October 2024
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Why BOOMTOWN! 2024 is our biggest yet
Boomtown! 2024 will see the biggest line-up of federal, state and local leaders ever, with a program that dives deep into the biggest challenges in our infrastructure, housing and transport future.
Here are three reasons Boomtown! 2024 is our biggest yet, and why you need to be there.
Housing Minister Headlines Boomtown!
In her first major address to key stakeholders in Greater Western Sydney, Federal Housing & Homelessness Minister Hon. Clare O’Neil MP will outline the federal government’s suite of housing policies, to help boost supply, address labour and skills shortages and make it easier for families, young people and front-line workers to get into the market.
With GWS set to be part of the election showdown in 2025 and housing a key priority, don’t miss one of the government’s most important ministers at Boomtown!
KEY FEATURE: Tracking the success of the Housing Australia Future Fund.
Water, Energy, Transport
Boomtown! 2024 will see all the major infrastructure players that enable major housing developments under the same roof.
Sydney Water Managing Director, Roch Cheroux, Chief Executive, Infrastructure NSW, Tom Gellibrand, TNSW Secretary, Josh Murray and Sydney Metro Chief Executive, Peter Regan will all discuss the key buildings blocks to unlock homes, jobs and amenity in our region, at a time when construction costs and infrastructure pressures escalate.
KEY FEATURE: In-depth analysis of the Transit-oriented development program, and how enabling infrastructure is being planned, funded and co-ordinated.
National Infrastructure Leaders
The era of the mega-project is far from over. At Boomtown! 2024, the Chief Executive of the High Speed Rail Authority, Tim Parker, and Chief Commissioner of Infrastructure Australia, Tim Reardon, examine the GWS infrastructure pipeline and priorities and the next generation projects that will shape the future cities of the west.
KEY FEATURE: The growth opportunities of high speed rail through GWS
Housing Fight Hits GWS
Adam Leto
This month, Peter Dutton’s Coalition announced a major $5 billion housing policy, the Housing Infrastructure Programme, geared towards funding for enabling infrastructure like water, power, sewerage and access roads.
The Opposition Leader chose Penrith as his spot to spruik the new policy. The LGA will need to deliver 8,400 new completed homes as part of their NSW Government set target by 2029, and Mr Dutton has clearly identified a gap to exploit when it comes to delivering critical infrastructure.
However, barely a day later, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil was in Bonnyrigg in the South West, an area of even greater housing growth, announcing a $26 million commitment for infrastructure to unlock 275 new homes as part of the Bonnyrigg Renewal Project.
One shot was cracked into the wind by the Coalition, and the government shot back.
I think it’s fair to say we can expect much more of this as the Federal election nears in the first half of 2025. There’s a reason why. The Dialogue’s GWS Wellbeing Survey released earlier this year showed GWS residents rank access to stable housing in their top five priorities. It’s not just about accessing a home, but it’s about amenity, jobs, transport, health and infrastructure that comes with it.
Since she was sworn in as Federal Housing Minister, Clare O’Neil has visited the region every month, including gathering all state and territory leaders to Western Sydney for a Ministers meeting in August. With a landmark $32 billion federal housing package, which the Minister will outline in her keynote address at Boomtown!, expect to see more of the Minister, and more of her opponents running up the case studies and funding pledges in the housing space as the election draws near.
LGA Results Mapped
The Dialogue’s final briefing lays out the key election and Mayoral results, including an outline of the regionally specific trends and changes in power that will shape the next four years in each local government area.
Read our full report here.
Key Takeaways
Greens gain in Labor heartland
Libertarians and Independents make gains
Liberals ascend in Parramatta & Cumberland but absent elsewhere
New Mayors elected in Campbelltown, Parramatta, Cumberland, Hawkesbury
Freight Policy Reform for GWS
It may have gone under the radar, but Transport for NSW’s Freight Policy Reform Program Directions Paper outlines key investments that must be made to unlock industrial precincts and create jobs in GWS.
Major changes are underway which means land use in the Airport Precinct (Aerotropolis) and surrounds are expected to be freight intensive.
The Dialogue’s submission brought key projects and actions to the attention of government including:
- Officially designating and protecting the Western Sydney Freight Line Corridor and begin investigation into timelines for its construction.
- Maximising Port Botany as a container terminal to ensure success of future GWS intermodal terminals
- Recommending Transport for New South Wales/NSW Government further progress the Strategic Business Case for the Maldon-Dombarton line, including the potential to deliver the project under a public-private partnership.
- That a dedicated route and corridor be identified and protected now to avoid future complications for the Western Sydney Airport Pipeline
The Dialogue is pleased that the Directions Paper, authored by Dialogue Patron Dr Kerry Schott AO, suggested there should be “urgent and strategic coordination for all significant developments across Western Sydney including, Western Sydney Airport and the Aerotropolis, Western Sydney Freight Line and the Mamre Road IMT and Industrial Precinct”.
Specifically it identified there is a clear and huge gap in the metropolitan rail freight system and “steps to expedite the Western Sydney Freight Line (WSFL) should begin, with a view to preserving the corridor in the near term to enable construction, by 2034”.
It also suggested considering “whether an additional IMT of scale will need to be located in Western Sydney, possibly on the Outer Sydney Orbital (Orbital), servicing the interstate and import/export task, as Moorebank has been designed to do”.
The Dialogue has also previously recommended, fast-tracking planning and delivery of the Outer Sydney Orbital by the NSW Government and supported by the Federal Government.
We are pleased to see the Directions Paper strongly supports this project and identifies its many benefits.
Read our submission here.
Read the Freight Policy Reform Program Directions Paper here.
The Show Must Go On
From ghost town to glamour city. The future of Sydney Olympic Park was officially laid out in the Sydney Olympic Park Masterplan.
The plan sets out a strategy to turn what is currently a precinct stuck in the past, to a thriving metropolis built for events with a high street, retail, restaurants, parkland, higher density and key worker housing connected by light rail and metro rail.
It comes at an important time with the 25th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games marking a moment of reflection for our city. Olympic Park still shows it can throw a good party, and with a bit of investment, there’s no reason that the show can’t go on.
With Parramatta Light Rail Stage 2 and Sydney Metro West coming online in the next decade, providing never-before-seen access from Olympic Park to Parramatta and Sydney CBD, it’s an opportunity to reimagine what the precinct’s future will look like as the population grows to more than 25,000 by 2050.
The Dialogue looks to East London following their Olympic Games in 2012, as an example of an exceptional urban renewal project that is delivering affordble housing, transport, arts, culture, major commercial tenants and economic activity.
The Dialogue has seen it first–hand on two East London Study Tours (2019 and 2024) where we met people in the UK who had the big vision, planned the transport links, delivered the new universities, framed unique governance models, consulted the communities and ultimately shaped a new city east of the Tower Bridge.
It proves it is not too late to deliver a similar Olympic promise to the people of Greater Western Sydney.
The masterplan is now on public exhibition.
Welcome to our new partners
The Dialogue is thrilled to welcome the delivery agency for Bradfield City Centre, the Bradfield Development Authority, and global professional services firm, KPMG, as partners.
