ABOUT THIS PRIORITY
While relative income, employment and economic participation levels have increased in recent decades, Western Sydney is characterised by distinct differences in prosperity. Several subregions of the West had youth unemployment levels in excess of 20 per cent, pre-pandemic. Those challenges have likely intensified as a result of the recession and associated labour market dislocation.
“For many women, poor access to childcare and the lack of related policy and economic stimulus measures have compounded constraints on their capacity to engage in work.”
Persistent disparities also exist in structural barriers to economic participation among large segments of the region. For many women, poor access to childcare and the lack of related policy and economic stimulus measures have compounded constraints on their capacity to engage in work. Despite numerous government strategies to address job-creation and job-density shortfalls across Western Sydney, the region still profoundly lags Inner Sydney and comparable areas on both counts. An expanded and accelerated policy response is required, and the urgency has intensified with the onset of the recession.
“The development of clean tech and circular economy solutions need to be accelerated and built into whole-of-government approaches.”
Equally, environmental sustainability, the principles of circular economy and climate policy remain challenging propositions for Australian governments – particularly at the federal level. Policy has not kept pace with widespread global shifts towards at-scale sustainability initiatives, plus private sector and community momentum for evidence-based policy responses and investment incentives.
As the site of the hottest day on the planet in January 2020 (recorded in Penrith), Western Sydney’s planning, development and growth must be led by embedded principles of sustainability, not simply isolated projects and schemes. The development of clean tech and circular economy solutions need to be accelerated and built into whole-of-government approaches, of which the Western Sydney City Deal is a ready-made framework.
GOOD PERFORMANCE
- ‘Clean Energy’ Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act
- 200,000 ‘knowledge jobs’ by 2038 target under the Western Sydney City Deal
- $57.4 million over four years to create a Trades Skills Pathways Centre
- $318.6 million over two years in the Skilling for Recovery training package
- Strategic business case for South West Community and Justice Precinct
- Decentralisation of government offices to Parramatta and the West more broadly
- Release of the Sydney Green Grid (Western Sydney Districts) spatial framework
- Development of the CSIRO-partnered Western Parkland City digital twin
- $60 million to establish the Western Sydney Centre of Innovation in Plant Sciences
- Targets for tree canopy and the review of water recycling policy
POOR PERFORMANCE
- Insufficient clarity on business and investment attraction coordination for Western Sydney
- MOUs with Aerotropolis corporates need to be translated into binding agreements
- Job creation is not being pursued with sufficient urgency despite clearly evidenced deficits
- Lacking a detailed post-pandemic jobs and investment plan for Western Sydney
- Pockets of youth unemployment in excess of 20 per cent not sufficiently addressed
- Delay in finalising the 20-year waste strategy, and lack clarity on water recycling program
- No resolution of Warragamba Dam infrastructure, environmental and evacuation issues
- Slow on recreational water access at Penrith Lakes, Prospect and Central City rivers
- Improved tree canopy alone will not make walking and cycling viable in 40+ degree heat
THE VERDICT
For a jurisdiction with an exceptionally strong global credit rating and economic profile, NSW was well placed to manage the extraordinary socioeconomic upheaval of the pandemic. In many respects, as this report has highlighted, that response was solid, particularly in health and wellbeing. More targeted stimulus measures and programs supported the broader recovery effort. Equally, as Mid-Term Report Card respondents have indicated, measures like the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act set a strong pathway and, critically, build confidence in recovery, especially for a region like Western Sydney where ‘clean tech’ has ready-made alignments with the area’s advanced manufacturing base and emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“These agencies, we have been assured over the past decade, were created to end that problem.”
The trouble is – and respondents are almost completely in agreement on this point – the coordination and cohesion of these initiatives is unclear across wider government. ‘Who is responsible?’ was a common refrain. Accountability for the large scale and targeted investment attraction and job creation programs Western Sydney so evidently requires is exceedingly hard to pin down, with multiple agencies and three levels of government intersecting and, at times, diluting agreed directions and targets. These agencies, we have been assured over the past decade, were created to end that problem. A detailed, evidence-based and genuinely consultative recovery plan for the West would be a way to short-circuit and resolve that issue.
Plans emerging from the Western Parkland City Authority to promote innovations in sustainable green/blue grid are encouraging. If supported through agreed Circular Economy principles then a platform is set for this part of Western Sydney to lead globally in economically sustainable ‘clean tech’ solutions. The NSW Circular Economy Network, supported by the Chief Scientist and Engineers’ Office is an excellent way to guide that.
Different opportunities to leverage more established economic strengths, at significant scale, exist across the Central River City. This area of the West has among the most highly skilled labour markets in the country, yet it also retains pockets of disadvantage. Prioritising transport links between the Parkland and River cities – ahead of funnelling workers to the East – must be task of far greater urgency for the Government if Western Sydney’s inherent strengths are to be realised in the state’s interests. This requires a renewed commitment to the principles of the Government’s own ‘Three Cities’ model; ideally that will occur with a refresh of the plan before the end of the current electoral term.
“If 48.9C heat in Penrith does not focus minds in the Government on the urgency of this task, and the opportunities it presents, then nothing will.”
Lastly, planting more trees, while necessary, will not go near addressing the extraordinary challenges Western Sydney faces with respect to climate change and urban heat build-up. Urban design mandates, the adoption of heat resistant materials and cooling methodology – not just in building but in the roll-out and retro-fit of road and rail infrastructure - must be a matter of the greatest priority for government. If 48.9C heat in Penrith does not focus minds in the Government on the urgency of this task, and the opportunities it presents, then nothing will.
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