to get the medication that could keep patients alive.

On the third attempt it passed. She was told by the chairman the letters made a huge difference.

“You often see in the news that such and such a drug has been put on the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) and for that group of patients it’s been a huge thing,” she said.

“If you are not working and you are very unwell, breathless and on oxygen you don’t have that money to go out and buy those drugs.

“You just don’t give up for them. You just know how important that is.”

Corrigan grew up in Dee Why and the idea of service was instilled in her from a young age as her late dad Dr Brian Corrigan is regarded as the father of sports medicine in Australia.

He signed up as the Olympic team doctor in 1968 and was awarded an AM for his decades of service.

Behind the scenes her mum Monica Corrigan, who passed away recently, kept everything ticking along and with five children she had a lot on her plate.

The young Corrigan went to school at Loreto Kirribilli and her early married life was in Wollstonecraft. She had two girls, Stephanie and Felicity, and they moved to Mosman when she separated from her husband in the early 90s. As a single mum she felt welcomed and supported in Mosman.

“Divorce is never nice. It’s not easy and it does affect everyone in the family but we just bunkered down,” she said.

“Family and community is everything and you get through it. We all get through it and out the other side, and very positively out the other side.

“People possibly wouldn’t know that about me. It’s not something I’ve particularly shared a lot. You roll up your sleeves and get through it.”

Her daughters are now in their 30s and successful in their chosen careers in finance and aged care.

They are both huge supporters of their mum’s political ambitions and are part of her 2019 state election campaign. Corrigan is having another shot at winning the seat of North Shore and is preparing for the election next month.

Her days start at 6am and she can still be going until 11pm on the campaign trail. She is knocking on doors and standing outside supermarkets across the lower north shore in a bid to meet as many voters as possible before the election.

On her agenda are the biggest issues in the area: traffic congestion and development.

The demand for the Beaches Link tunnel is a major talking point for the electorate and there is anger in the North Sydney area over planned high rise developments.

There is much up for debate in the seat and she believes she is the person to fight on those issues in Macquarie St.

Corrigan knows it’s not going to be easy but is quietly confident before March 23.

“I’m in it to win it. It’s not a dress rehearsal, this is the real thing.

“I believe I’m a doer, I’m a deliverer. I’ve delivered for my community and I just think the time is right.”