Economic Development Forum

Lord Mayor Presentation - Lorraine Wearne - 16/05/2012

To begin, I also wish to acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to their ancient culture and their elders past and present.

I think it is also important to recognise the colonial heritage of Sydney and acknowledge the contribution of the early settlers in laying the foundations of this great city.

I also pay my respects to the many migrants that have come here and now call it home.

All these people have made significant contributions to making Sydney what it is today.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the second Parramatta Economic Development Forum.

As our forebears did before us, everyone here in this room has the power to shape Sydney's future.

We know that Sydney is growing… that by 2050, 7 million people will live in this city… and 4 million of those will be living in Parramatta and Western Sydney.

But the way Sydney is structured right now, we won't be able to cope with this vast number of people.

We are already crippled by traffic jams, an inefficient public transport system and building and development has slowed.

People are spending too many unproductive hours stuck in traffic, doing nothing…

What we have is a city nearly paralysed.

Imagine what it will be like when we pack a few millions more people into Sydney…

But we don't have to accept this vision of our future… we do have the tools and resources at hand to redefine Sydney.

We have choices to make and we have to act. Whatever we decide to do now will determine what our future will look like.

At the root of our problem is the historic tendency to plan our infrastructure around Sydney CBD – historically the employment centre… literally… all roads, tracks and bike paths lead east…

From Sydney's earliest beginnings it suffered from a split personality, East and West of the Tank Stream.

I quote from Nine Century Sydney: Essays in Urban History,

"Convict, military and some civil establishments were centres on the western side of the cove, and land to the east was reserved for the governor's benefit and for administrative and legal establishments. Whatever reasons lay behind such segregation…. This early official determination created a primary division of functions as well as social classes."

This divide has no longer got validity or reason. Most people live in the west, north and south.

What we need is for everyone in this room, and everyone vested with the power to make change, to rethink the way we see Sydney.

...which is a fitting theme for today's forum - 'Rethinking Sydney'.

Parramatta, as the centre of Sydney, has a key role to play in redefining this city.

City of Parramatta Council has been hard at work formulating proposals to fix Sydney's traffic and transport problems…such as our regional ring road and light rail network plans.

A light rail network linking North West Sydney to the South West would help bring people and employment closer together… in a way that's easier and accessible.

This would relieve the congestion on our roads and help Sydney cope with the population boom in the west.

Light rail is certainly more reliable than buses… it's also cheaper and quicker to build than heavy rail.

While we've had many people, groups and organisations voice their support for our plan, including the state and federal governments, we've yet to get any funding commitment for our proposal.

I'd like to remind the Federal Government, that the $2.1 billion you set aside for the Parramatta to Epping Rail link would fund the building of the first stage of our light rail.

Incidentally, on the 24th of February 1974, Gough Whitlam, the then Prime Minister wrote to Sir Robert Askin, the then Premier…

"My Government seeks your Government's consent to construct a railway in the metropolitan area; the railway will be constructed and operated without cost to your Government.

"The railway system we seek to construct will radiate from Parramatta to Hoxton Park, Castle Hill and through Carlingford to Epping."

Prime Minister Gillard, give us that $2 billion! We'll build the light rail for you.

Nevertheless, Council has the courage of its convictions.

We believe in this project and we're backing it all the way.

I'm pleased to announce that a feasibility study on the Western Sydney regional light rail will commence next month.

Council has committed up to $1m towards a number of initiatives to realise the light rail project including the feasibility study, with the successful tender expected to be selected by Council in July.

We will be asking the successful proponent to look into the impact of light rail on Sydney…

The study will be in two parts.

Part 1 will identify a regional light rail network that may take 20 to 30 years to construct.

Part 2 will identify the first stage that could be delivered within 5 years.

We expect the study to be completed in six months.

Council has made a commitment to get this proposal up and running.

We're calling on our Federal and State leaders to get behind it and help provide solutions and the funds that will support the future growth of our city.

We're also asking for support to make Council's Western Sydney regional ring road proposal a reality.

This proposal is about using existing roads and infrastructure in a much more efficient way.

It involves upgrading key intersections and allowing traffic to go around Parramatta and Westmead… quickly and efficiently.

It also allows easier access into those areas.

At $300 million to complete – it's bang for your buck!

We're pleased that Transport for NSW is taking our proposal on board in their future planning for Sydney.

What Sydney needs are more of these revolutionary ideas… we need everyone here to stop playing it safe and think big, think laterally and creatively.

Perhaps the greatest and possibly the only reason for a second Sydney airport would be the employment opportunities it would offer in Western Sydney.

