Category Archives: Infrastructure

Western Sydney a winner in Transport Inquiry interim report

In my last post I outlined the governance arrangements outlined in the interim report of the Independent Public Inquiry into Sydney’s public transport which I had a small role in developing. Now I’d like to summarise the Inquiry’s proposals for … Continue reading

Posted in Governance, Growth, Infrastructure, Planning, Population, Public Transport, Sydney metro area, Transport, Western Sydney | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Independent inquiry’s report will shape Sydney’s transport debate

It’s finally out – the interim report of the Independent Public Inquiry into Sydney’s public transport.  The Inquiry’s report was prepared under the guidance of Mr Ron Christie, former NSW Coordinator General for Rail and former head of the RTA, … Continue reading

Posted in Governance, Infrastructure, Planning, Public Transport, Sydney metro area, Transport | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

SMH publishes transport opinion piece

In late November last year, just before I left for Perth and then Paris, the Sydney Morning Herald published my opinion piece on Sydney’s current transport infrastructure saga. The title the paper chose was: Three times denied: western Sydney misses … Continue reading

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SOAC addresses cities in Perth

In November the 2009 State of Australian Cities Conference brought together academics, researchers, planners and many others involved in urban design and management at the University of Western Australia in Perth to discuss the current status and direction of our … Continue reading

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“Red Ken” looks outside the building

The former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone’s recent City of Sydney CityTalk address contained a strong argument for greater investment in education, infrastructure and sustainable transport to tackle climate change, but he made another  important comment on city management  in the Q&A session afterwards. As a result … Continue reading

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Christie’s Sydney public transport inquiry hearings kick off

Well, it’s inevitable that the next few posts will be dominated by Sydney public transport and planning issues. On Tuesday the public hearings for the Sydney Morning Herald’s independent public inquiry headed by transport expert and former Director-General Ron Christie … Continue reading

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Australian product provides new window on local economic performance

Melbourne-based firm .id (informed decisions) have just launched economy.id, an online economic profile to “describe, explore and promote” local economies. economy.id joins the .id stable of profiles and other web-based programs, including profile.id, atlas.id, forecast.id and housing.id. .id’s main client … Continue reading

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Nowra’s take on Sydney’s fate well worth a read

For those who haven’t seen it yet, writer and playwright Louis Nowra’s latest essay “Who turned out the lights?” in the Weekend Australian Magazine is a pungent summary of Sydney’s major problems, their causes and the resulting social, cultural and … Continue reading

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Federal Infrastructure Funding Fallout III

Well, I said that I would outline some of the so-called “shovel ready” alternative transport projects the NSW Government could have nominated for Infrastructure Australia funding instead of the less-than-shovel-ready metro proposals that were put up. However, a lot has … Continue reading

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Federal Infrastructure Funding Fallout II

My last post discussed how NSW had fared relative to the other states in attracting transport infrastructure funding, particularly for public transport, in this week’s federal budget – which, in summary, was not very well.  It’s useful to look at … Continue reading

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