The federal government will “no longer be a passive ATM doling out grants for infrastructure”, Malcolm Turnbull has said, in a lecture lauding the economic and social potential of transport infrastructure to “make cities wonderful places to live”.
Speaking at Western Sydney University’s Parramatta campus, the prime minister said new roads, including to a future airport in the region, would be essential to unlock the economic promise of western Sydney, “but roads are not enough”.
“World-class airports share a common ingredient: fast and convenient public transport links,” Turnbull said.
Official advice is that traffic forecasts for the airport will not justify a dedicated rail link for another two decades, and the government could not commit to completing a fast-rail link by the time the airport opens in 2026.
“There is too little known about the route, the cost, the value created and the sources of funding,” Turnbull said.
But it was worth exploring whether a fast-rail created enough value to warrant being built sooner.
“We know that a rail link won’t just service airport passengers – the people of western Sydney will also benefit. Transport infrastructure, especially rail, adds enormous value and amenity,” he said.
“Instead of resigning ourselves to a two-decade delay, let’s lift our ambitions and ask: what would it take for rail to be operational at the airport when it opens? And if not then, how soon afterwards?
“How do we use a rail link to improve supply, and hence affordability of, residential and business premises? How do we use rail to give people better access to quality jobs? How do we increase the rail catchment through changing land use?”
Turnbull has styled himself a public transport connoisseur, in contrast to his predecessor, Tony Abbott, whose government exclusively funded road infrastructure.
The change of leadership meant the government would “no longer be a passive ATM doling out grants for infrastructure”, but rather an active partner in developing regional blueprints.
“To invest more we need to start capturing some of the value our infrastructure creates,” he said, in reference to value capture, a funding method whereby the residents whose properties increase in worth as a result of new transport infrastructure pay higher rates to offset the cost.
“This is not new,” he said. “But it requires governments and planners to think outside the square, to stop thinking like transport engineers but as urbanists, builders of cities and communities.”
He said federal government investment in western Sydney would aim to be in line with another modish urban design principle, the 30-minute city, where people can live, work and study within their broader area.
About 200,000 people leave western Sydney each day for work, a figure forecast to grow to 340,000 by 2041.
