Parramatta. 'Treat Parramatta as a city'

Parramatta City Council said train and bus services into the geographical centre of Sydney were unable to cope with the amount of people working for the growing number of corporations relocating to the area. More than 90,000 workers travel to Parramatta local government area every day, with another 20,000 residents, 30,000 workers and 30 new skyscrapers expected in the next 20 years. “We want the Government to start treating Parramatta like the city that it is," Parramatta Lord Mayor, Tony Issa, said in The Daily Telegraph.

St Marys. State-of-the-art machine

Managing director, Peter Baker, of Baker & Provan, in the Dunheved business precinct, said a 112-tonne,state-of-the-art milling machine imported from Japan would be used to machine large-scale mining and railway equipment. The machine was delivered in nine oversize containers and assembled by Japanese technicians over five weeks. The machine, which would require an additional four highly-skilled staff to operate the new equipment, means work previously performed overseas would now be completed in Australia. Long-time campaigner for the revitalisation of the Dunheved business precinct, David Trist, said the company's productivity and value to the economy showed how important it was for a master plan of the area to be designed, according to the Penrith Star.

Bankstown. New rules on airport projects

Industry sources said a catalyst for a warning from the federal Minister for Transport, Anthony Albanese, was a controversial attempt to build an Islamic school at Bankstown airport. He has warned the nation's privatised airports against inappropriate development on airport land and flagged new regulations making it more difficult to build some projects. The new rules would effectively remove from airports the ability to approve such projects if they cost less than $20 million, according to The Australian. There has been increasing friction at some airports between aviation users and the desire of operators to diversify and boost revenue by developing airport land.