SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR DEFENCE

 
At a special Caucus meeting today the Member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, was appointed to the role of Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence.
 
For the past four years Meryl has been a strong and passionate local representative for her community in the Hunter Region.
 
Meryl has also done an excellent job representing regional Australia more broadly in her role as Chair of Labor’s Regional Jobs Taskforce.
 
In her time in Parliament, Meryl has played a key role on the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and as Deputy Chair of both the Defence Sub-Committee and PFAS Sub-Committee.
 
With the Williamtown RAAF base lying in the middle of Meryl’s electorate, and her long history of advocacy on defence issues, Meryl will hit the ground running in her new position.
 
I have no doubt Meryl will continue the excellent work performed by her predecessor, The Honourable Dr Mike Kelly AM.
 
Meryl will join Deputy Labor Leader and Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Shayne Neumann, Shadow Minister Assisting for Defence Pat Conroy, and Shadow Minister for Defence Industry Matt Keogh on Labor’s strong Defence team.

TUESDAY, 11 AUGUST 2020