Region. Future founders on new formula

The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) fears the future of the region would suffer if the Grants Commission’s proposed new formula for the distribution of GST revenue was implemented. “Western Sydney plays a significant role in the status of Sydney as Australia’s global city and to say we are puzzled with being overlooked for funding for massive public transport infrastructure is a understatement,” said WSROC president, Clr Alison McLaren. Western Sydney, which had the third largest economy in the nation contributing some 40 per cent of the overall Sydney total, had a population of 1.8 million representing some 43 per cent of Sydney’s population and was expected to accommodate an estimated 70 per cent of the growth in the metropolitan figure in coming decades.