23rd June, 2026.
The New South Wales Government frames public transport as part of a wider system for better access, liveability and connectivity. Services need priority, reliability and fit-for-purpose infrastructure if they are to compete with private cars. The key issue in Wollondilly is that the very few bus services we have do not connect in a way that actually supports daily life. Lack of public transport leaves people unable to reach their medical appointments, schools, shops, workplaces et cetera without driving most or the whole of the distance. That is a barrier to participation rather than a genuine transport choice. I am advocating for peak-hour bus services within and outside the electorate. Introducing dedicated a.m. and p.m. peak services would be a practical step towards addressing the reliability issues that my commuters know all too well.
People in my community deserve reliable transport, knowing they can arrive on time, especially when they have allowed plenty of time for connections. Reliable public transport is not a luxury, it is an essential service. Wollondilly and Southern Highlands residents have among the lowest public transport usage in the Sydney metropolitan area. Less than 0.5 per cent of working residents use public transport to get to work, and the number is set to worsen due to incoming population growth. Wollondilly and Southern Highlands constituents are heavily car dependent because they cannot rely on public transport. Considering the State electorate is the size of the Sydney metropolitan area, that is a massive concern and an infrastructure black hole that the Government should look into.
Over three-quarters of commuters travel to employment centres outside the electorate—in Campbelltown, Wollongong, Parramatta et cetera—and the region has limited bus coverage on weekdays. Existing bus services do not provide a logical or timely connection to employment hubs or to electrified rail services. We need a reliable bus service connecting Wollondilly workers to their jobs, to provide transport choice and get private vehicles off roads. The lack of bus transport creates financial burdens. Workers generally travel either 40 minutes, 1½ hours or two hours each way to work, school or appointments.
Public bus transport, excluding school buses, is either low frequency or non-existent, and residents have to wait for long periods for a bus—if there is one coming—making it difficult to plan for their day. The overall network is fragmented. The public bus transport network lacks connectivity between local streets and villages, and also lacks bus services linking towns and villages. The electorate lacks a major base hospital, and residents travel an average of between 50 minutes and 80 minutes one-way by car to local hospitals. Local residents need reliable bus transport to attend specialist appointments and treatment. Families and friends want public bus transport options to visit patients at those hospitals as well.
The lack of public transport for youth impinges on productivity, parents' commuting time, fuel costs, health and wellbeing. Wollondilly parents are being penalised for having to transport their children long distances to schools, medical appointments, sports and work commitments. High school students and young adults have no straightforward or efficient means of public bus transport to get to their schools, TAFE campuses or universities in Campbelltown, Nepean and Wollongong. Also, the state of the bus network results in teenagers and young adults relying on private vehicles to travel back and forth from their casual, part-time or full-time work, or to participate in sports and recreation.
The public transport situation is ingraining car-dependent travel behaviour into our school leavers and young adults. Unfortunately, with the notable absence of an integrated and reliable public transport system, local households are compelled to use multiple cars and compete for space on the road with the burgeoning volume of logistics and freight traffic and commuters passing through the electorate. The Wollondilly electorate is uniquely positioned between Port Kembla and Western Sydney international airport, and on the rail corridor between Sydney and Canberra. Now is the time to deliver public bus services between those areas.
The steep Illawarra escarpment separates the Wollondilly electorate from the Illawarra coastline, and there is a growing opportunity for scheduling public buses to mass transport commuters on Picton Road and Mount Ousley Road. Whereas northern parts of the electorate are within 30 minutes drive of Bradfield City, I note my disappointment that the Government has not announced public buses between Bradfield and Wollondilly. I strongly advocate for the Government to reduce the multitude of public bus transport barriers and provide a connected bus network within Wollondilly and the Southern Highlands, and a more connected bus network to city centres surrounding Wollondilly. Members might like to watch my bus film, which had 18½ thousand views in one day.