Kirstine was offered the highly sort after role of "on the road" regional television journalist after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in journalism at The University of Southern Queensland in 1990.

After twelve months she moved to a rival regional commercial network and added chief of staff and producer to her reporting duties. During her time in regional television she covered a range of events. These included healthcare and agricultural issues, a bikie shoot out and political battles, specifically how a local independent MP, who held the balance of power in Queensland State Parliament, bought to an end the six year reign of the Wayne Goss Labor Government.

She then spent almost three years in London as a news producer for several UK broadcasters. During this time she worked for the world's largest international television news agency, Associated Press Television News (APTN). She wrote hundreds of television scripts determining what pictures Australia and the world saw on events like the vote for independence in East Timor and conflict in Kosovo and Chechnya.

On return to Australia, Kirstine worked for the Nine Network in Sydney on its Olympic coverage before moving to the ABC. In her last television posting she researched and presented stories on George Negus Tonight on ABC Television. Kirstine also has experience on the 'other side of the fence' in the marketing communications industry. During a brief sabbatical from journalism she played a key role in establishing an innovative advertising focused television production unit with the Melbourne based marketing communications consultancy, The Buchanan Group.

In addition to a BA (Journalism) degree from the University of Southern Queensland, Kirstine holds the nationally recognised and accredited training Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training.