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Sydney’s metro network would be extended in five areas, and more heavy rail lines converted, under a range of projects the NSW Coalition is considering committing to before the next state election.
NSW Liberal Leader Mark Speakman has given his clearest indication yet of where a future Coalition government would invest in public transport infrastructure, identifying five “candidates” for further metro lines in western Sydney.
However, he has been coy about how the expensive projects would be funded and said the party would examine “a whole variety” of options.
Four proposed metro extensions are additions to the Western Sydney Airport line, which will link St Marys to Bradfield via the new airport when it opens in 2027. Options for the southern end of the line include extensions to Leppington and, separately, to Macarthur. To the north, the party is considering a connection from St Marys to Tallawong, the terminus of the north-west metro line. The current government has already begun business cases for these extensions.
Other metro options the Coalition is considering include a line to the new airport from Westmead, where the Metro West line will end, and to Liverpool from Bankstown, which is now being converted from heavy rail.
“There are plenty of candidates” to extend the metro network, Speakman said. “And people from time to time talk about ‘metrofying’ existing heavy rail links. So we will be considering all those prospective candidates and we’ll make announcements well before the next election.
Speaking in Parramatta, opposition leader Mark Speakman said his party was considering where to extend Sydney’s metro network.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“One of the problems with the current public transport arrangements for the new airport is that if you live in south-western areas like Campbelltown, Camden, that kind of area, it will take you longer to get to Western Sydney Airport by public transport than to get to Kingsford Smith Airport. So what’s the point?”
Building metro networks is notoriously expensive – the construction of the Metro West line is due to cost $27.3 billion, more than $2 billion more than the government’s official forecast. The Labor state government has ruled out building more at this stage, and Premier Chris Minns said in August he refused to “privatise government assets to build metros”.
The federal Labor government in March committed $1 billion for a rail corridor between Leppington, Bradfield and Macarthur, but work on the plans has not yet begun.
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Speakman said options for funding the projects could include value-capture, public-private partnerships, the traditional use of consolidated revenues, and the controversial asset recycling program which involves selling off public assets and using the money to fund infrastructure.
He defended the asset recycling program, saying: “In the past, it actually grew the asset base of the state, when we left office we had grown the asset base of the state by 50 per cent.”
He did not identify what he would consider selling.
On value capture, which taxes landholders on increases in property values associated with nearby public transport projects, Speakman said the scheme “doesn’t pay for a complete development”.
“It might mitigate the cost, but you’re unlikely to be able to fully pay for something via value capture. And you’ve got to be careful at the moment too, where state taxes and charges are crippling infill and greenfield development that you don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”
Camellia-Rosehill housing back on the table
The comments were made on the same day the Coalition announced an election promise to proceed with previously abandoned plans to rezone most of Camellia-Rosehill, near Parramatta, for up to 10,000 homes.
The state Labor government abandoned a Department of Planning rezoning plan when it attempted to buy the neighbouring Rosehill Racecourse from the Australian Turf Club, and faced with warnings that the industrial land would require mammoth spending to clean up the highly contaminated land.
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Developers have claimed the cost of cleaning up the land, which has been home to asbestos manufacturer James Hardie for decades, would be prohibitive if they could only build up to 10,000 new homes in the area. Speakman said he doubted that was true.
“It was a final strategy in 2022, it’s been consulted to death, exhibited to death, it’s ready to go.”
Planning Minister Paul Scully said on Tuesday the rectification work would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and new residents wouldn’t “be able to have a small veggie patch in their backyard” at present contamination levels.
The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.
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