Transport for Sydney

The NSW Government released a discussion paper, "Sydney Towards 2036" (10 March 2010) and has invited online discussion of topics, which correspond to the document's chapters, such as "Alternative transport options". Unfortunately the discussion paper has not been integrated with the discussion forum, making citizens input difficult.

The discussion paper is released as a 2.2 Mbyte PDF file. The discussion forms consist of a set of web pages. The content discussion paper has not been reproduced under, or linked from the corresponding topics. This requires the reader to first download the 30 page PDF document, find the relevant section of interest, then turn back to the web site, find the corresponding web page and then somehow relate one to the other in their comment. As an example "Integrating land use with transport" starts on page 15 of the discussion document.

The ten topics for in the report are:

1. Planning for a growing population
2. Making Sydney climate change ready
3. Integrating land use with transport
4. More jobs in the Sydney region
5. Growing Sydney’s value
6. Strengthening a City of Cities
7. Meeting changing housing needs
8. Balancing land uses on the city fringe
9. Achieving renewal
10. Implementation

The NSW government has an apps4nsw competition, modelled on the successful federal government gov 2.0 mashup competition. Perhaps someone would like to mash up the Sydney planning discussion paper and discussion forum.

My suggestions for the transport topic were as per my submission on the Sydney CBD Metro.

Also the book Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age (Paul Mees, February 2010) is of interest.

ONE hundred exhibition

The State Library of NSW has the free ONE hundred exhibition on until June 2010.This is for the centenary of the Mitchell Library. There will be something to interest everyone from a manuscript hand written by Capitan James Cook to the manuscript of Reedy River for the New Theatre production. This is not on the scale of the National Library of Australia's 2005 Treasures exhibition, but still worthwhile. Unfortunately the state library exhibition is hampeed by a poor quality web site, which lacks an index to the exhibits.

Smart Home in Sydney for Free

The NSW Government is offering a family a free smart home in Sydney for a year. The family will receive free accommodation in return for writing about their experience using the energy and water efficient features of the house at the Newington Smart Village Project in western Sydney.

A "Smart Home Family brief" is provided. This is a 2.39 Mb zip file with:

• Smart Houme (sic.) add 8-2-10.pdf
• Smart Home Family Application 8-2-10.doc
• Smart Home Family Brief 8-2-10.pdf
• Making a tender response to Smart Homes.doc

A house has been acquired in the Sydney suburb of Newington to be the Smart Home. It is being developed to be a ‘house of the future’ showcasing and testing new technologies to reduce household energy and water use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The house, like other Newington houses, was designed and built to minimise energy and
water requirements. The Newington Smart Home already has:

• passive design features such as a northerly aspect, well placed trees, window glazing and insulation to reduce the need for heating and cooling appliances;
• a 1kW solar power systems to supplement the home’s electricity supply;
• grey water; and
• a gas‐boosted solar hot water system. ...

The Newington Smart Village

The Newington Smart Village is being established as a trial by EnergyAustralia and Sydney Water. The Smart Village will use innovative energy and water management
technology to give 1,000 households in Newington and Silverwater the ability to reduce their environmental footprint and their household utility bills. This is a $10 million, two‐year program.

The Smart Village Program’s scope covers:

• Next Generation Smart Meters ‐ 1,000 household electricity smart meters with two‐way communication will be installed as well as 1,000 water meters and 500 recycled water meters. This allows Sydney Water and EnergyAustralia to communicate with residents on household energy and water use via a one‐stop‐shop website or in‐house display.
• Smart grid switches – New smart switches are being installed on the electricity network to give EnergyAustralia greater information and monitoring of the network, and of Smart Village energy use. It will also allow faster response to power outages.
• Home Area Networks (HANs) in 100 homes ‐ This will allow smart appliance monitoring and control so households can remotely turn appliances on and off using iPhones (if they have them) or via a tailored website. This will help homes better control their energy use and equipment, running costs and greenhouse emissions.
• In‐house displays and tailored household websites – This will give households real time information on energy and water use, cost, greenhouse impact. The website includes the ability to compare use and enter neighbourhood competitions.
• Incentives to reduce energy use ‐ Households can choose to trial innovative incentive packages and products, such as bill rebates for reducing energy use below normal in peak times, and free use of electric vehicles.
• Renewable energy solutions – will be added to the grid as part of the trial including energy storage solutions to offset peak electricity demand and renewable energy technologies such as fuel cells. Electric cars and car recharging connection points on the electricity grid will also be tested. ...
  

From: "Newington Smart Home Family -
Brief", EnergyAustralia, February 2010

Curiously, applicants have to apply via the Energy Australia E-Tendering Portal. The tendering system requires the entry of complex information and does not suit such a competition. The tendering process and documentation is more than is reasonable for a family to complete.

