At a special Caucus meeting today Meryl Swanson, Member for Paterson, was appointed to the role of Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence.

“I am extremely honoured to be appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence by Labor Leader Anthony Albanese today. Defence is an essential part of our nation’s security and a vital part of my community, of which I am immensely proud”, Meryl Swanson said.

With the Williamtown RAAF base in the centre of Meryl’s electorate, and as a committed advocate on defence issues, Meryl will be able to hit the ground running.

“As a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and Deputy Chair of both the Defence Sub-Committee and PFAS Sub-Committee, I have been afforded the opportunity to grow my understanding of the defence sector and build key relationships”, Meryl Swanson said.

“For the past four years Meryl has been a strong and passionate local representative for her community in the Hunter Region”, Anthony Albanese said.

“In supporting the Williamtown residents through the PFAS contamination I understand that Defence is inextricably linked to our community. I look forward to continuing to work with the ADF on its engagement with the community.”

Meryl had the unique opportunity to spend a week at the Williamtown base in 2017 engaging first hand with the men and women of the ADF and their operations. Meryl has also engaged regularly since then with the base and Defence industry leaders. Meryl has visited Lockheed Martin at Fort Worth, Texas and toured the F35 production line.

Meryl will join Deputy Labor Leader and Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles, Shadow Minister Assisting for Defence Pat Conroy, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry Matt Keogh and Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Shane Neumann on Labor’s strong Defence team.