POLITICS
Welcome to the New year
Happy New Year to you all and as we get into the new year, I want to reflect on some of our big successes in 2025 and look into the future for 2026.
Last Year we had some massive wins for our community! Thanks to federal funding we were able to get two university study hubs here at the centre of our community in Mount Druitt and Emerton empowering young kids to continue their education. On top of this we saw the biggest increase of funding for public schools this year.
We have also helped boost the healthcare in our area, being the electorate with the highest bulk billing rates in the country. We also opened Rooty Hill Urgent Care Clinic which has helped over 12,000 patients and to top it off we cut the cost of PBS medicines to $ 25!
When looking forward into 2026, I am dedicated in fighting for our community and continuing to push for priorities such as cheap and affordable housing for our community as well as increasing infrastructure.
with Ed Husic MP
Connect That Metro
Late last year I got the chance to highlight to parliament the importance of connecting the Metro from Tallawong to St Mary’ s.
I’ ve had thousands of residents back a petition calling for the extension of the metro. Building and extending that metro line will then open up the opportunity to develop the next big, central business district in the Blacktown local government area of Marsden Park. We will be able to build a functional, properly working, attractive central business district that will obviously be the biggest central business district in our part of Western Sydney and, importantly, it will create jobs right where people live.
Having the metro connect up with the upgrade that has already been announced and is about to commence on Richmond Road means we’ ll get public transport, road networks and a focus on a satellite city in Marsden Park. We need to do that by federal and state governments working together. We need to build the extension to the metro from Tallawong right now.
If you are interested in supporting this cause please sign the petition on my website, edhusic. com / chifley / petitions / petition-buildthe-missing-link /.
If I can be of assistance about a Federal matter, please do not hesitate to contact my office. See my details below.
MESSAGE
with Brad Bunting Mayor, Blacktown City Council
A year of progress and opportunity for Blacktown City
Happy New Year! I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas break and for those lucky enough to be on holidays, I trust you are spending quality time with friends and family.
The year ahead is hugely promising for our community and I am keen to make sure we take full advantage.
First and foremost, preliminary work for Walker Corporation’ s $ 2.5 billion Blacktown Quarter development has begun next to the Civic Centre.
It’ s early days, but Blacktown Quarter will generate 4,500 permanent local jobs, a modern business district, private hospital, medical research institute and more.
I am looking forward to seeing it take shape.
I am also excited about work beginning on landmark facilities. These include the Seven Hills Community Hub, the redevelopment of Blacktown Aquatic Centre and Mount Druitt Swimming Centre, Mount Druitt PCYC and the transformation of Mount Druitt town centre.
At the same time, Council will keep
FROM THE
MAYOR
delivering the services you depend on: roads, parks, footpaths, waste collection and more.
I am always open to hearing from you so please don’ t hesitate to contact me. My details are on Council’ s website.
I hope you are as excited as I am about 2026 as we continue building a better community.
More sport for people living with disability
I was proud to open two new indoor courts at Kevin Betts Stadium at Mount Druitt last month, giving our community more opportunities to be active. Council’ s partnership with Wheelchair Sports NSW / ACT is giving people living with disability the chance to play a range of sports at the venue, be active and make friends.
In addition to the courts, there are new amenities, more parking and a re-sealed driveway surface. My thanks to Wheelchair Sports NSW / ACT and the NSW
Government’ s Office of Sport for their funding contributions.
Council also opened the Blacktown Disability Sports Centre at Blacktown International Sports Park in recent months, making Blacktown City the home of accessible sport.
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine. com. au ISSUE 58 // JANUARY 2026 17