I speak on the release of the Sydney to Central West Corridors White Paper. I begin by thanking the Minister for Roads, the Hon. Jenny Aitchison, for her engagement, for her willingness to listen and for commissioning a piece of work that reflects a very different approach to transport planning for the Blue Mountains and the Central West. I am very pleased that the Minister happens to be in the Chamber tonight. My thanks come with a strong sense of perspective, because this is not the beginning of a conversation about transport in the Blue Mountains but rather an important turning point in a very long one.

My electorate of Blue Mountains is a beautiful place, and it always has been. It is defined by breathtaking landscapes, ancient wilderness and a chain of distinctive towns and villages scattered along a narrow ridge line. We are part of a World Heritage area, not by accident but because this place matters environmentally, culturally and socially. We are much more than a mere conduit, motorway or thoroughfare between Sydney and the Central West, and that truth has not changed. What has changed is the way this Labor Government approaches transport planning for our region.

The former Coalition Government's proposals treated my community as an obstacle to be engineered through rather than a place to be respected. At the time, my community was living with fear and uncertainty: fear sparked by "accidental" letters threatening the compulsory acquisition of homes in Blackheath; fear inflamed by talk of a four- or 11-kilometre tunnel; and fear compounded by closed-door processes, secrecy and the deliberate exclusion of elected representatives and the broader community. Many people felt that decisions were being made about them but without them. From what was presented at the time, I did not believe the Great Western Highway tunnel proposal was the best or only option for the Blue Mountains, nor did my community at large. The Sydney to Central West Corridors White Paper represents a clear departure from that approach.

The white paper matters because it listens. It is the product of 18 months of detailed work and was informed by years of engagement with my community, Blue Mountains City Council and local village and resident groups. The message has been consistent for well over a decade: Transport solutions must be coordinated, place-based, evidence-driven and shaped by the people who will live with the consequences. As the local member, I receive a significant volume of correspondence about transport—not form letters but thoughtful, detailed and often deeply personal emails. They come from parents stuck in hour-long queues on Hawkesbury Road who are worried about evacuation routes during bushfires, from residents in the upper mountains who feel trapped in their villages on weekends and public holidays because they are unable to travel even short distances without sitting in traffic for hours, and from community groups and local volunteers who see daily safety risks on the Great Western Highway and fear it is only a matter of time before more lives are lost.

I recently heard from members of the Winmalee Lions Club who raised grave concerns about the long traffic queues on Hawkesbury Road and the danger they pose in a bushfire emergency. As they rightly pointed out, it is the only road in and out for more than 10,000 people. Stationary traffic in fire-prone conditions is not only frustrating but also a threat to life. I have heard from residents travelling between Medlow Bath and Blackheath who described dangerous overtaking by vehicles, cowboy truck drivers, poor visibility at night and repeated near misses.

I have heard from upper mountains residents who describe the Great Western Highway as feeling like a daily obstacle course. That is why I have worked closely with strong local associations such as the Medlow Bath Residents Association, Mt Tomah Berambing Community Association, Megalong Valley Community and Landowners Association, Blackheath Alliance and the Springwood and Winmalee communities alongside our council and our Federal member. Transport does not stop at borders, and neither should collaboration. The white paper acknowledges realities that my community has long understood: The Blue Mountains is growing and changing, and visitor numbers and freight movements are increasing. The Western Sydney international airport will place further pressure on an already constrained network.

At the same time, my community often faces unreliable public transport, ageing infrastructure, congestion, limited active transport options and growing vulnerability to climate impacts like floods, landslides and bushfires. Those are not abstract policy challenges; they are daily realities. The white paper makes clear that meeting community needs does not require grandiose, unfunded mega-projects that tear through villages and landscapes. We have seen where that leads—glossy brochures, broken promises and deep community mistrust. We have this white paper instead, and I welcome its practical initiatives. I look forward to working with the Minister, Transport for NSW and my community. The white paper will not fix everything overnight, but it is a fantastic start.