In the decade leading up to COVID, the frequency of #SardineSydney stories in the mainstream media escalated as the city’s population swelled way above the capacity of the road, public transport and housing systems.
This led to a revolt by both residents and NSW politicians alike, who wanted the federal government to slash Australia’s immigration intake in order to take the pressure off Sydney’s crush-loaded housing and infrastructure:
Then last month, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet declared himself “someone who believes in a big NSW” and promised to lobby Prime Minister Scott Morrison to significantly lift the migrant intake:
“We’re going to have a real discussion [about] catching up some of those numbers that we’ve lost during this pandemic,” Mr Perrottet said on Wednesday, echoing calls from business groups and aged care and hospital services providers who say they are desperate for staff.
“I’m someone who believes in a big NSW,” he said. “I think that provides greater opportunity and prosperity for people across the state. “It is something we will necessarily address working with the federal government.”
This declaration from ‘Ponzi’ Perrottet came after faceless bureaucrats in the Premier’s department advocated an explosive surge of 2 million migrants over five years (400,000 a year) to boost the economy.
The business lobby has also sprung into action, backing calls for a record intake of migrants to boost the economy (read lower wages while increasing the number of customers).
Hilariously, the local council representing the wealthiest Sydneysiders where many in the business lobby reside has comprehensively pushed back against further development, claiming it would wreck the character of their suburbs:
Councillors in one of Sydney’s wealthiest areas say they will campaign against their colleagues’ decision to sign up to state government housing targets…
“A cursory examination of the [area] would reveal that roads are congested … parking is impossible, air quality is dangerous and public school places are not available,” [Luise Elsing, from Residents First] said. “Sewage and stormwater systems are literally imploding with ‘surging’ become more common”…
“Woollahra targets are low compared to other LGAs because Woollahra is already heavily densified, located on a peninsula with very little access to new infrastructure, public open space and recreational facilities,” [Cr Elsing] said…
The long-running debate also attracted the attention of federal Liberal MP Dave Sharma, who in May called for the repeal of the housing targets set for Woollahra.
“The area is close to capacity in terms of the number of dwellings and population it can accommodate with the current infrastructure and facilities,” he said at the time…
Bruce Bland, vice president of the Rose Bay Residents Association, said successive state governments had failed to build new infrastructure over the past three decades.
“It is common knowledge that Woollahra residents believe that Woollahra is full and don’t want any further increase in development unless it is accompanied by appropriate infrastructure,” he said in an email to councillors…
Double Bay Residents Association president Anthony Tregoning echoed Mr Bland’s concerns… “We’d like the council to push back against the [state] government’s autocratic approach to planning,” he said. “We need our council to take residents’ frustration more seriously”…
[Another wealthy area] Mosman Council will house only 250-300 new homes and Hunters Hill is only obliged to meet a housing target of 150-200, according to the Planning Department…
This is great. The wealthy elites living in the city’s east pull the government’s strings. Once they are forced to suffer from overdevelopment like their poorer cousins in the west, they will inevitably squeal like stuck pigs and demand immigration be cut.
The best way to stop the mass immigration scam is to force the likes of Lucy Turnbull and Highrise Harry living in Woollahra and Mosman to be swamped by ugly high-rise developments, alongside the associated congestion.
The overwhelming majority of commenters on the above SMH article seemed to share my view:
Meanwhile, in actual migrant stuffed Western Sydney, residents are struggling for basic services:
Ambulance wait times in Sydney’s west have blown out due to a massive shortage of paramedics.
HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes warns as the state starts to open up, the system will come under even more pressure…
“This pandemic has shown clearly that the Ambulance Service have been under resourced for many years,” he said.
Mr Hayes also highlighted that Sydney’s west and east have vastly different wait times due to several reasons.
“Western Sydney continues to be treated as the poorer cousin of the city’s ambulance response”…
News Corp are reporting that the median wait times for a NSW ambulance is up to 50 per cent longer for residents in Mount Druitt, than for those in the eastern suburbs.
This is Sydney’s economic apartheid policy in action.
Basically, the Western Sydney ghetto is designed to provide cheap foreign labour to the East so that interest rates remain low enabling the East to profit from the rentier services of over-priced ghetto apartments and postage stamp houses, inflated land banks, as well as mortgages and retail by volume.
The situation will only get worse as millions more migrants are packed like sardines into the Sydney’s West.
