Queenslander Debbie Orr was sceptical Tony Abbott would live up to his promise to visit within six weeks of becoming prime minister and listen to her complaints about coal seam gas making her children sick.
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As recently as Friday - six weeks after Mr Abbott won the election - the mother of six laughed when asked if she had heard from the Prime Minister, who made his vow on Alan Jones' radio show.
But on Friday afternoon, the anti-coal seam gas activist, who lives in Tara, 250 kilometres west of Brisbane, got a phone call from her local MP, Bruce Scott.
And the ''senior minister'' Mr Scott said he would bring to morning tea on Saturday at Tara's council chambers turned out to be no one less than the Prime Minister.
For half an hour, Mr Abbott sat with Ms Orr and heard about the health problems in her community that she blames on five coal seam gas wells.
Ms Orr showed Mr Abbott photographs of rashes and nose bleeds suffered by children in the area.
''He nodded a lot,'' she said.
Coal seam gas is a troublesome issue for Mr Abbott, with positions ranging from Jones' fierce opposition and farmers barricading their properties against mining companies, to Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane vowing to ramp up CSG production to deal with a ''gas crisis'' in NSW.
Ms Orr said Mr Abbott made three promises during their conversation on Saturday.
First, he said he would see to it that more environmental health testing was done in Tara to check whether there were links between the coal seam gas wells and the sickness being reported by Ms Orr and her neighbours. So far, Queensland Health has studied Tara and found no proven link between gas drilling and health problems in the district.
But Ms Orr believes the air, soil and water testing - much of which was done by the coal seam gas company QGC - has been inadequate. QGC has been contacted for comment about the claims.
Second, Ms Orr said the Prime Minister assured her ''it won't happen again'' that a gas well is built so close to residential areas.
She said Mr Abbott told her coal seam gas mining ''should never be allowed in residential areas''.
Third, Ms Orr said Mr Abbott told her ''nobody should be forced to have a gas well on their property''.
Whether Mr Abbott agrees with Ms Orr's account of their meeting is unclear. A much less detailed statement came from his office. ''The Prime Minister delivered on his commitment to visit Ms Orr, and listened to her concerns. It was a constructive meeting,'' was the office's response.
The genesis of the weekend visit occurred when Mr Abbott appeared on the Jones program last December, as the broadcaster read out Ms Orr's letters asking for help.
''I will visit this woman,'' Mr Abbott replied. ''Within six weeks of the election … I will go there, I will take the relevant public servants, I will see for myself, I will experience for myself, and if things are as Mrs Orr says, we will change it.''
Ms Orr said Mr Abbott has kept his word, and she hopes he follows through on his commitments. ''I'm pleased that even though the situation here isn't good, from what he [Mr Abbott] is saying he won't allow gas wells in residential areas,'' she said. ''So what happened here won't happen again.''
smh.com.au
