10 minute read
Stephen Bali
Blacktown City is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. By 2041, population growth will result in our region having over 615,000 residents – easily larger than Tasmania! Only by working together can we deliver the jobs, infrastructure and social services to support a vibrant and exciting City – Opportunity for All!
Western Sydney continues its massive population growth with Blacktown City being the highest amongst all councils. The table below compares the population growth of Western Sydney, Blacktown City Council, Northern Beaches Council and Tasmania.
POPULATION GROWTH COMPARISONS
2016 2.1m 350,046 267,484 519,050 2041 3.6m 614,189 298,667 568,617 Change 1,544,234 264,143 31,183 49,567
1 in every 6 people moving into Greater Western Sydney region will be living in Blacktown City. Based on population projections, Blacktown City will pass the State of Tasmania by 2037. The challenge faced by Federal, State and local governments is to have a coordinated plan to provide for the quality of life that is expected by residents to support the massive population growth. The NSW Government has announced that it wants a ‘big NSW.’ Your local Labor representatives have argued that a plan and a budget is required to resource and support the population growth. Schools, hospitals, roads, jobs, transport (rail or buses), sports facilities, parks, arts, police, housing, business development, social and age care workers are all currently under funded AND must be supported. We cannot be short changed. Sell-off of the WestConnex has recently netted the NSW Government $11 billion but only $5 billion may be allocated to Western Sydney. That is the equivalent of $69 per person, per year, based on 2041 population projections to fund all the infrastructure and social needs for our growing population over the next 20 years. So spend your $69 wisely…
Blacktown City – Too Big to Ignore.
State Government Failure to deliver road network across Blacktown
Blacktown Rd Upgrade:
Promised since 2014. Partly funded. Delayed completion to 2026. Richmond Road: 6 traffic lanes required from M7 to Marsden park (South Creek border). No funding.
Bandon Road:
from Richmond Rd to Windsor Rd. No plan and No funding.
Rooty Hill Overpass:
4 lane road from Woodstock to Eastern Rds, plus 4 lane bridge. No plan & No funding.
Bungarribee/Flushcombe Rd
traffic lights: Plan completed but no funding.
Blacktown Rd/Sunnyholt Rd
intersection: No Plan and no funding.
Toongabbie Overpass:
No plan and no funding.
Garfield Rd/Riverstone Rail line:
No clear plan from Government.
We are here to help you and your family
Stephen Bali MP
Shop 3063, Westpoint Shopping Centre, Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown
Hugh McDermott MP
2/679 The Horsley Dr, Smithfield
Prue Car MP
Deputy Opposition Leader Shadow Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Member for Londonderry (02) 9833 1122 londonderry@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Edmond Atalla MP
Suite 201, Westfield Shoppingtown, Carlisle Av, Mt Druitt
ISSUE 8 | November 2021 NOW OPEN
AT WORKERS BLACKTOWN ON LEVEL 1
OPEN DAILY 11AM - 9PM
Fire night: A man is captured on CCTV footage on Quakers Hill Parkway, Doonside around the same time of a suspicious fire in the Western Sydney Parklands, in August this year.
Man arrested over Doonside murder
LAW & ORDER | JADE HOBMAN
POLICE arrested an 18-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman last week, as part of a crackdown on those allegedly connected to the murder of a young teen in Doonside.
They join eight others, between the ages of 13 and 32, who face charges for the crime, police said. 16-year-old Jason Galleghan was found unresponsive with head and chest injuries in a home in Doonside on August 4 this year, and was taken to Westmead hospital, where he later died.
Police released CCTV footage last week showing two male fi gures walking with hoodies, carrying items around the vicinity at the time of the alleged murder. They believe the man seen leading the way in the footage is the 18-year-old they have arrested.
He was apprehended after a raid at a Kingswood unit on Tuesday last week, and was charged with conceal serious indictable off ence–murder. He will appear before Blacktown Local Court in late November. The other man has yet to be located by police.
The 36-year-old woman arrested faces serious charges, including murder, and appeared at the Mount Druitt Local Court last week.
Jason’s mother Rachel Galleghan said her family have been grieving the loss of her son.
“It is just so utterly devastating and heartbreaking that his future has been taken away from him,” Ms Galleghan said. “We have all lost the biggest part of us that can never be replaced, and I would like to ask that the community please continue their support to fi ght for Jason so that justice is served.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Blacktown Police Station on (02) 9671 9199.
