Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government is leaving Western Sydney behind. The government recently announced $700 million for construction of business fibre zones, where business can have access to higher speeds, and I was hopeful. Then I looked at the detail to find that, of the 11 business zones announced for Greater Sydney, only one is west of Marrickville—one in Australia's third-largest economy. The others are in Botany, the Central Coast, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Gosford, Lake Haven, Wyong, Lane Cove, Marrickville, Mosman, Neutral Bay, Randwick and Parramatta. Eight of the 11 are on the harbour or the ocean. It's great for me that it's in Parramatta, except the Parramatta CBD won't be getting any form of NBN at all until 2022. But, even then, we need strength around it, and this is not a plan to deliver for Western Sydney. There's no hub in Strathfield, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Penrith, Norwest, Blacktown Bankstown or even Ryde. This makes no sense at all.

Western Sydney is Australia's third-largest economy. We account for more than half of Sydney's population growth, at 52 per cent. In 2018, there were 1.12 million employed residents—bigger than the workforce in Adelaide and Perth, and 10 per cent shy of Brisbane. Knowledge workers accounted for 14.5 per cent—a greater proportion than Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth. We've seen some jobs growth, but 80 per cent of that growth is population-driven sectors. We need the NBN to grow and do as well as we can. We need fast, reliable internet connection now. It's a basic infrastructure. If you don't give it to us, you really are leaving us behind.

The Liberal government's changes to university funding have gone through the parliament, and they are not good for Western Sydney. The government is leaving Western Sydney behind. The government changed the funding model to, as they say, 'tip the balance towards regional universities', where university attainment rates are low compared to city rates. That's of course necessary—we need to raise the rates. But so too should they work to raise the rates in large parts of Western Sydney, where attainment rates are lower—yes, lower—than they are in regional areas, even remote regional areas.

In the electorate of Fowler, around Cabramatta, the attainment rate is 12.7 per cent; in Lindsay, around Penrith, it's 13.5 per cent; in Macarthur, around Campbelltown, it's 14.4 per cent; in McMahon, around Prospect, it's 14.5 per cent; in Werriwa, around Liverpool, it's 15.2 per cent; and, in remote Australia, it's 16.3 per cent. So all of those areas of Western Sydney have lower rates than remote regional Australia. If the government really care about attainment rates and raising them, it's absolutely outrageous that they would leave behind the part of Australia which has one of the lowest attainment rates in the country—and this is what they've done. Unless they address this, they are leaving Western Sydney behind.