For a community as diverse, and a region as expansive, as Western Sydney, Mid-Term Report Card responses regarding place and connectedness were understandably detailed, varied and considered. The Coalition’s delivery of the North West Metro, and investment in projects like the Parramatta Light Rail – developed at the local government level – have been welcomed, as has work to accelerate the project. Similar commitments to initiatives like the Sydney Metro West and the Western Sydney Airport line, are viewed positively.

“The scale of growth in the West, combined with the region’s profound and persistent jobs-distribution deficit demands far greater urgency and scale in infrastructure investment.”

After nearly a decade in office, there is little argument that the Coalition have made greater progress on transport connectivity for Western Sydney than their Labor predecessors over a comparable period. But that’s not enough. The scale of growth in the West, combined with the region’s profound and persistent jobs-distribution deficit demands far greater urgency and scale in infrastructure investment. In this context, the way decisions on connectivity are made is also critical.

Doubt over Stage 2 of the Parramatta Light Rail, and the comparative lack of Western Sydney station sites (just three stops) on the Sydney West Metro are provoking questions as to the Government’s commitment to leveraging projects to address the region’s jobs imbalance. Equally, transport connections that fail to link skills and jobs centres like the Western Sydney Construction Hub to opportunities like the Airport run counter to broader government commitments to job creation.

The place-based framework set under the Greater Sydney Commission’s ‘Three Cities’ model remains one of the most potentially transformative mechanisms with which to harness Western Sydney’s growing skilled workforce. For that to work, connecting the West with the West must be the priority of its next iteration.