Man charged 26 years after sexual assault
A man fronted court last Wednesday after DNA connected him to a sexual assault on a woman in Sydney’s southwest in the 1990s.
In June 1995 the woman reported to Bankstown police that she had been detained and sexually assaulted by a man, allegedly in a vehicle.
Police said that despite exhaustive investigation, and forensic examinations at the time, no charges were laid.
But after a DNA link to the crime was discovered in a forensic lab in March this year, police started reexaming the case, and as a result arrested a 48-year-old man in Lalor Park last week. The Villawood man faces charges including aggravated sexual assault, and appeared at the Blacktown Local Court.
Parkland fires ‘deliberately lit’
Police have released CCTV footage in the wake of suspicious fi res that took hold in Doonside early last week.
Emergency services were called to the Western Sydney Parkland area at Knox Road in Doonside, after reports of three separate fi res.
The blazes were extinguished, but not before doing damage to 1.3 hectares of bushland.
Police said they are a part of a spate of deliberately lit fi res across Western Sydney in recent times, covering the areas of Dean Park, Quakers Hill, Glendenning, Kemps Creek, Horsley Park and Rooty Hill.
On Thursday police issued CCTV footage showing a man around the same area and time of another fi re at the Western Sydney Parklands about two months ago. The man is seen walking south on Quakers Hills Parkway in Doonside at about 250am on August 23.
Missing Baulkham Hills child found
A six-year-old girl went missing for almost two hours on Saturday, October 23. Police at the Hills Area Command commenced a search after the alarm was raised, before the child was found safe and well in a neighbouring property.
Police would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance.
Anyone with information that may assist investigators in some of these stories is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw. crimestoppers.com.au.
HOW TO WIN THE WEST HOW TO WIN THE WEST
WESTERN SYDNEY MEDIA ALLIANCE
OCTOBER 2021 | EDITION 126 BUSINESS | LIFESTYLE WWW.ACCESSNEWS.COM.AU
POLITICS Why new State leadership is good for the West: 2 MANUFACTURING Local firm’s game changing deal with ASIA: 46
COVID LESSONS
“KEEP saying that the risk of getting a side effect to AstraZeneca is one person sitting in a full SCG, and the risk of dying from it is one in a million - the equivalent to a lightning strike.” Vivid stats voiced by infectious disease expert Professor Tony Cunningham as he took part in a Regional Roundtable webinar of internationally renowned experts held recently by a collaboration of Access News Australia and The Westmead Institute for Medical Research. The panel, who hail from a range of disciplines, spoke about their take on the lessons learned from COVID, and their prognosis of future trends in a post-pandemic world. See pages 4,5.
ISSUE 15 | OCTOBER 2021 TRUSTED LOCAL NEWS WWW.PARRAMATTATIMES.COM.AU
ParramattA
TIMES
What it might look like to have flying cars over Parramatta CBD.
INSIDE
CARS OVER CBD
CAN you imagine cars flying above the Parramatta CBD? Parramatta Chamber of
Commerce president Luke Magee can certainly see it as a possibility after the Parramatta Times discussed a report from University of NSW suggesting the concept was not far away. “I hope it can be something we can look forward to in the future. It would be good for Parramatta, with its lack of parking,” Mr Magee said. “These flying cars could work like the proposed driverless cars where you park them
outside the city and they come to pick you up." More page 2.
Key to business relationships: 7
Bankwest becomes CommBank Stadium: 13
ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2021 TRUSTED LOCAL NEWS WWW.GREATERBLACKTOWNNEWS.COM.AU N
COVID Guide to vaccination centre across Blacktown: 19 COMMUNITY NITY Vale Warren rren Hardy, community ity warrior: 14 14
Special free event for you and your business: 13
PROJECT$ PROJECT$
Cash boost for local precincts
From top left clockwise: Grange Avenue, Loftus St and Glengarrie Rd - all projects for possible development under the AIF program. HIGH growth greenfield precincts in Blacktown will bene-
fit from a share of $139M being handed out by the State Govt this year. The cash is up for grabs for eight Western Sydney councils as applications have opened for round
two of the Accelerated Infrastructure Funding (AIF). More page 4.
High impact media that reaches Australia’s fastest growth region - Greater Western Sydney, home of Australia’s new 24-hour airport.
Targeted reach. Four powerful media brands in digital and print formats. Contact us today for a conversation about your success plans: graham@accessnews.com.au