For City of Parramatta Council, this would help us secure the jobs we need to accommodate all the people who are coming to live here and in Western Sydney.

In Sydney today, almost 50 percent of people live in the west yet under 30 percent of jobs are located there.

Here lies the root of why Sydney is gridlocked.

And it will only get worse if we don't do something to address this now…

City of Parramatta Council is already doing its bit to prepare for the inevitable.

We recently announced a very ambitious campaign called Parramatta 10,000, which is about creating 10,000 new jobs in Parramatta over the next five years.

We've estimated that if Parramatta increased its share of jobs by just 20 per cent, residents of Greater Western Sydney would save roughly 22,000 hours of travel a day….  This is equal to $242 million a year in travel time savings.

It would also improve our quality of life. At the moment, too many of us spend hours stuck in traffic, doing nothing but staring at someone's bumper stickers.

This is already having a negative affect on Sydney's liveability rating – we're sliding down the global most liveable cities list… and Melbourne has already surpassed us.

What I want is a billboard above the M4 that says on one side, 'If you work in Parramatta, you'd be at your desk already.' On the other side, 'If you lived in Parramatta, you'd be home by now.'

As part of the Parramatta 10,000 campaign, we have been lobbying the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell and Treasurer, Mike Baird … who is here today… to ask them to consider relocating public sector jobs to Parramatta.

We've had a positive response from them but no commitments as yet.

We've also contacted relevant ministers and members of the state and federal parliaments seeking their support…

We're not expecting government to give us all 10,000 jobs…. We want business to do its share.

We will be running a business attraction program to encourage businesses and investors to come to Parramatta.

Each one of you in the room can also help us achieve our target of 10,000 new jobs in Parramatta.

We need you to invest in city building outside of the Sydney CBD.

We're not just talking about business, we're also talking about major cultural events, such as the Sydney Festival.

How about a 45,000 seat sports stadium at Parramatta? Or a 1200 seat theatre?

We've got the people out west to fill that stadium and theatre.

We need all spheres of government to work together to create a strategic city building program, that recognises the importance of Western Sydney in Sydney's future growth.

Government and business must realise: we have the people here, with the skills and education, what we need are the jobs for them.

With the goal of creating new jobs in mind, I can announce the commencement of the development of the key three hectare site in the centre of Parramatta CBD.

Stage one of the development is located on the corner of Smith and Macquarie Streets and Stage two, on the corner of Darcy and Church Streets.

Located within five minutes walk from 350 restaurants and cafes and the fourth busiest railway station on the network, the new developments are located at the centre of a vibrant CBD.

They will be bold iconic buildings of 25,000 square metres of commercial space, hundreds of high quality residential units and potentially go up to 55 storeys… it will be the highest residential tower in Parramatta.

They will bring 2,000 new workers to the Parramatta CBD.

Today, Council will commence a design competition for the two stages of the development.

We will then submit a development application based on the winning designs, which will be announced in July this year.

From there, we will take the developments out to the market.

But already, we welcome any pre-commitments for potential buyers and tenants for commercial premises.

This is an exciting development for the city of Parramatta.

Council is another step closer to realising our vision for this precinct – the area bounded by Smith, Darcy, Church and Macquarie Streets.

Our vision is of a precinct that positions Parramatta as a centre of business, tourism, entertainment, culture and heritage.

It will include a public library, commercial and retail space, residential developments, other community facilities and areas dedicated to entertainment and leisure activities.

The new precinct will form the commercial centre of the larger, more significant city of Parramatta… that spans the Rydalmere Technology precinct, the University of Western Sydney, Westmead Biomedical precinct, a central business district and a new industrial business precinct of Camellia.

These areas will be linked by the regional ring road and light rail system to other key centres in Sydney.

The precinct's new buildings and facilities will be built with the highest standards of design, environmental, social and economic sustainability in mind.

With another two major developments currently out to market – the Lennox Bridge car park and 189 Macquarie Street sites, this is certainly an exciting time for Parramatta and Western Sydney…

We see the Western Sydney population boom as an opportunity for Greater Sydney.

This Forum is part of our efforts to make sure we have the infrastructure, systems and networks in place to accommodate this expansion.

What we need from you today is the commitment to make it happen.

We have here a number of notable speakers and some of the most influential, powerful and brightest people in the country.

I am looking forward to hearing some of the ideas that come out of today's Forum… revolutionary ideas that address how we can redefine Sydney to meet the challenges of the future.

I'm confident that together, we can secure Sydney's position as Australia's premier city and economic centre.

Thank you.