January / February 2022
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We acknowledge and honour Aboriginal People who have cared for country in Greater Western Sydney for at least 60,000 years.
The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue thanks these Traditional Owners and we pay our respects to their Ancestors and Elders – past, present and emerging.
The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue has setup the Collaborative Leadership Program (CLP), as a way to invest in the professional development of existing and emerging leaders from organisations with an interest in Greater Western Sydney.
The CLP was established following encouragement from the former head of Premier and Cabinet, Tim Reardon and Western Sydney University Chancellor, Prof. Peter Shergold AC, as a contribution to city-shaping in Greater Western Sydney.
Having been rescheduled twice due to COVID-19, we are thrilled to announce that the four-night, five-day in-residence immersive CLP will take place from Monday 30 May – Friday 3 June 2022!
To kick off the program, the Dialogue recently held a networking function (in-person!) at NSW Parliament House where the Chairs, CEOs, Secretaries and Vice Chancellors who nominated our 2022 delegates, as well as our CLP Governors and delegates themselves, could meet before the intensive residential program. It was fitting that our guest of honour was Deputy Liberal Leader and Minister for Western Sydney the Hon. Stuart Ayres MP.
With 37 delegates from the public, private and not-for-profit sector, the 2022 CLP is fully subscribed. For more information or enquires for the 2023 CLP please contact Program Director Faith Halliday (pictured above) at faith@westernsydney.org.au
The Dialogue hosted its first Future Forum of the year in Parramatta. The forum’s theme was ‘Capturing the social value from major projects in Greater Western Sydney’, which explored the key recommendations from our report with RPS ‘Humanising Infrastructure: Securing a bigger social legacy for Greater Western Sydney‘.
Key speakers at the forum included the Hon. David Elliott MP, the newly appointed NSW Minister for Transport, as well as Jayne Whitney, Chief Strategy Officer at John Holland, who shared the organisation’s perspective on the social impact of major projects. Thank you to our partners for this event: Western Sydney University, RPS, and John Holland.
February has been busy, with the Dialogue also holding its first boardroom event of the year with Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO, Matt Comyn at the Commbank Stadium in Parramatta.
With 21 other Western Sydney leaders, he shared his views on geopolitical impacts on the local economy.
Environment
The Dialogue has welcomed the recent government review that found that raising the Warragamba Dam wall would have significantly reduced the damage seen during the Hawkesbury-Nepean floods in summer 2020-21. With a mind to massive rainfall again this week, we still support a policy that would see the dam wall raised (but only to manage potential flooding), recycling of water in the West, and new roads and bridges to manage evacuation.
This followed news of a joint Federal and State Government $33m funding for a program to identify over 100 infrastructure improvements to boost the resilience of the flood evacuation network throughout the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley. Read more about the review here and the funding here.
Transport
Major works will commence on the new Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport line after the contract was awarded to CPB and Ghella to build the new twin metro rail tunnels.
The Dialogue has long advocated for Western Sydney to become the green manufacturing capital of NSW, and welcomes news of Western Sydney based Custom Denning being awarded the contract to design, manufacture and assemble 79 new electric buses.
This is part of the NSW Government’s $70m investment to transition the bus fleet to zero emission technology.
Read more about the contract here, and click here to read our ‘Hot Issue’ policy paper on how Western Sydney can mitigate heat, including moving towards more green energy.
Work on the Parramatta Light Rail has continued with the installation of Australia’s longest stretch of green track.
The Federal Government has announced Moorebank Intermodal Company will have its mandate expanded to become National Intermodal Corporation to support the delivery and operation of intermodal terminals in Melbourne and Brisbane as part of the Government’s $14.5 billion Inland Rail project.
Western Sydney Airport
Western Sydney Airport is creating training and upskilling opportunities for Western Sydney locals with one-third of the workforce learning new skills onsite, exceeding the project’s target of 20 percent.
Read more about that here, and also view the development progress.
Health
Stage 2 of the Nepean Hospital redevelopment will feature a new, state-of-the-art intensive care unit, an in-centre renal dialysis unit, medical imaging and cardiology services, as well as more in-patient beds.
Read more about it here, or register for their Open Day of the completed Stage 1 development on 11 March here.
Blacktown Hospital has welcomed the completion of a 30-bed Acute Adult Mental Health Inpatient Service unit, designed to support and empower patients in their recovery. It includes recreation and fitness spaces, sensory and de-escalation rooms, and an abundance of natural light.
Digital Dialogue: Western Sydney Unfiltered
Western Sydney Unfiltered is a series of short, conversational interviews with some of the region’s leaders, to explore the latest news, issues and emerging trends. In tackling important policies and major projects, these one-on-one sessions with some of our city’s big thinkers, bright minds and most influential voices will help keep you in the know with everything that is going on in Greater Western Sydney.
Click here or the image to watch the recent interviews with Princess Ventura (Regional Director NSW at Urbis) or Michael Rodrigues (24-Hour Economy Commissioner, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet).
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We acknowledge and honour Aboriginal People who have cared for Country in Greater Western Sydney for at least 60,000 years and acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather today.
The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue thanks these Traditional Owners and we pay our respects to their Ancestors and Elders – past, present and emerging.
We also acknowledge the vital role played by our Local Aboriginal Land Councils, the modern custodians for all First Nations people who currently live in our region, home to one of the largest urban Aboriginal populations in Australia.
