From delivering a $10 million upgrade to Springwood Hub, to successfully campaigning for better youth mental health facilities to be delivered in Katoomba, Susan Templeman has always rolled up her sleeves to fight for her community.
The Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20 and the devastating 2021 and 2022 floods in the Hawkesbury saw the sitting Labor MP on the ground every day with locals; in fire headquarters for morning updates seven days a week, and helping deliver food to firefighters in 2019/20; organising helicopters loaded with groceries for delivery to communities surrounded by floodwater and desperate for supplies in 2021; and demanding government action on poor roads and evacuation routes in 2022.
"The fact is that our region is at the forefront of climate change; we are feeling its effects now," said Ms Templeman.
"What these continued natural disasters have highlighted is not only the need for real action on climate, but also the lack of planning for resilience over the past decade of government."
But the Winmalee resident hasn't always been a politician.
"In fact, if you'd said to me as a young journalist working in the Canberra Press Gallery in the 1980s that I'd end up on the other side of the fence, I would probably have used quite unparliamentary language to say 'no'," Ms Templeman said.
"Going into politics was a decision I made much later in life."
Ms Templeman married Ron Fuller in 1987 and went on to work in New York and London, eventually settling down in Winmalee 30 years ago with Phoebe and Harry, and establishing her own business.
Owning and running that business for nearly 25 years gave Ms Templeman an innate knowledge of the issues small local businesses face every day, but also great insight into the sectors her clients came from - everything from agriculture to mining, technology to infrastructure.
It was her daughter, Phoebe's, diagnosis with a mental illness at a young age that led Ms Templeman to politics, sparking a drive to see people get better access to the care they need.
"Improving support for young people has been at the core of my reasons for entering Parliament, and it is no secret that my family's experience with the mental health of a child has been a defining one," she said.
"I've pushed hard for improved access to mental health services for more than a decade, and I'm really pleased that, in 2019, I was able to drag the Morrison Government kicking and screaming into committing to a Headspace - albeit a satellite service, rather than full-time - for Katoomba.
"Now, weeks before an election campaign, it has followed my commitment for a Headspace in the Hawkesbury, and I'm pleased to see the Liberals' late rediscovery of the service.
"I welcome any level of government showing an interest in youth mental health. As they say in road safety - arriving late is better than not arriving at all."
Ms Templeman has stood beside locals through fires and floods, losing her own home alongside 200 other local families when the devastating 2013 bushfires tore through Winmalee, Springwood and Yellow Rock.
Natural disasters like bushfires and storms have highlighted another major problem for the region; communications.
"Bushfires have shown us the continued fragility of our mobile network, and storms have battered our second-rate NBN," she said.
"We have seen thousands of household disrupted because of our mish-mash of NBN technologies. NBNCo admitted 12 months ago it had been forced to replace more than 10,000 Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) boxes that had blown up in storms in areas like Winmalee and Hawkesbury Heights, while those on Fibre to the Node (FTTN) in areas like Leura and Katoomba simply don't have a network that's fit for purpose.
"Continuing black spots in our mobile network meant people simply couldn't communicate during the Black Summer bushfires, and put simply, that puts lives at risk.
"The Liberal Government has had nearly a decade to do something about this. Why haven't they?"
Elected to Federal Parliament in 2016, the Labor MP said she has been guided by delivering real change for the local community by holding the government to account and refusing to give up - even when the fight seems lost.
She is passionate about the local environment and the effects over-development and climate change has on the Macquarie region and its lifestyle.
"For 12 years in public life I have advocated for strong action on climate change that recognises the climate emergency we are experiencing," said Ms Templeman.
"Labor has published serious, ambitious and practical climate action policy, and a Labor government would ask Treasury to build into their forecasts proper broad-based modelling of climate risks, and to take seriously the jobs, investment and opportunities that could come from cleaner and cheaper energy.
"No credible or responsible government could ignore the broad impact of climate change."
Ms Templeman said she will continue to advocate for important Labor policies such as a better aged care system, protection for Medicare, cheaper childcare, and a future that's Made in Australia.
"I support restoring trust in government through the establishment of an independent National Anti-Corruption Commission, and a future where household energy prices and emissions can be reduced through responsible policies like cheaper electric vehicles and rethinking energy supply.
"I've spent decades not as a politician, but as a member of our community advocating for important change and necessary services, and I'm proud to represent the communities of Macquarie."
