NSW State Election

There is a State election looming
and marginal seats are like moths
to a light.
Recent headlines regarding the closure of the Western Sydney University Milperra campus have seen some State MP’s making political mileage by pointing the finger at Council, blaming it for
the closure.
Those comments cannot
go unchallenged.
The reality is Western Sydney University were at the time sourcing several sites in the CBD and if they didn’t find a suitable location, they would shift the university elsewhere.
And further to this, they always said the CBD campus was separate to the Milperra campus which they were always divesting.
Let’s be crystal clear, Council did not shut down or have any role to play in the closure of the Milperra campus.
The closure of the campus, which is set to be developed in partnership with Mirvac, was announced in 2017.
Council rejected a proposal by Mirvac to develop the site which would see approximately 430 houses built. This was later overturned by the NSW Liberal Government.
And, you won’t be surprised to know that final approval is expected after the election.
Council also made a submission to a parliamentary committee urging the Government to retain the 20-hectare site for the community.
I wrote to the NSW Government calling on them not to “sell off”
the land, only to receive a response from the Hon. Kevin Conolly MP
on 7 October 2020 stating that the
“WSU Milperra campus is surplus land and was not needed for
school purposes”.
Let’s be in no doubt, the real culprit here is the NSW Government and
the losers have been the people
of Milperra, and surrounding areas,
who desperately need more educational facilities.
Yours sincerely,