Community outrage has been sparked following New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet, announcing the design of the long-promised Rozelle Parklands, with the Inner West Council stating that the pledged funds fall $15 million short of what is needed to build the park.
Inner West Mayor, Darcy Byrne, said the decision to short-change the project followed a pattern of chronic underfunding of the Inner West by the New South Wales Government.
“The Premier was specifically asked if there would be any more money for the project and the answer was a slap in the face for the people of the Inner West,” Mayor Byrne said.
“Our engineers have costed this project at about $30 million and the State Government is providing just $15 million, leaving the residents of the Inner West with a substandard park.
“It’s all very well for the State Government to provide glossy pictures of the proposal, but they still haven’t actually funded it.”
Mayor Byrne said a promised new public park at St Peters WestConnex Interchange never actually opened to the public and is dangerously contaminated, and now the New South Wales Government is “short-changing the Rozelle community too”.
“We were rorted out of millions of dollars due to the government’s Council grants slush fund in which 95 per cent of grants were funnelled to Coalition seats,” Mayor Byrne said.
“We are the only Council between the CBD and the Blue Mountains to have been prevented from applying for grants from the proceeds of the sale of WestConnex.
“And this year the Government can find $300 million for a stadium in Stuart Ayres’ marginal seat of Penrith but not a cent for Leichhardt Oval.”
Mayor Byrne said there was a clear pattern of financially discriminating against the Inner West for which the State Government stands condemned.
