We may be starting to sound like a broken record, but we’re going to say it again and again: South Western Sydney deserves a special deal from the new Labor Government in NSW.
Liverpool, Campbelltown and Macquarie Fields delivered huge victories for Labor on March 25.
Camden, which has been a blue ribbon Liberal seat since 2011, switched to Labor and Sally Quinnell, who will now have a thumping majority.
Right in the middle of all those seats is the new electorate of Leppington, where Labor’s Nathan Hagarty cruised to victory despite reports it was going to be a very close result there.
And with 20,000 votes still to count in Holsworthy, this previously Liberal Party fortress could still go either way.
The Liberal candidate is a mere .04 of one percent ahead of Labor’s Mick Maroney, so Holsworthy could yet be the seat that gives Premier Chris Minns his 47 seat majority.
Labor also won a couple of seats in “old” Western Sydney, but it was the South West that did most of the heavy lifting.
So what should happen over the next four years is that when it comes to doing things in Greater Western Sydney the focus must be on the South West.
For too long our region has been taken for granted while Parramatta, mainly, has been receiving the lion’s share of state government infrastructure bound for Western Sydney.
It’s true that part of Western Sydney has a very influential lobby, indeed a very clever lobby, in that it purports to represent all of Greater Western Sydney, when clearly it does not.
That is why the time has come for the South West to get some overdue attention.
To start with, we are sick and tired of having two thirds of our residents travelling long distances to access employment.
The first thing that we demand the Minns Labor Government does is approve funding for the community and justice centre proposal in Campbelltown.
It should be accompanied by the relocation of hundreds of public service jobs.
The second is that the $300 million earmarked for an upgrade to Penrith Stadium should also head South West and specifically Campbelltown Stadium.
Just these two infrastructure projects would transform South Western Sydney from the poor cousin of Western Sydney to a destination location.
The third one is a direct rail line linking Campbelltown, Narellan, Camden and Oran Park to the new airport at Badgerys Creek when it opens in three years.
There are lots more where they came from, but Mr Minns, we’ll be watching keenly to see if our region, the great South West finally gets its fair share from the state government.
Now that all of Macarthur is Labor hopefully we will not be taken for granted and we get what Penrith and Parramatta have been getting over the last 10 years. We have the fastest growing area in Australia so we deserve more infrastructure and more Govt investment in our area.
I endorse what you say Anne. Roads, education, healthcare and transport infrastructure are lagging about 20 years behind profits to rural land developers and Councils in SW Sydney.