King’s Birthday Honours: How Jennifer Westacott’s vision shaped the city growing in Western Sydney
Jennifer Westacott has played a key role in the early stages of constructing Bradfield, the new city on the doorstep of the region’s new airport. She is among the many Australians on the King’s Birthday Honours List.
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In decades to come, when a new high-tech city has sprung out of paddocks in western Sydney, the fingerprints of one woman will be evident.
Jennifer Westacott has played a key role in the early stages of constructing Bradfield, the new city on the doorstep of the region’s new airport, while as chancellor of Western Sydney University she is also overseeing the new generation of workers tasked with filling future jobs created there.
Ms Westacott has been recognised by being named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the King’s Birthday Honours List, with her nomination citing her eminent service to business, tertiary education, the mental health sector and the community.
Chairing the Bradfield Development Authority since 2019, Ms Westacott said the change in the region has Western Sydney poised to shake-up the country’s entire economy – with 10,000 new homes and 20,000 jobs in what will be the first major city built in Australia in over a century.
“The new airport, plus the population growth, is driving huge change in Western Sydney. When I drive around western Sydney and see the distribution centres going in, the data centres, companies setting up huge supply chain operations, I think we’re in for a massive transformation,” she said.
“It’s happening before our eyes.”
This was evidenced, she said, by a partnership contract signed between the authority and Japanese industrial automation giant OMROM just last week, which will introduce next-generation automation and artificial intelligence to local industry.
“They just get it – they don’t need to be convinced about the opportunity there,” Ms Westacott said of the deal.
“We need to get the whole of Australia thinking about western Sydney the way I think about it … I think the whole Australian economy can get transformed by the region.”
The Chancellor of Western Sydney University since 2023, Ms Westacott said the job dovetails with her role as chair of the authority.
“We’ve got a long way to get that city fully developed – but cities aren’t built in days, weeks or years,” she said.
“We’re going to build a different city here – a city based around jobs – (and at the university we’re) building those skills of the future – it is about a futuristic kind of view of the world.”
“It’s about jobs in advanced manufacturing … robotics … When I do graduations, I say to the students ‘you’re living in the most promising part of Australia’.”
While the roles are some of the most high-profile Ms Westacott holds, she’s equally as passionate about other positions on her lengthy CV.
This includes acting as the patron of Mental Health Australia, which she was also chair of for six years from 2013.
But instead of talking up her work in the field, she said there “hasn’t been enough change” in dealing with mental health issues across the country.
“I think the sector still has huge complexities, you only have to read any of the reports into mental health (to see) we’re not getting this right – the sector is too fragmented … I see people working really hard, great non-government organisations, but the system is just not working.”
“We need more of a national focus on this – its not that governments don’t spend money, they spend colossal amounts – but I’m not sure we’ve got the system as modern and joined up (as it should be).”
She added the biggest issue in mental health remains the stigma around it.
“People are still nervous and frightened to disclose (mental health issues) in their workplace and the broader community. If I could change one thing, I would change that – it would open the way for treatment,” she said.
Ms Westacott said her King’s Birthday honour wasn’t just for her, but all the colleagues she had worked with across various organisations.
“I’m super proud, not just of my contribution, but all the people I’ve worked with over the years – I’ve worked with some wonderful teams and people, and this award is a celebration of that collective effort,” she said.
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Originally published as King’s Birthday Honours: How Jennifer Westacott’s vision shaped the city growing in Western Sydney
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