NEW Paterson MP Meryl Swanson has used her maiden speech in Parliament to describe how her father’s battle with mesothelioma inspired her to want to help residents affected by legacy contamination from firefighting foam in Williamtown.
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Ms Swanson, who won the seat from the Liberal Party at the July election with a 10.5 per cent swing, revealed her father, who once worked as an underground coal miner, had been struggling with the disease after previous exposure to asbestos.
She said her father’s “failing health” and “rapid decline in the last six months” had informed her compassion for residents living in the contamination “red zone” saying the government “can not be allowed to walk away”.
“We have made mistakes in the past, with tobacco, with coal dust, with asbestos,” Ms Swanson said.
“We sat idly by, thinking everything was OK. We cannot afford to do that with PFAS.”
She said her father’s illness was “a stark reminder that illness, death, and government inaction affect real people who live and love and die”.
She also indicated that she supported voluntary property acquisitions for residents in the red zone, saying “people who want out must be able to go”.
The new MP, who was born in Kurri Kurri and grew up in Heddon Greta, held up a miner’s lamp given to her during a trip to Margaret Thatcher’s England as a 14-year-old in 1985, saying it represented “my heritage, my beliefs, and my aspirations in this place”.
“I hope that the light that shines within me will contribute to the eternal light on the Hill, that collective ideal that, together, we are stronger than we are alone,” she said. Ms Swanson used her speech to highlight the history of her electorate, as well as raising a number of issues she said the area was facing, including youth unemployment – she said every young person “has a right to get out of bed with a purpose” – internet coverage, and the region’s transition from coal dependent to a more diverse economy.
“While coal is still a vital form of employment, we are a region in transition,” she said.
“Just as nearby Newcastle has blossomed beyond steel, the Hunter will transition from coal to newer, cleaner industrial bases.”
She thanked friends and supporters, in particular her “mentor” Joel Fitzgibbon.
She paid tribute to her parents whose “hard work love and guidance spirited me to this place”.
“I am the product of two of the most decent and generous people I know,” she said.
“I am the daughter of a coal miner and a woman who, despite towering intellect, stayed at home to raise her three daughters.”
