I wanted to share with everyone who has supported our Ban the Hoons petition this comprehensive update from Mel Tait on just how far the campaign has progressed.
Many of you will remember that I started the petition because of what we were experiencing around Barangaroo and Millers Point. Since then, Mel has taken an extraordinary role in driving the campaign forward.
The breadth of what has happened is remarkable — engagement with government, police and agencies, community research, media attention and now a major forum at NSW Parliament House.
Rather than summarise it myself, I am sharing Mel’s update below in its entirety, because it gives the clearest picture of what has been achieved and what comes next.
I also want to personally acknowledge Mel. The momentum this campaign now has owes an enormous amount to her drive, persistence and sheer hard work on behalf of our community.
I wanted to share with everyone who has supported our Ban the Hoons petition this comprehensive update from Mel on just how far the campaign has progressed.
Many of you will remember that I started the petition because of what we were experiencing around Barangaroo and Millers Point. Since then, Mel has taken an extraordinary role in driving the campaign forward.
The breadth of what has happened is remarkable — engagement with government, police and agencies, community research, media attention and now a major forum at NSW Parliament House.
Rather than summarise it myself, I am sharing Mel’s update below in its entirety, because it gives the clearest picture of what has been achieved and what comes next.
And I want to personally acknowledge Mel for the enormous amount of time, persistence and energy she has put into this on behalf of our community.
Here is Mel’s update:
Hi everyone — I wanted to give you an update on just how much this community has achieved together over the past few months in our campaign for meaningful action on hooning, street racing and excessive vehicle noise.
It’s easy to forget how far we have come, so here is a snapshot of the work to date.
**🏛️ Government, political and agency advocacy**
We have written numerous letters, emails and formal submissions raising the issue of vehicle-generated noise, enforcement gaps, noise cameras, public health and community impacts.
These have gone to, among others:
• NSW EPA
• Environment Minister Penny Sharpe
• Planning Minister Paul Scully
• Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison
• Transport Minister John Graham
• the NSW Police Minister
• Transport for NSW
• City of Sydney / Lord Mayor Clover Moore
• Placemaking NSW
• other MPs, councils and relevant agencies
Importantly, we haven’t just written letters — we have kept showing up and meeting directly with the people who can influence policy and enforcement.
**🤝 Meetings and briefings**
So far, our advocacy has included:
• meetings with the City of Sydney
• **two meetings with Alex Greenwich MP**
• a parliamentary roundtable with **Felicity Wilson MP**
• a meeting at Parliament House with **Mark Coure MP**
• a meeting with a Central Coast state MP
• **two meetings with senior Transport for NSW directors**
• a meeting with **John Graham’s Chief of Staff**
• a forum with **North Sydney Council**
• meetings with **two NSW Police commanders**
• a meeting with the **Highway Patrol Inspector**
• approximately **five meetings with the Traffic and Crime Prevention teams at Day Street Police**
We have also built connections with other communities dealing with the same problem, including **Bayside, Milsons Point, Kirribilli, Lavender Bay and Pyrmont**.
That has been particularly important because this is clearly not just a Barangaroo/Millers Point issue. Communities across Sydney are experiencing the same behaviour, often without the organised voice and access that we have been fortunate enough to build.
**📊 Community evidence**
More than **340 people responded to our community survey**, giving us a substantial body of evidence about sleep disruption, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of homes and public spaces, safety concerns and the broader impact of repeated vehicle noise.
We are now also rolling out our **community-owned noise monitoring network**, which will give us objective real-world data alongside residents’ reports.
The EPA has now told us that it is prepared to **accept our monitoring data as part of its analysis**, which is an important step.
**🏛️ NSW Parliament forum — next week**
The next major step is our **Vehicle-Generated Noise Pollution Forum at NSW Parliament House on Wednesday 23 September**, hosted and chaired by Alex Greenwich MP.
We have worked with Alex and his office to invite **all NSW state MPs**, leading academics and researchers, the EPA, relevant government agencies, the mayors of impacted councils and other key stakeholders.
Our expert panel brings together perspectives from **sleep medicine and public health, law, NSW Police Highway Patrol, transport, urban planning and design, local government, technology and international best practice**.
