The Gardens of Stone National Park has one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world, with rare landform pagodas, cliff lines, sandstone formations, slot canyons, gorges and large canyons. Lord Mayor Clover Moore and I both helped campaign to expand the park before 2021 when the former government, under the leadership of then environment minister Matt Kean, added the spectacular Newnes, Ben Bullen and Wolgan state forests.

But environment groups recently contacted me concerned about a proposal to build luxury serviced cabins within the iconic pagoda landscapes. The cabins would block the views of the pagodas for other users and divert walking tracks forcing bush walkers to travel an extra six kilometres to Carne Creek gorge. Utilities, lighting and four-wheel drive access through the park will further erode this biodiverse rich environment.

Of great concern is that luxury cabin visitors will bypass Lithgow when visiting the area. The Lithgow community was promised that the Gardens of Stone would support tourism and economic growth as the local Mount Piper coal fired power station winds down. I joined environment groups to ask the government to reject the proposal and support low impact visitor facilities and nature experiences in our national parks.