NSW Deputy Opposition Leader: Swansea MP Yasmin Catley appointed
For the first time in more than 50 years, a regional MP has been elected to the Labor leadership team.
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Swansea state Labor MP Yasmin Catley was announced as the NSW Deputy Opposition Leader this week, as NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay made the first appointments to her shadow cabinet.
“I was honoured and humbled to be elected the Deputy Opposition Leader,” Ms Catley told the Express.
“When I was elected as MP four years ago I never imagined I would be in this position.
“I worked closely with Jodi during the state election and campaign for leader. She is a great mentor and it is my strong view that it is only Jodi that can go forward and beat Gladys Berejiklian and take Labor into a winning position.”
The mother of three’s appointment also marks the first time since the 1960s that Labor has had a regional MP in its leadership team.
“It’s always been people who live close to the city,” Ms Catley said.
“But what I leant during the election campaign was people in regional areas felt very disaffected. I want to reconnect with people from those regions so they can trust us again, share our values and vote for us.
“I look forward to getting out to regions and country towns and seeing what we can do, along with creating more jobs
“I live and work in NSW straddling both the communities of the Hunter and Central Coast. I understand their concerns and ensure all concerns are represented at the highest levels in the NSW Opposition.”
The former librarian was first elected as Swansea state Labor MP in 2015, and was recently re-elected for her second term. She has been an active member of parliament and was the Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation.
In her role as NSW Deputy Opposition Leader, she will hold the building reform, regional and rural jobs and property portfolios. She is passionate about building reforms, saying standards of regulation had not been robust enough.
“When it comes to building I want to ensure people live in safe homes,” she said.
“Alarmingly the government told us that hundreds of buildings have the flammable cladding which had not been removed. We need to make sure there is a plan in place so unsuspecting home buyers can feel safe.
“This is something I have a deep interest in. At the end of the day we have always been about making sure consumers are not being ripped off.”
Ms Catley said she joined the Labor Party Swansea Branch when she was 19.
“I was encouraged by my father who was a seafarer who said to me ‘you have got something to say, so why don’t you come and air your views”.
She never looked back, and said she loved being the local MP for Swansea.
“It’s the assistance you can provide people when they aren’t able to find a pathway through themselves,” she said.
“It’s helping people in their day to day life to have a better life.”
She said she was excited about the new team, following Jodi McKay’s “emphatic victory”. She was also thrilled and proud that three of the four leadership positions are women.
“The Labor Party reflects the community,” she said.
“It is no longer unusual for people to see women in these positions. I am a mum with three daughters and I want people to consider this the norm. They said to me, ‘Mum we are just so proud of you’. I hope I make that pathway easy for them.”
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