They should be commended for the careful way they have reconciled the competing interests of rail versus road.
Sydney is set for a major facelift. Over the next decade we will see transformative projects like the light rail to the eastern suburbs and the redevelopment of the convention and exhibition centres. There is a real energy and dynamism to the government’s vision for Sydney as our global city.
This is important for greater Sydney because the economic benefits of growth in finance and other industries lift all of our boats.
Many of our cutting edge industries have important multiplier effects for the broader economy. American economist, Enrico Morretti has demonstrated that for every innovation job created, five addition jobs are created in the non-innovation sector.
Innovation jobs could include anything that helps to create a new or improved product and that is able to be traded to a global market. These are the sorts of jobs that have been located in central Sydney to North Ryde – the so called global arc.
But this renewed focus on strengthening Sydney’s competitive advantage and getting back its mojo will still leave many people from western Sydney commuting to central Sydney for work.
The North West and South west trains and the West Connex motorway extension will all help to get workers from the west into the so called ‘global arc’.
One new initiative announced by the NSW government this week is a pilot of smart work hubs in outer western Sydney.
These work hubs are an attempt to provide “hot desks” for workers that don’t need to be in the office every day.
They will be located on outer areas closer to where these workers currently live. This is a small experiment that is worth taking the risk on. But it is not nearly enough.
Currently 200,000 people travel outside Western Sydney to access work every day. This jobs deficit has serious effects on commute times and community health. And it is expected to get much worse.
The latest forecasts by Cox Richardson planers show the jobs deficit growing to about 350,000 by 2051.
Western Sydney needs the same level of vision and dynamism that is being shown in central Sydney. Our regional river cities need strengthened public transport connections. And they need the type of cultural infrastructure that befits their role in generating jobs and urban renewal.
Former Premier Nick Greiner, and now chair of Infrastructure NSW, refreshingly admitted when he released the group’s infrastructure priorities list that it was light on vision for Western Sydney.
What I would love to see the NSW Government, along with the Federal Government and our local councils, develop is a Western Sydney specific plan.
Let’s look at how we solve our 200,000 jobs deficit by attracting new business and large, job generating infrastructure like a major Western Sydney airport to the region and what transport infrastructure we need to connect these employment hubs to the local residents.
We all know that expecting people to spend several hours a day in slow, mind-numbing, grid lock on the way to a job in the CBD can’t be the way we continue.
We have the opportunity to transform that pilgrimage to the east 200,000 people face each and every day.
David Borger is Western Sydney Director of the Sydney Business Chamber and former Minister for Western Sydney.