Unfortunately the demonstration smart home appears to be of the same time as previous failed smart home projects, including the iHome at Pyrmont in Sydney. These projects equip homes with computer operated controls which require an excessive amount of attention from the householder. Experience shows that the novelty of such systems wears off quickly. The householder does not want to know the power consumption of their home minute by minute or to be able to control appliances remotely. They want the systems to be autonomous: that is the appliances control themselves. In many cases a combination of computerised, simile electronic and mechanical controls are better than full automation. In the case of the Sydney iHome, the high technology systems were removed at the end of the trial, as they provided no useful service to the house holder. It therefore makes little sense to conduct another such trial of a failed approach to energy saving.

Also the competition process has problems it is using the system designed for companies to submit tenders, so that private citizens are instructed to pretend they are overseas companies, to avoid having to enter an Australian ABN. Instructing citizens to enter false information into a government tendering system would appear to be a bad precedent to set.

Details For Notice #ENERGY-447194

SMART HOME FAMILY
This tender is
CURRENT
· TenderLink Ref : ENERGY-447194
· Type of Notice : Request for Tender
· Region : New South Wales
· Contract Value : Not Specified
Closing Date/Time 22/02/2010 6:00 p.m. NSW

EnergyAustralia and Sydney Water are looking for a "Smart Home Family", including a resident writer, to occupy and write of their experiences in the Newington Smart Home located within the Newington Smart Village Project. A house is being developed to showcasing both current best practice and be a real life laboratory testing new technologies to reduce household energy and water use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Smart Home will be integrated with an intelligent electricity grid and its key objectives include:

• To provide a feature location for education on sustainable energy and water usage, smart metering and publicising the Newington Smart Village trial;
• To showcase and test 'best of breed' appliances and quantify the potential energy and water savings;
• To demonstrate the opportunities and benefits of a Home Area Network (HAN) environment;
• To explore alternative electricity supply and storage options, such as micro generation and battery storage technology; and
• To showcase the use of an electric vehicle and monitor its charging patterns, and potential integration with the battery storage.

Smart Home Family will increase the educational benefits of the house through living and reporting on their experience. A full description of the project and requirements of the family is provided in the Smart Home Family brief.

From: #ENERGY-447194, EnergyAustralia, 2010

Freeview and barbers

Saw a familiar face on TV just now. The latest Freeview advertising "more for me" features Enrico the barber of Annandale. He is something of a I was sitting in there when summoned to Samoa). and others mention him in their travelogues. Freeview seem to have difficulty comming to grips with mdia in the 21st century. Their media release for this new advertising campaign includes a web address, user id (moreforme) and password (launch09) of where to get a copy. It seems to have escaped their attention that they could simply put a copy on a service such as YouTibe, but then, if they did that why would we need digital broadcast TV?

Internet referendum for deciding Sydney project funding

Verity Firth MP, Member for Balmain and NSW Minister for Education and Training is conducting a referendum to decide which of 26 community projects in her inner Sydney electorate to spend $300,000 of state government funding on. Residents can vote via the Internet. This is an interesting experiment in direct democracy (discussed at Public Sphere 2 and by Government 2.0) , but there are a few problems with it.

A letter sent to residents from the MP (October 2009) says that residents without Internet access can request a paper voting sheet. However, that information is not on the web site (some residents may have Internet access, but not want to use it to vote).

Also it is not clear why criteria different to state elections have been used for selecting voters. The "register to vote" instructions state that the voter must "... live within the boundaries of the Balmain electorate ...". As a result some citizens who are eligible to vote in state elections in Balmain may have been disenfranchised in this referendum.

In addition the referendum details are on a commercially registered web site ("verityfirth.com.au" registered to "ServEssence Pty. Ltd."). Given that NSW has a history of corrupt practices involving the administration of funds at the local level, it would be prudent for this process to be conducted by the NSW or Australian Electoral Commission and all details to be on a ".gov.au" web site.

Ashfield Municipal Council

Refurbishment of the Haberfield Centre.

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Balmain rowing club

Restoration and facility upgrade at Balmain Rowing Club.

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Balmain Sailing Club

Refurbishment and upgrade of ladies toilet and bathroom facilities of Balmain Sailing Club.

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Birchgrove park support group

The construction of a community cafe/meeting space at Birchgrove Park.

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glebe rowing club

Addition of Glebe Rowing Club deck and pontoon construction.

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hunter baillie memorial presbyterian church

Upgrade and fix of the hall lighting.

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italian forum cultural centre

The Italian forum cultural centre fitout, at Leichhardt.

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KU Laurel tree house child care centre

A heating and cooling system is required for the childcare centre.

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Leichhardt municipal council

Community playground refurbishment program.

