NSW Covid: Infrastructure projects needed to kickstart western Sydney economy

Sydney’s west and southwest should receive a massive splurge in new infrastructure following Covid lockdown, advocates say.

Sydney’s west and southwest need a Harbour Bridge-scale project to kickstart their economies when lockdowns finally end, according to leaders.

Chris Brown, the founding chair of political think-tank the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, said Australia owed “a debt of gratitude” to communities in Sydney’s west and southwest.

“Southwest Sydney and increasingly western Sydney are copping it – they’re bearing the brunt for the rest of us,” he told The Telegraph.

“I think the rest of the country owes them a debt – it wasn’t their pandemic, it wasn’t there disease, and we owe it to them to do something in return.”

Mr Brown said the west needed major projects – akin to the Sydney Harbour during the Great Depression – to “drag us out” of recession post-lockdown.

Western Sydney Business Dialogue chairman Christopher Brown. Picture: Adam Taylor

He also revealed the dialogue had been in conversations with Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet about a specific recovery plan for the west.

“That debt of gratitude should come in the form of a specific economic recovery plan for the region to rebuild it,” he said.

“Big projects aren’t only about the economic impact, but confidence.

“We need a plan that invests in jobs in the region and helps build communication particularly in non-English speaking areas of the community.

“The reality is this isn’t the last pandemic we’re going to face, vaccines or no vaccines, and we need to find a way to talk to these communities who are fearful of police and army streets.”

“That debt of gratitude should come in the form of a specific economic recovery plan,” says Chris Brown of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue. Picture: Adam Taylor

It was a call echoed by Dr Andy Marks, the director of the Centre of Western Sydney, who described the city’s west as the “engine room” of the country which contributes $180-$200 billion to the national economy every year.

“Western Sydney has the largest concentrations of manufacturing and logistics of anywhere in the country – it’s the engine room of not only NSW, but the country,” he told The Telegraph.

“When it’s taken out of the mix, that has a very significant impact on economy and jobs growth over time. You can’t press pause on western Sydney and not have ripple effects later on.”

Mr Brown said with projects such as the state infrastructure plan and the future transport blueprint to be finalised in the coming year, the opportunity was there for renewed prominence for the west.

“We challenge the Premier now to go to speak to your bureaucrats and put the south west and west of Sydney communities at the core of these plans,” he said.

Mr Brown urged that it wasn’t just the political class with a role to play.

“Political leaders, community leaders, and the media have a responsibility to bring us all together to be one brilliant city,” he said, adding there was “the danger of a division in the city into a north east corner and south west corner”.

Among the actions that could be taken, he said, were a food festival highlighting the massive cultural offering in western Sydney in a bid to draw the rest of the city.

The media could get in on the action too – with Mr Brown saying the federal government should fast track the relocation of the SBS from Artarmon to the southwest.

“It’s the obvious thing – get cracking and move the SBS studios and offices to Blacktown,” he said.

And he also had a message for business leaders across Sydney that they had a role to play as well.

“If you’re sitting around a corporate boardroom saying ‘those poor buggers locked down in western Sydney’ – think about it next time a job application comes across your desk,” he said.

Originally published as NSW Covid: Infrastructure projects needed to kickstart western Sydney economy