September 2022 | Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue

September 2022

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 both Traditional Owners and Local Aboriginal Land Councils and supports calls for a First Nations Voice to Parliament.

Why GWS Could Decide the Next State Election

Six months out from the State Election and both sides agree that Greater Western Sydney will decide our next Premier. The Dialogue’s Executive Director Adam Leto provided expert commentary to the ABC as we inch closer to the March poll. Hot on the heels of our Albanese Government review, we will be sharing our NSW State election analysis with Dialogue Partners next week, including insight to the key seats and issues that can swing the election.

In recent weeks we have met with numerous Ministers and Shadow Ministers as we push our priorities and will host both Premier Dom Perrottet and Opposition Leader Chris Minns at our Boomtown Summit and Dinner on December 7-8 at Accor Stadium.

What the Federal Jobs & Skills Summit means for Western Sydney

The Dialogue joined forces with Business Western Sydney and Federal Member for Parramatta, Andrew Charlton MP, to hold the Parramatta Mini-Jobs and Skills Summit. The event brought together education, business and community representatives to develop strategies to boost productivity, promote skills training and develop new employment opportunities.

Following the summit, proposals and priorities for Western Sydney were delivered to the Federal Government for discussion at the National Jobs & Skills Summit in Canberra at the beginning of September.

Among the initiatives discussed by the 80 GWS representatives was a call for the Commonwealth to commit to revitalising vocational training to reskill and retrain the region’s untapped workforce.

Dialogue Chair, Christopher Brown AM, also suggested the Federal Government could address local skills shortages and fill job vacancies by offering foreign students residency upon graduation. You can read our media release that was covered by the Daily Telegraph and SBS News online.

Solar shine for Logos

Industrial property landlord and Dialogue Partner Logos is a step closer to making its entire portfolio carbon-neutral after striking a mega deal with Atlassian’s founders to install solar panels at its logistics precinct in Sydney.

Under the plan, LOGOS will work with Solar Bay, the renewables fund backed by software billionaire Scott Farquhar’s Skip Capital and Grok Ventures, headed by Mike Cannon-Brookes to install panels on the roof at the Moorebank Logistics Park (MLP). The facility is being touted as Australia’s largest intermodal freight facility with an end development value of $4.2 billion.

The target is to save 67.2 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions annually through 100 per cent renewable energy, which is enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes in NSW and supplying the full energy requirement of MLP during daylight hours.

Innovation at the hub of Parramatta

University of NSW and Western Sydney University are fostering the next generation of engineers, architects and designers through their joint Engineering Innovation Hub in Parramatta.

The 18-level, $300 million project developed in conjunction with Charter Hall adds a world-class education touch to Parramatta which will contribute to the EducateAT Parramatta Alliance between the two universities with the goal of positioning the West as a destination for education excellence.

Six of the Best

Greater Cities Commission has released its highly anticipated Six-Cities discussion paper – an important thought-starter for how Greater Western Sydney will connect to the City’s other major strategic centres.

The Dialogue was proud to see a 30% affordable and social housing target on developable government land, and supportive of moves to establish a First Nations Advisory Panel to help guide the GCC’s strategic planning.

However, we are concerned about the proposed boundaries of the never-before-defined Central River City as they exclude the very central Ryde, Strathfield and Burwood LGAs. Blacktown has also not been shifted to its originally intended home of the Western Parkland City. We have raised these issues strongly with Cities Minister Rob Stokes and GCC Chair Geoff Roberts.

The report details a bold vision for Western Sydney’s connection to future hubs across our city – but none of this will be possible without the development of a Fast Rail network from Newcastle in the north, to Wollongong and Canberra in the south, intersecting at Sydney Olympic Park.

Watch the PM’s Western Sydney Vision

You are invited to watch live & online the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP, 31st Prime Minister of Australia, deliver the 2022 Lachlan Macquarie Lecture, outlining his personal vision for Greater Western Sydney. In his first major address to this dynamic growth region, ‘Albo’ will also use this occasion to introduce senior members of his Cabinet and Government to our regional leadership cohort.

Our 700 live guests at Accor Stadium will also hear from Ministers Michelle Rowland and Jason Clare following the PM’s speech and and retiring WSU Chancellor Prof. Peter Shergold AC will receive the 2022 Pemulwuy Prize.

Anthony Albanese is a good friend of the Dialogue and a past winner of the Patrons’ Prize for Excellence in Public Policy for his efforts to develop regional Commonwealth assets like Western Sydney Airport and the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal

Click here to confirm your online live stream registration for this sold-out event. We are grateful to NAB, Hitachi and WSP for their generous sponsorship.