MERYL SWANSON MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR PATERSON SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR DEFENCE Meryl Swanson: Port Stephens Matters | The PM's new low This week I was pleased to visit the Salamander Bay Child Care Centre and welcome their new occupational therapist. Labor has developed a comprehensive childcare policy that will create jobs, support parents to return to the workforce and reduce financial disadvantages. I want to congratulate Director Daniel Freeman and his team on the fantastic work being done educating the minds of tomorrow. The Prime Minister delivered a new low this week attending the Hunter to bill himself out for $10,000 to $15,000 per person at a fundraiser to support the Liberals locally. As you might guess the only people who can afford this are the big end of town. The Liberals will not win Hunter seats by treating locals with disdain. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. My community deserve more respect than this. Too often we see Liberals representing selt-interest and forgetting about workers and vital local industry. Despite multiple calls from myself and pleas from our community, the PM failed to ever to show up and front the people of Williamtown, who had their lives and livelihoods devastated by contamination of PFAS. Through no fault of their own, people have had to live out this nightmare and have had to drag the government to the table just to be heard. Multiple parliamentary hearings and community forums the PM did not listen? Did he ever contribute? No! The PM and the Liberal party need to remember that the people of the Hunter have a long memory. How can the PM honestly expect to be taken seriously? This government has delivered "Sports Rorts" Water scandals, the "Leppington triangle" scandal which saw $30 million of taxpayer's money spent on land worth only 10 times more. They have faled to deliver a runway upgrade that would result in thousands of jobs for our region. Our age care system is a disaster and the government continue to leave providers and patients in the dark. Wages are stagnant, and interest savings are going backwards. The vast majority of legislation passed in parliament last year was not Covid-related and did little to support the creation of new jobs or meet the needs of major industry. Why hasn't this government found time to deliver a reasonable increase to the age-pension or committed to increasing the rate of Jobseeker. Let's be clear this is a government that has started its campaign year by seling itself out to the highest bidder rather than coming to our region and meeting with the hardworking people of our region. In October of last year, the Attoney General's department revealed that an allocation of 76 staff for the integrity commission in the 2020 budget was an error. The government has consistently refused to act on delivering a Federal Commission against Coruption. I was pleased to return to parliament last week and continue conversations about our community's critical needs. The priorities for Paterson must be Jobs, health and our economic recovery. No extension of Jobkeeper for those industries like travel, arts and hospitality has been made. Many of these industries will continue to suffer well into the future if the government fails to act Please don't hesitate to reach out and reconnect with me on 4983 2401. Meryl Swanson is the Federal MP for Paterson PReymond Termace MERYL SWANSON MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR PATERSON SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR DEFENCE Meryl Swanson: Port Stephens Matters | The PM's new low This week I was pleased to visit the Salamander Bay Child Care Centre and welcome their new occupational therapist. Labor has developed a comprehensive childcare policy that will create jobs, support parents to return to the workforce and reduce financial disadvantages. I want to congratulate Director Daniel Freeman and his team on the fantastic work being done educating the minds of tomorrow. The Prime Minister delivered a new low this week attending the Hunter to bill himself out for $10,000 to $15,000 per person at a fundraiser to support the Liberals locally. As you might guess the only people who can afford this are the big end of town. The Liberals will not win Hunter seats by treating locals with disdain. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. My community deserve more respect than this. Too often we see Liberals representing selt-interest and forgetting about workers and vital local industry. Despite multiple calls from myself and pleas from our community, the PM failed to ever to show up and front the people of Williamtown, who had their lives and livelihoods devastated by contamination of PFAS. Through no fault of their own, people have had to live out this nightmare and have had to drag the government to the table just to be heard. Multiple parliamentary hearings and community forums the PM did not listen? Did he ever contribute? No! The PM and the Liberal party need to remember that the people of the Hunter have a long memory. How can the PM honestly expect to be taken seriously? This government has delivered "Sports Rorts" Water scandals, the "Leppington triangle" scandal which saw $30 million of taxpayer's money spent on land worth only 10 times more. They have faled to deliver a runway upgrade that would result in thousands of jobs for our region. Our age care system is a disaster and the government continue to leave providers and patients in the dark. Wages are stagnant, and interest savings are going backwards. The vast majority of legislation passed in parliament last year was not Covid-related and did little to support the creation of new jobs or meet the needs of major industry. Why hasn't this government found time to deliver a reasonable increase to the age-pension or committed to increasing the rate of Jobseeker. Let's be clear this is a government that has started its campaign year by seling itself out to the highest bidder rather than coming to our region and meeting with the hardworking people of our region. In October of last year, the Attoney General's department revealed that an allocation of 76 staff for the integrity commission in the 2020 budget was an error. The government has consistently refused to act on delivering a Federal Commission against Coruption. I was pleased to return to parliament last week and continue conversations about our community's critical needs. The priorities for Paterson must be Jobs, health and our economic recovery. No extension of Jobkeeper for those industries like travel, arts and hospitality has been made. Many of these industries will continue to suffer well into the future if the government fails to act Please don't hesitate to reach out and reconnect with me on 4983 2401. Meryl Swanson is the Federal MP for Paterson PReymond Termace