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Leichhardt wanderers rugby league football and cricket club

Upgrade to the Leichhardt Wanderers Sporting Club.

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Little Nicholson Street Playcentre

The playcentre community infrastructure improvements, at Balmain East

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NSW Catholic lawn tennis assoc

Renovation and refurbishment of the main clubhouse.

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Orange Grove Public School P & C Assoc.

The outdoor playground equipment installation and playground landscaping, Lilyfield.

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Police & Community Youth Clubs NSW Ltd

The Glebe PCYC - funding for exterior works of club facility, Glebe

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Radio for Print Handicapped of NSW Co-Op Ltd

New air conditioning system for studios, Glebe

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Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre Inc

The electrical secure upgrade, Rozelle.

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Scout Association of Australia (NSW)

1st Leichhardt Scout Group, the refurbishment of the front entry of the Scout Hall, Leichhardt.

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Scout Association of Australia (NSW)

1st Leichhardt Scout Group, the renovation of the rear yard of the Scout Hall, Leichhardt.

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Scout Association of Australia (NSW)

South Metro Region 1st Glebe Scout Hall (Property Ref 382), the building repairs Scout Hall, Forest Lodge.

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St Columbas Parish

The refurbishment of St Columba church hall, Leichhardt.

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St Thomas Rozelle Child Care Centre

Upgrade of the staff room and storage shed.

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St Thomas Rozelle Child Care Centre

Upgrade to the playground safety, Rozelle.

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Styles Street Children`s Community Long Day Care Centre

The replacement of roof and associated oparapet cappings and flashings, Leichardt.

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sydney community college

Renovation of the community hall at Rozelle.

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The Trustees of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (NSW)

The Refurbishment of Hostel into Outreach for Single Older Women.

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Toxteth kindegarten inc

The installation of eco-friendly ventilation at the childcare centre in Annandale.

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Newcastle Beach Youth Hostel

My be a bit late in life but I have discovered the wonders of Youth Hostels Australia. having stayed at Newcastle Beach YHA last weekend. This is in a converted 100 year old hospital, which looks more like a gentleman's club than a backpackers, with high pattered ceilings, fireplaces and chesterfield sofas. A double room at the YHA costs about half that for a budget hotel and a genuinely friendly atmosphere. The YHA is not age limited (but young people get a discount on membership).

The Newcastle Beach Youth Hostel is a few blocks from the Newcastle railway station, with regular trains from Sydney along the picturesque coastal route, including the not to be missed bridge over the Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn.

While in Newcastle visit the Renew Newcastle projects. Artists and craft workers are temporarily vacant shops in the CBD. These include artist Vivienne Nelson, with watercolour works of Newcastle industrial and port scenes using coal dust from the ceiling of her home for the black wash. This seems appropriate as coal is the main industry of Newcastle. There is an ABC video clip about the project.

For getting to a low cost hotel by public transport, I have found an airline carry-on size wheeled backpack very handy. Otherwise it can be difficult to wheel a bag, particularly over cobblestones and up stairs. In Istanbul I found myself surrounded by carpet sellers. The backpack changes you from a tourist, to a traveller so you can quickly escape the sellers.

Making Sydney Sustainable

The next presentation in the University of Sydney "Current Thinking Series" is "Making Sydney's Future Sustainable", 17 June 2009. I attended the April event with Kristina Keneally, NSW Minister for Planning and this was well worthwhile. The June event is the launch of the book "Dialogues in urban planning: towards sustainable regions" by Tony Gilmour.

This book is timely as the federal government has promised $91 million for planning the Sydney West Metro. The funding is for pre-construction, planning, design and engineering works, so the project can be put to public tender in 2010. However, the NSW government has a poor track record in such metro projects and some wider thinking about transport and sustainable development for Sydney would be worthwhile.

Unfortunately Sydney University Press have not managed to get the book into the Amazon.com catalogue yet

Making Sydney's Future Sustainable

In an age when the buzzword is 'sustainability', why do we continue to build unsustainable cities and regions? Are there alternatives to car-clogged streets, suburban McMansions and degraded natural environments?

This presentation celebrates the launch of 'Dialogues in urban planning: towards sustainable regions' by Sydney University Press, a book showcasing research by staff and doctoral research candidates at the University of Sydney. The event will feature a panel of well-known Sydney scholars. The 'Q&A' format should encourage a lively debate.

If you have questions you would like the panel to consider, please forward them to Sue Lalor when you RSVP. The panel will include:

Professor Richard Hyde, international sustainable architectural design specialist

Professor Peter Phibbs, pioneer of urban sustainability and climate change initiatives in western Sydney

Professor Ed Blakely, recent 'reconstruction tsar' for New Orleans and prime mover behind Sydney's metropolitan strategy

Associate Professor Nicole Gurran, land use planner and expert on the growth of sea-change communities

Tony Gilmour, affordable housing expert and lead editor of Dialogues in Urban Planning

For more information on this event, please download the event flyer.