The purpose is to move this conversation beyond “residents complaining about noisy cars” and properly examine vehicle-generated noise as an issue of **public health, road safety, policing, enforcement, planning and urban amenity**.
Tomorrow I also have a pre-forum meeting with the presenters and Alex at Parliament House, and I’ll be taking the presenters to lunch afterwards as a small gesture of thanks for the enormous amount of expertise and time they are contributing voluntarily.
**📈 And importantly — we ARE seeing movement.**
Since this campaign gathered momentum, we have seen:
• increasing public attention from NSW MPs to the noise-camera trials and excessive vehicle noise
• joint **EPA / Transport / Police compliance operations** across Sydney, including operations affecting our part of the city
• a noticeably greater focus on roadside compliance, vehicle testing and defective/noisy vehicles
• **on-the-spot fines for certain noisy-vehicle offences doubled** under the new NSW noise regulation
• much more communication from the EPA and Police about hooning, modified vehicles and excessive vehicle noise
• the EPA progressing its review of the NSW noise-camera trial and considering what happens next
• the EPA agreeing to consider the data coming from our community monitoring network
**📰 Media attention**
The campaign has also attracted significant media interest, helping take what was initially treated as a local nuisance issue into a much broader public conversation.
So far, the issue has been covered through:
• a **Sydney Morning Herald article**
• **ABC Radio** talkback and interview appearances
• **2GB** talkback radio appearances
• **Channel 10 News** coverage
This media attention has been really important in helping explain that excessive vehicle noise and hooning are not simply questions of “annoyance”. They affect **sleep, health, road safety, families, older residents, shift workers, people living in apartments and social housing, local businesses and the ability of communities to enjoy their homes and public spaces**.
It has also helped demonstrate that this is not confined to Barangaroo and Millers Point. The response from listeners, viewers and other communities has shown that the same problem is being experienced across Sydney and NSW.
Every media appearance has helped keep pressure on decision-makers and has given other affected communities confidence to speak up as well.
Professor Grunstein has also advised us that researchers from the **Woolcock Institute** have received funding to provide information to the EPA about the effects of vehicle noise pollution on **sleep and public health**. That is particularly encouraging because one of the things we have consistently argued is that repeated night-time vehicle noise should not simply be dismissed as an “annoyance” — sleep disruption is a genuine health issue.
No single community can claim responsibility for every government action, and many people inside government, academia, councils and policing have been working on this issue too. But there is no question that our community has helped bring sustained **evidence, visibility and pressure** to an issue that previously seemed to be moving extremely slowly.
Until the Barangaroo and Millers Point community became heavily involved, there was very little visible momentum. We now have MPs talking about it, agencies undertaking enforcement activity, researchers studying it, monitoring data being collected and a major multidisciplinary policy forum taking place inside NSW Parliament.
That is an extraordinary amount of progress for a community-led campaign.
**❤️ THANK YOU**
Thank you to everyone who has reported vehicles, completed surveys, shared information, attended meetings, provided footage, supported the monitoring network, written submissions, contacted MPs or simply stayed with this campaign.
I know there are communities elsewhere in Sydney experiencing exactly the same problem who do not yet have the organised voice that we have, and several have told us how grateful they are that someone is continuing to push this issue.
The objective has always been bigger than fixing one street or one neighbourhood. We want **meaningful, lasting change in the way excessive vehicle noise is regulated, policed and enforced across NSW.**
**🎁 One final request**
Our expert forum presenters have very generously donated their valuable time, expertise and independent opinions to help us.
I would love to give each of them a small thank-you gift after the forum.
If anyone in this group would be happy to contribute towards this, please let me know. If there are several people willing to chip in, I’ll set up a GoFundMe so it is transparent and easy.
And if anyone knows a **local business that might be willing to donate a thank-you gift, voucher, experience, wine, dinner or similar**, please also let me know. Any support would be enormously appreciated.
I’ll post the Parliament House forum invitation below so everyone can see what your community advocacy has helped create.
Thank you, awesome community members. ❤️
We’re making progress — and we’re not finished yet
Cedric Lee
Founder, Ban the Hoons petition