As a resident of the former and a native of the latter, and passionate about both, I’m wondering how both are doing at the moment. One thing that coming from one and living in the other does for you is give you a sense of perspective. That leads to this immediate judgment: however anxious New South Welshman are currently about the future on average they are well on their way to being twice as wealthy as the average South Walian. Their GDP per head is already 1.60 times that of Old South Wales and on current trends they will be twice as wealthy by 2025. This wasn’t always the case. But then the two have been going in opposite directions since the 1920s.

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There is a review underway into the planning system for Sydney. I wrote a submission for it for the Committee for Sydney whose strategic advisor I am delighted to report I now am. The Committee was formed by a number of the most strategically minded companies, Not for Profits and Councils in Sydney who combine a deep engagement with the City with a passion for seeing it succeed. As Australia’s only global city, it’s vital it does. Planning is pretty central to the fate of cities so the Committee was bound to take a view on planning reform for New South Wales and given the weighty nature of its membership, it’s likely to be an influential view. The punchline? The planning system is broken: do fix it. Don’t tinker.

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