Tag Archives: State Government

Will the new NSW Transport Authority succeed?

Yesterday’s announcement by the new NSW Government of the creation of a new Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) not only fulfils a major election promise but also highlights the extent of the government’s transport ambitions.   The announcement also echoes many … Continue reading

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O’Farrell’s new Ministry has a few surprises

The NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell today announced his new ministry, with a few surprises. Much has been made in the media about the two new MPs, Robyn Parker (Maitland) who is Environment and Heritage Minister and Graham Annesley (Miranda), who takes … Continue reading

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Update: Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

A couple of updates on my last post: First, a letter from Sandy Thomas (another member of the Sydney Morning Herald Public Transport Inquiry that reported last year) published in today’s Herald offers another and probably more achievable scenario on how … Continue reading

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Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

There is no doubt that Mr O’Farrell and his party scored an emphatic victory in the NSW election, rewriting the record books in the process. While the main factor in the result was the electorate’s obvious dissatisfaction with the performance of … Continue reading

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Toll-road lessons from the “Clem7 lemon”

Recent news that Brisbane’s Clem Jones* (Clem7) road tunnel which opened only a few months ago is now on the verge of financial collapse has a familiar ring, confirming a pattern of losses in a string of privately-owned toll roads and … Continue reading

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Sydney, population growth – and the rise of “mega-councils” (part 5 – conclusions)

In the first four posts in this series I looked at the distribution of Sydney’s forecast population growth across local government areas and in particular the projected increase in the number of councils with populations over 200,000, from two in … 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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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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Federal Infrastructure Funding Fallout

Much has been said in the media and elsewhere about the shortfall in the Federal Budget infrastructure allocations for NSW transport projects, but it is worthwhile examining its dimensions in more detail. Just how much (or little) will NSW receive? … Continue reading

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