Parramatta. Sydney's centre at Ermington

The population centre of Sydney remains in Ermington, in the Parramatta LGA, where it has been for more than a decade, according to ABS figures. Every lLGA in Sydney recorded a population increase in the year to June 30 last year, with Blacktown (6900 people), Parramatta and the Hills Shire (each with 4800 people) recording the largest increases in residents for the second consecutive year. The fastest growth rates were largely found in the inner west, with Canada Bay and Strathfield holding the first and third positions respectively. Auburn ranked second. The NSW population centre is located on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in the Hills Shire. ''Between June 2004 and June 2009, the centre moved approximately 1.2 kilometres east,'' the ABS found. Sydney’s population passed the 4.5 million mark for the first time.

Region. Rees 'fair dinkum' about centres

Premier Nathan Rees has a medium-term goal was to “get fair dinkum” about building up centres other than the Sydney CBD. The Government needed to consider incentives, such as payroll tax concessions, for business to move to other centres, such Parramatta and Penrith, in the west, and Hornsby, Chatswood, Strathfield, Hurstville and Bankstown. “It means planning to make sure we get the right commercial, retail and residential mix and open space … you re removing the need for people to have to travel into the (Sydney) CBD every day,” he said in The Sydney Morning Herald. “The centres policy has been kicked around by planning ministers … it’s frankly had lip service paid.”