Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I'd like to briefly speak on this report. I didn't realise I would have the opportunity. I would like to thank the member for Bowman for his chairmanship of this committee and also Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, who acted as our formal deputy chair. I'd like also like to thank the member for Newcastle, the member for Brand, the member for Lingiari, and the people who have participated and are here in the House today for the tabling of this committee report.

I welcome this report and I would urge the government to formally respond as urgently as it can to this report. There is no secret in this House that I have championed my community of Williamtown, who have been to hell and back over this issue, and continue to do so to the current day. This is an issue that has torn at the very fabric of people's lives, not only their investments and money but also their bodies and their families. It really has struck at the heart of their very existence.

I would urge the government to urgently formally respond, and put together a coordinated effort so that we can move forward. I would say to the member for Bowman: thank you for chairing the committee. You were the only member of the government who attended the committee meetings and who attended the hearings. I would say that this government now needs to act with a level of urgency. They need to formally respond to this. They have now had the carriage of this for three years. We need to see this move forward and we need to see an official response from them, because no community, whether it's my community or any other community, should be put through what we have been put through for the last three years.

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