Robyn Preston delivers passionate maiden speech in NSW Parliament

A strong and determined Robyn Preston stood before the NSW Lower House on Wednesday, May 29 to call out the campaign of shaming that had followed her every move into politics and delivered a passionate maiden speech as the first female Member for Hawkesbury.

Watched on by a public gallery packed with supporters, Ms Preston described herself as "the girl from Fairfield" whose father died suddenly of a heart attack when she was just 17.

"My dear mother Hazel raised my two brothers and me as a single parent. Nothing was gifted to us and yet I never felt as though I was deprived of anything, except the love and strong bond that I had with my father," she said. "His passing has left a wound in my heart that just won't heal."

Ms Preston also took the opportunity to call out the "cowardly" behaviour of detractors who had attempted to discredit her over the years by revealing she posed in a men's magazine nearly four decades ago.

"I shake my head knowing that something I did 39 years ago has been continually used against me to discredit me," she said. "It was a modelling assignment and every time I have run for a position in politics, those that would like to see me fail rolled out the story on cue.

"I asked myself, why is it that some would seek to shame me whenever I wanted to enter politics?

"Why weren't they celebrating my accomplishments - a decade on [Hills] council, two years as deputy mayor, a career spanning the private, public, not-for-profit sectors, small business and almost two decades of volunteering in the Liberal Party, and my greatest achievement as a proud mother to my two beautiful children, Kelly and James?

"We need to stop defining people by the little things they do. Don't judge people by one moment in their life. Let's encourage authenticity in politics. Bringing together minds that collectively provide experience from different backgrounds and across the generations has to be good, don't you think?"