Unfairotropolis

Since the time of white settlement, Sydney has always looked upon its western outskirts as a place for the unwanted. In the decades after landing, the colonial government established its earliest gaols in Parramatta. In the mid-20th century, Olympic Park was a dumping ground for toxic chemicals, and just about everywhere was a dumping ground for James Hardie asbestos.

The view of the west as undesirable extends to how residents are viewed. At times, the condescension of the rest of the city is unspoken, visible only in the raised eyebrows of peers when you tell them you're from Liverpool, or Blacktown, or Penrith. At other times their derision is voiced in the derogatory term westie.

So pervasive is this attitude that some of the region's own residents take it on board. No example is so clearly recalled to as the disgraced former MP for Lindsay Jackie Kelly denigrating her own constituents on the basis that "nobody in her electorate went to uni" and that the Penrith region was "pram city" on account of the number of younger mothers, and that these were reasons for the local university not to receive additional funding.

Such geographic snobbery may be a long-established phenomenon, but such regressive views have not hitherto been codified in broad government policy. That changed earlier this week with the unveiling of the "Greater Sydney Region Plan," which repackaged it in the indecipherable language of bureaucracy but kept at its heart the goal of keeping the western suburbs as a place for the undesirable.

The Plan

The Plan, revealed this week in a flurry of glossy pamphlets, op-eds and publicity shots, is a 170-page outline of guiding principles for Sydney's development over the next four decades. The central conceit of the Plan is to re-conceptualise Sydney as three giant regions, each taking up around a third of the current metro area. Each of these regions is said to be anchored by a zone of higher economic activity and a natural geographical feature emblematic of the area. Thus the plan carves Sydney into:

• An "Eastern Harbour City," centred on the harbour and with the existing CBD as the main area of economic activity. This is to be boosted by the new CBD metro line and light rail systems, which are currently under construction (as the construction sites along the CBD's main thoroughfare indicate).
• A "Central River City," centred along the Parramatta River and with an arc of economic activity stretching from Olympic Park to Carlingford to Parramatta to Liverpool. This development is to be facilitated by the massive new developments in Parramatta turning it into a second CBD, and a new local light rail system between Westmead and Olympic Park.
• A "Western Parkland City," consisting of "everything else we couldn't be bothered designing for" and centred on the not-yet-existent second airport at Badgerys Creek.

The term "parkland city" would be considered a joke if not for the gravity of the document. There is no great "parkland" in the western suburbs so much as a patchwork of residential acreage, hobby farms, and uncleared land where property values have not sufficiently risen to entice developers to move in. And even this last component has changed, with new estates such as Oran Park, Caddens and Ropes Crossing moving into the wilderness before public infrastructure catches up. Perhaps the term "parkland city" is one of irony, referring not to any green space but the projected number of cars in the region.

Luddenham, in the heart of the "Western Parkland City" - a close rival to the Tuileries Gardens according to the NSW Government.

In the middle of this region is to be placed the great economic driver of the region, the second Sydney airport (which the Plan continually refers to as an "aerotropolis," a word as make-believe as the development it is supposed to underpin). The Plan envisions the fantasy airport-city as a major urban hub in its own right, supplanting the existing suburban centres of Penrith and Campbelltown. In one of the more nonsensical parts of the document, the Plan even goes on to speculate that "over time, the Badgerys Creek aerotropolis [sic] could become a fourth university city."

Apart from what has been dreamt up, there are other clues in the document suggesting that the authors have never visited the place. For example, the Plan identifies certain ADF facilities in the vaguely general facility of the new airport as somehow promoting commercial collaboration. Page 93 of the Plan provides:

"The RAAF Base Richmond Precinct will complement the airport and aerotropolis [sic] activities. Precinct activities include aerospace activities (defence and civilian); a Western Sydney University campus, TAFE NSW Richmond and range of equine activities."

Apart from the somewhat dubious claim that horses will be appreciative of the new airport, the writer obviously doesn't realise that Richmond is some 30km and 45 minutes' drive (without airport traffic) from Badgerys Creek, making any forecasted synergies dubious at best given the travel times involved. What else could be expected though when the relevant State Government ministers with oversight of the Plan are the Member for Double Bay, the Member for Lane Cove and an Upper House representative from the southern suburbs, not to mention that the head of the Commission is currently a resident of Point Piper's most exclusive address.

The occupational divide

The Plan's list of key economic sectors for each region makes plain how little esteem the NSW Government affords to residents of the western suburbs. Key industries for each of the three regions are forecasted to include the following

CBD & surrounds: Finance & professional services, creative industries and tertiary education.
Parramatta region: Medical technology, health, and public administration.
Western suburbs: Agricultural processing, construction, and transport & warehousing.

The NSW Government looks at western suburbs residents and sees only couriers, labourers and baggage handlers.

Perhaps the most pernicious aspect of the Plan is its stated goal of "job containment," that people located in each region do not have to travel to a different region for work. So in addition to keeping the lower paid work in the western suburbs, the Plan aims to keep lower paid workers there too, lest the more glamorous harbour or beaches be sullied with their presence.

In contrast to the "university city" fancifully predicted to reside in the invented "aerotropolis," consider the economic zones surrounding major international airports worldwide as a guide to the occupations the NSW Government thinks fit for the western suburbs. When it is built, the second airport will bring the usual array of airport hotels, car rentals, warehouses and convention centres, a perpetual state of urban decay, and a long ride into the city on a choke toll road.

The proof in the pudding

Further evidence of the disdain with which the Plan treats the western suburbs is the confirmation that the second airport, located in the middle of a ring of residential areas, will not have a curfew. From page 67 of the Plan:

"The development of the Western Sydney Airport as a 24/7 airport to complement Sydney Airport will enable Greater Sydney to accommodate significant projected passenger growth."

What possible reason justifies the maintenance of a curfew at the existing airport, bordered largely by the ocean as it is, but having no noise curfew in the middle of some of Sydney's largest residential growth areas? No reason save the desire of the State Government to once again shift undesirable issues out west. And this process is happening right now - consider the proposed development of the world's largest incinerator at Eastern Creek, opposed by residents, local councils and even the EPA for not meeting health and safety standards, but which the NSW Government has failed to rule out. It is clear that the government and its coterie of policy wonks and technocrats intend for the western suburbs to be the repository of the city's refuse and aircraft noise.

A real solution integrate the western suburbs would include more public transport links to the major commercial hubs of Parramatta and the CBD, but also additional networks between secondary centres. Sydney's transport systems are presently designed to funnel people to and from the CBD, but all areas would benefit from viable public transport options which bypass the CBD, especially on a north-south axis.

A well-thought out plan would facilitate growth in places such as Campbelltown, Penrith and Richmond to take advantage of existing infrastructure with the scope for additional work to have immediate benefits. For instance, the Plan as referred to above mentions the benefits of creating a transport link between the second airport and Richmond. Why then does the Plan also advocate a new rail line meeting the Northwest Metro terminal at Marsden Park, some 13km short of Richmond? It is disastrous fibre-to-the-node thinking writ large!

The current Government's plan is ill-conceived, ill-thought-out, and contemptuous of western Sydney.
It must be rejected.