The 2024 federal budget includes $1.9 billion worth of infrastructure projects for western Sydney, but Dai Le thinks this will barely touch the sides.

Western Sydney has suffered from decades of underfunding from all levels and colours of government. Health, education and transport infrastructure have struggled to keep up with the needs of a growing population with increasingly diverse needs.

For Le, the issue remains the same in many areas — a lack of quality communication between stakeholders. While Senator David Pocock has attracted a lot of media attention for his community forums, Le has been quietly doing the same in her home electorate of Fowler, looking for the pain points rather than the solution pitches that Pocock seems to prefer.

“I formed a youth advisory committee, and they’ve told me about the mental health issues they’re experiencing, the struggles around the cost of living. For them, living in western Sydney and travelling to work or university is costing a lot of money … they’re concerned about HECS,” she said.

“These young people aren’t just typical university students who’ve got the privilege and time to study. They also have to come home to a place where English is a second language, mum and dad are probably working in a factory, a restaurant or in retail.

“These people have the pressure of the family environment in addition to cost-of-living pressures.”

Having called for changes to HECS indexation for the last year, Le is pleased with the government’s changes to higher education loan indexation. She is less impressed by the targeting of some of their cost-of-living relief.

Energy and transport costs loom large in the minds of her constituents, and she is less than impressed with the government’s actions to date on petrol prices and power bills.

She said petrol prices were having an effect not only in western Sydney but all connected supply chains.

“In western Sydney, people drive a lot. People don’t have EV cars. They travel long distances for work, study, dropping off their parents. It’s not just just workers — think of the whole supply chain. [The cost of] people delivering food adds to the cost of anything we purchase as consumers,” she said.

“The prime minister says the wholesale price of electricity has come down under Labor. Ok, it has gone down — but why hasn’t that been passed on to the end users in the community? That’s where we can play a bigger role, and make a bigger impact rather than just handing out $300.

“We need to address systematic issues, whereby those energy companies should be passing on those cheaper wholesale energy prices to the end user.”

Education Minister Jason Clare, who occupies the neighbouring electorate of Blaxland, said he thought the cost of living relief the government was offering would be most welcome.

He said the decision to change the stage 3 tax cuts was a clear example of greater attention being paid to western Sydney.

“We’re giving every taxpayer a tax cut from 1 July. Over 1 million people in western Sydney will receive a tax cut — around 980,000 will now receive a bigger tax cut under Labor than under Peter Dutton and the Liberals’ plan,” he said.

“This is a Labor budget because it’s a budget for every Australian in western Sydney, not just some.”

While these changes do relocate some of the benefits of the tax cuts from east to west, analysis by the University of Western Sydney’s (UWS) Centre for Western Sydney shows the tax cuts still overwhelmingly favour wealthier suburbs.

Chief economist Neil Perry said the tax cuts were no match for the impact of inflation on lower-income households.

“Western Sydney as a whole receives $1,524 per earner, while the Rest of Sydney gets $2,037 per earner,” he said.

“Promised cost-of-living relief for western Sydney, instead highlights the structural inequity of our tax system. This will persist unless at-scale and better-targeted measures are undertaken to redress the profound jobs and skills imbalance across Greater Sydney, and comparable parts of the country.”

Why western Sydney matters

Almost 1 in 11 Australians live in greater western Sydney (GWS) — about 2.5 million in total.

GWS has the third largest economy in the country, behind Sydney and Melbourne CBDs according to UWS.

One of the most diverse areas in the country, residents come from more than 170 countries and speak more than 100 different languages. The majority of new immigrants (60%) that come to Australia settle in GWS. About 12% of GWS residents do not speak English well.

GWS has the largest single Indigenous community in the country, with more Indigenous residents than South Australia or Victoria. Population and diversity continue to grow faster than the wider population.

The demographic profile of western Sydney makes it a focal point for many of Australia’s biggest policy challenges — inequality, social cohesion, migration and the skills shortage.

Despite being an important supply of labour for the rest of Sydney, western Sydney’s own workforce suffers from a variety of disadvantages. About a third of residents do not work in the area. Unemployment is above average, and salaries are lower.

Even for people who live and work in GWS, its sheer geographic size, and sparse public transport make people extremely car-reliant. This means fuel prices and the quality of roads are more significant pain points than for most city dwellers.

An egalitarian approach to public policy suggests the best way to raise the average outcome is to work with those who are doing it the toughest. The combination of intersectional disadvantage, and population density makes it part of the country where governments have the potential to make a significant difference with well-thought-out programs.

What has the government done so far?

Since taking office, the government has committed about $17.3 billion to infrastructure projects in western Sydney — primarily parts of the western Sydney infrastructure plan, and the Western Sydney Airport’s transport plan. Public service departments will be direct beneficiaries of this, as they respond to the call to go west.

The $1.9 million investment in the budget will be spread across 16 infrastructure projects — 14 new, and two ongoing. While there is little disagreement about whether these are critical infrastructure projects, there are questions about whether it constitutes new investment, and whether it is the right time to be spending on infrastructure.

The infrastructure pipeline is running behind and over budget in every jurisdiction in the country due to the flow-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the former government’s homebuilder package.

It is speculated that as a populous area with high unemployment, GWS might be one of the greater beneficiaries of Future Made in Australia once the more elemental parts of the supply chain — minerals and energy — are secured.

Le is more sceptical of this. She said the cautious approach taken by the Industry Growth Program and National Reconstruction Fund had left her wondering whether the government and the public service have the ticker to make bold investments.

“Not a single dollar has come out of those programs … So why are you starting another program?” she said.

“The cynical journalist in me says this is another headline-grabbing announcement. If they’re genuine about it, why hasn’t any money flown out of these two? They were initially sold as supporting local manufacturing, to innovate.

“If we want to be smart and agile, we need to be able to trial, to test things out. Of course, it’s not the government’s responsibility, but the government can play a role in supporting that rather than going for safe.”

(This appeared in The Mandarin)