Blacktown got a lot of mentions in Parliament today. It started with notices of motions this morning and went through to the public interest debate and debate on the Greater Cities Commission Bill 2022. Under the new redistribution, my electorate now includes Colebee up to Townsend Road and further up to Eastern Creek. That was previously part of the Riverstone electorate. The new area I will be servicing has interlinking issues with the suburbs of Marsden Park and Riverstone, and the residents aspire to have access to transport, schools and quality education. The members for Londonderry and Mount Druitt and I often meet community representatives to discuss the social and physical infrastructure needs of the area. Community members discuss the lack of public transport. They are forced to use motor vehicles for work, education, recreation, sport and other social activities. Therefore, they are forced to use toll roads, as the distance to get anywhere in Sydney is quite long and requires a toll if they want to get there and back home faster.

Local Liberal members seem to think we are living in some form of nirvana and that we have never had it so good. The people of the west can rightly ask: Is this the best that it gets? The local Liberals think so. The Liberal member for Riverstone said earlier today that the achievement of being part of a 12‑year‑old government was providing six new schools, a police station, a couple of arterial road upgrades, an improvement to the waste treatment plant and a hospital rebuild that we all should be happy with. Over the 12 long years the Government has been in office, some 110,000 people have moved to Blacktown city. That is the population of eight Hunters Hill councils. That is 3.5 times the growth anticipated for the Northern Beaches Council over the next 25 years.

The Liberals, reflected by the member for Seven Hills and the member for Riverstone, never seem to stand up in this place to argue for more resources for our local area. The member for Riverstone is happy that there is a new Riverstone police station that has been built in a one‑in‑100‑year flood zone. He is happy that six schools have been built. But, on day one, demountables were brought in to accommodate the school population as planning was not adequate. He seems to be happy that the Rouse Hill hospital has been previously announced twice and then cancelled each time—the following year, the year after the election—and that the current proposed glorified medical centre, not a hospital, has been moved out of Blacktown City and his electorate. The Liberal member for Riverstone originally told the public that Rouse Hill would get a top-tier hospital. Now it has turned into a suburban hospital. He said at a local public meeting, "Let's get something built." Liberal MPs are happy to announce a new, shiny building in Blacktown, the new hospital there, but lack the resources to adequately staff maternity, cancer and emergency wards.

Liberal MPs seem to be satisfied by the lack of air purifiers or air-conditioning units at schools or the presence of onsite asbestos. Upgrading major State roads across Blacktown City is estimated to cost $5 billion. That is $263 million a year for the next 19 years, but we get only minimal funding. The design has not even begun on Bandon Road in Riverstone, which is the flood mitigation route and a major arterial road. The Richmond Road four-lane upgrade built a few years ago is already way beyond capacity. After seven years of promises this Government made about Prospect Highway being built, we are still waiting. It is only half the project it was originally scaled for.

I do not expect Liberal members to speak against their Government, but being a sycophant and singing the Government's praises is not what the local community expects or wants to see. Social housing, public transport, roads, schools, tertiary education, health facilities and social support services are all important issues for a community where over 10,000 people a year are moving into Blacktown City. Blacktown City is an important region and has many challenges and wonderful success stories. It is the role of the seven MPs to work together in identifying opportunities for our residents, not be sycophants of the Government.