PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has been swamped by goodwill in Singleton.
About 400 people from throughout the Hunter Valley attended a civic reception for her in Singleton High School’s multipurpose centre on Saturday.
Most of the crowd simply wanted to be in a photograph with her and Ms Gillard was happy to accommodate.
It was a refreshing change from the political bearpit where she has been under sustained attack from the Opposition and constantly fielding questions on issues such as offshore processing of asylum seekers, the national climate tax and speculation over a leadership challenge by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
There was only one protestor at the reception, Upper Hunter resident John Shewan stood at the school’s front gate with several placards raising awareness of the impacts of coalmining and coal seam gas mining.
“I’m representing threatened communities at Wybong, Merriwa, Bunnan and Baerami and I want Ms Gillard, and everyone who attends, to realise that the coal and coal seam gas industries have a local impact while they send billion of dollars profit overseas,” he said.
Inside the multipurpose centre the atmosphere was similar to a supporters’ rally.
School students entertained with musical items and other students handed finger food to the audience.
Formalities began with a welcome by school principal Tony Jarrett followed by a welcome to country by Wonnarua Aboriginal elder Aunty Barbara Foot.
School captains Ethan Andrews and Amelia Tan and vice captains Josie Shade and Justin Black then ran proceedings.
As the town’s first female mayor, Sue Moore told Australia’s first female prime minister that Singleton was blessed with 50 per cent of the state’s total coal reserves and an amazingly capable community.
Federal Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon gave a light hearted speech noting that Prime Minister Gillard’s partner Tim Mathieson was comfortable standing at the back of the hall, congratulating a coalmining mate on his birthday and chipping Ms Gillard for being late for the 4pm reception.
Mr Fitzgibbon then excused Ms Gillard’s apparent tardiness, saying it was due to roadworks associated with massive federal government funded roadworks in the region.
He then listed numerous infrastructure projects, right down to the multipurpose centre’s kitchen, which the federal government had made financial contributions towards.
Mr Fitzgibbon told Ms Gillard she was among friends in Singleton, the community was grateful for what her government was doing for the region and respectful of her leadership, vision and “very, very progressive and positive agenda for the country”.
The Singleton and Upper Hunter community looked forward to working with Ms Gillard to progress the region’s economic and social agendas, he said.
Ms Gillard began her speech by acknowledging the land’s traditional owners, thanking Mrs Foot and recognising the school leaders as “great kids filled with great dreams for the future”.
Singleton has a proud coalmining history, of doing the hard yards through physical labour and ingenuity of approach and those things would continue for a long time to come, she said.
This region’s economy was in the fast lane of Australia’s multi-speed economy, hungry for people, skills and infrastructure because it was bearing the pressures of growth, she said.
Although these pressures sometimes felt heavy on the community’s shoulders they were a good set of problems to have as they spoke of the vibrant seeds and dynamism of the community, she said.
Ms Gillard said she was optimistic about the nation’s future, but as the future did not shape itself it needed assistance through things like a mineral resources rent tax which would be used to make sure other parts of the economy also grew.
Along with continued coalmining, the federal government would also shape a clean energy future, and further steps in this direction would be taken within the current fortnight, she said.
As good as Australia was, the country needed to continue improving things such as education and reform in all areas so as to continue opportunities and enable the vision to be shared by all, she said.
Ms Gillard then spent about an hour chatting and having photos with those who had gathered.
Singleton resident Mike Davies was one of the first to speak with Ms Gillard.
He thanked her for standing up against climate change sceptics and introducing a carbon tax which, he believes, will benefit many generations to come.
Marco Alonso, of Newcastle, said he wanted to tell Ms Gillard she was doing a good job under difficult circumstances.
Many others said they simply wanted to say hello, shake Ms Gillard’s hand and be photographed with her.
After the reception Ms Gillard was wined and dined at a Pokolbin restaurant that evening and the next day gave the keynote speech at the United Mineworkers Federation annual memorial service at Cessnock.
While coalmine safety had improved dramatically through the years there were 1800 names on the memorial wall of workers who had been killed in pits of this region, the union’s district president Peter Jordan said.
During the solemn ceremony before about 300 people Ms Gillard announced that the federal government would ratify the United Nations mining workplace safety convention to help improve mining safety throughout the world.
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