Future West: The Daily Telegraph Editor Ben English’s call to ‘loosen bureaucratic bonds’ in Western Sydney

‘For more than a decade, The Daily Telegraph has championed Western Sydney. Of all the subjects we address here today, let housing be among the most urgent,’ Editor Ben English has told the Future Western Sydney Summit on Friday.

For more than a decade, The Daily Telegraph has championed Western Sydney with two major campaigns – Fair Go for the West and Future West, for which we are here today.

Like Western Sydney itself, those campaigns have grown significantly over the years.

And they have changed, too. The original goal of Fair Go was basically a rescue mission aiming to redress historic imbalances between Western Sydney and the rest of NSW.

But now, teamed with Future West, every Western Sydney stakeholder has moved on from fixing problems to instead building a grand and glittering city in its own right.

Western Sydney International is at the new city’s core, with road, rail and social infrastructure growing to complement that outstanding airport facility.

Western Sydney Airport construction worker installing the arrivals and departures signs. The airport due to be open for operation late 2026. Picture: Thomas Lisson

Add to that an emerging powerhouse economy fuelled by extraordinary cultural depth and diversity, and it is little wonder that Western Sydney is such a prize – political and otherwise.

We are delighted to be joined here today by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Liberal leader Peter Dutton.

Editor of The Daily Telegraph Ben English has opened the Future Western Sydney summit.

For over a decade, the Future West event has been advancing the region’s interests.

Like all Labor prime ministers, Mr Albanese is a Labor Party historian, deeply versed in Western Sydney’s proud working class heritage.

He’d be well aware that it was here in Blacktown, that Gough Whitlam launched his momentous It’s Time campaign that swept him to power 53 years ago.

And like all Liberal leaders, at least since John Howard in 1996, Mr Dutton sees Western Sydney’s aspirations as a natural expression of his party’s economic philosophies.

We all look forward to hearing from both leaders.

The Future West summit will hear from both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his election opponent, Liberal leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

We look forward to their visions for a region that is expanding and elevating more rapidly and more creatively than many could ever have foreseen. It is already the nation’s third biggest city by population – and growing more rapidly than any other metropolis.

The greatest challenge for Western Sydney is to deliver even further on its already-awesome potential.

The greatest challenge in this regard for politicians and governments is how best to unleash that potential.

Beyond delivering vital infrastructure, it must surely be best for governments at both state and federal level to loosen the bureaucratic bonds that constrain Western Sydney’s prospects.

For here we have Sydney and Australia’s future being corralled by a regulatory structure designed for the previous century.

Of all the subjects we address here today, let housing be among the most urgent.

If Western Sydney can match its housing demand with housing supply, every other Western Sydney concern will just about solve itself.

Housing: Western Sydney’s greatest supply-and-demand challenge. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

A properly balanced and buoyant Western Sydney housing market would also serve as a beacon to other Australian and global capitals.

For that matter, design and construction breakthroughs in Western Sydney could become yet another Australian export winner.

All of the required expertise is in Western Sydney. All of the education, training, imagination and discipline is right here, already moving and shaping our future.

What a future that will be, with Western Sydney showing the way.

In advance, let me thank all participants who are here today to speak of the great times ahead. Thank you all very much.