Tonight I inform the House of the impacts on my community as a result of the main arterial from Sydney to the Central West, the Great Western Highway, needing to close due to a section along the Victoria Pass at Mitchell's Causeway—also known as the 194‑year‑old convict bridge—having serious structural defects. A major geotechnical failure has rendered our highway inoperative for the immediate future and perhaps for some time after that. This is a vital connection in the road corridor between Sydney and the Central West. My community and those in the Central West are feeling some frustration. They are angry, anxious and hurting. They see this as a disaster.

I have been keeping in contact with quite a number of our village association representatives to keep them up to date as the Transport for NSW teams and geotechnical experts work on that section of the highway. Because of the diversion, we have an increased frequency of rail services and local traffic congestion. Movement constraints are being dealt with by Transport for NSW. Like other parts of the State that have experienced relentless rain events, we have seen a major State asset being impacted. The flow‑on impacts are causing grief and anger across my community, communities in the valley and communities out towards the Central West. I thank a number of people in village associations who have been working with me and the Government as well as several Ministers in a range of different portfolio areas, such as Transport and Roads, to examine some of these impacts. They are dealing with heavy vehicles carrying freight and they are monitoring speed and traffic movement through Mount Victoria, traffic along the Darling Causeway and through the city of Lithgow as well as on the highway, heading west.

It has been great that the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Roads, in particular, have activated some measures that have assisted the community to move around. These include free coach services between Bathurst, Lithgow, Mount Victoria and Katoomba—soon Blackheath will be added to the list—and increased frequency of rail services. There is a whole range of measures designed to assist schoolchildren to get to and from school between the valley and the mountains. Support is being provided to workers who live in the mountains and travel to and from Lithgow for work. We have been working through a package of support for small businesses that includes tourism promotion for small villages that are suffering because of the local road diversions. The local council, the State Government, the Federal member and I are all working hard to support our community. It was great to meet with the Premier and a range of Ministers to talk through what we can do to support those communities.

An action plan was pulled together by the community about ways in which a number of areas could be addressed to assist movement, businesses and communities. That action plan is being worked through by a whole‑of‑government initiative to support the communities. I thank the Blackheath and District Chamber of Commerce, the Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre, the Blackheath Community Alliance, the Mount Victoria Community Association and their business association, and the Hartley District Progress Association for their in principle support. It is always tough when our communities deal with a crisis. I encourage people to be patient and consult the Transport for NSW website for daily updates on the closure of Victoria Pass and how Government is supporting them.