Former politician Robyn McSweeney and late volunteer Peta Townsing among Queen’s Birthday Honours recipients

A former South West MP from Bridgetown and a late community stalwart are among the Aussies recognised for their tireless work by being named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Robyn McSweeney and Peta Townsing were bestowed with the Medal of the Order of Australia on Monday for their respective service. Mrs McSweeney served in State Parliament from 2001 to 2017, her roles during this time including South West MLC, minister for child protection, community services, seniors and volunteering, women’s interests, and Youth, and many shadow cabinet roles. Mrs McSweeney spent much of her time in Parliament within the child protection portfolio and was also chair of the Select Committee into the Adequacy for Foster Care Assessment Procedures by the Department for Community Development. She said her work towards improving the foster system and child protection was some of the most rewarding in her career. “I helped change the department and change many policies so the children can have permanent homes,” Mrs McSweeney said. She said she would share the credit for this honour with her family, including her husband Michael, for supporting her career goals, despite the amount of travel and long hours it involved, “You can’t do it without your family,” she said, “You can’t do it without having really good support.” Ms Townsing, who sadly died aged 77 in January last year, was recognised for service to emergency response organisations. The beloved community member founded the South West area of the Australian Garden History Society, and the Mediterranean garden management river group. Dating from 1999, she organised two festivals of country gardens per year, and worked closely with garden expert John Viska. She gave up hours upon hours of her own time at the volunteer firefighter group across both Balingup and Bridgetown and was known for advocating strongly for local projects. Before moving to the Lower South West, she had worked across State Government roles, as an industrial chemist and was the driving force behind the Mount Lawley Society Inc. in 1977 to preserve the history of the suburb.