The event is free of charge and will be held at the University of Sydney in the Wilkinson Building, 148 City Road. If you would like to come please RSVP to Sue Lalor on (02) 9351 2686 or via email at slalor@arch.usyd.edu.au.

*This event attracts PIA Professional Development points. ...

NSW Draft Centres Policy for Retail and Commercial Development

As mentioned by Kristina Keneally, NSW Minister for Planning, last night, the NSW Government has today released a "Draft Centres Policy - Planning for Retail and Commercial Development", with a detailed document on Draft Centres Policy and Questions and Answers available.The policy is open for comment until 11 May 2009. At a quick glance the problem I can see with the policy is that it is concentrating on retail and commercial development, with little mention of community use.

• Description: The Draft Centres Policy provides a planning framework for the development of new and existing retail and commercial centres in NSW. The policy is based on six principles:

  • Retail and commercial activity should be located in centres to ensure the most efficient use of transport and other infrastructure, proximity to labour markets, and to improve the amenity and liveability of those centres.
  • The planning system should be flexible enough to enable centres to grow, and new centres to form.
  • The market is best placed to determine the need for retail and commercial development. The role of the planning system is to regulate the location and scale of development to accommodate market demand.
  • The planning system should ensure that the supply of available floorspace always accommodates the market demand, to help facilitate new entrants into the market and promote competition.
  • The planning system should support a wide range of retail and commercial premises in all centres and should contribute to ensuring a competitive retail and commercial market.
  • Retail and commercial development should be well designed to ensure they contribute to the amenity, accessibility, urban context and sustainability of centres.

NSW Land Planning and Sydney transport chaos

Greetings from the Holme Building at the University of Sydney, where Kristina Keneally, NSW Minister for Planning, was due to talk at 6pm on "Planning in New South Wales - Responding to the Global Economic Crisis". Ironically the Minister has been held up by transport difficulties in the Sydney CBD, due to a protest.

The minister was able to arrive at 6:20pm, only 20 minutes late. Craig Knowles, a former planning minister, did the introductions. The new minister started with a quip, saying she had been described as "Sartor in a frock". Her formal training was as a feminist theologian and has worked in the area of social justice. She argues that planning is about social justice, with parks and other facilities for people. Minister Keneally related how on a recent trip to New York the difference in ability for NSW to undertake projects such as the Redevelopment of Barangaroo.

The Minister pointed out that the Government does not do everything. Housing construction is at historically low levels and was low even before the global financial crisis.

The Minister's goal is to have the best planning system in Australia. Given the NSW government's poor planing in other areas, such as in announcing and then cancelling metros and is unable to ensure electricity supply in the Sydney CBD, that is a bold claim. However, in the area of housing planning, it would appear that streamlined planning processes imposed on local councils will speed up approvals significantly. The government has also reduced infrastructure levies on new development. As to if these are good for long term planing is debatable.

A "centres policy" will be released for comment tomorrow. The minister commented that blogs might be used for future consultations online. The minister might like to consider using fast track web enhanced planning.

The Minister listed a number of goals for shorter benchmarks and said the government had committed to publishing performance against the benchmarks. It is not clear if this is separate to the reports from the Auditor on Reporting of the State

’s Performance.

The Minister commented that the federal government's stimulus package was a massive undertaking, with construction and upgrades for most schools and public housing in NSW. In some cases whole schools will have to be closed for building work and the students attend a nearby school. In regional areas the work on government and non-government schools will have to be coordinated so that all the schools in an area are not closed at the same time. Planning rules for non-government schools were streamlined last year so that routine upgrades can be approved quickly. This has now been extended to non-government schools.

Government departments which build public housing will be able to self approve plans for public housing. This will eliminate months spent waiting for approval from local government. Departments will still need to meet standards for public housing.

A quick rezoning process will also be put in place for development around major public transport nodes. This is to increase the density of development near public transport.

A user guide about the new process will be available soon. This will explain how planning goals will be met by the new process, including environmental goals.

The Minister compared the stimulus package with the World Youth Day, in that there are firm deadlines when the new procedures are required to be in place so the federal money can be received.

The Minister commented that since the Cumberland Plan of the 1950s, centres planning has bedevilled planing ministers. This is because that new innovative proposals would not fit in the plans. A net community centres benefit test will be proposed for out of centre development. The new policy document will be released tomorrow afternoon, on the web for comment for four weeks.

The last issue the Minister covered was Redevelopment of Barangaroo. The new Barangaroo Delivery Authority is overseeing the development, headed by a CEO with experience from the Melbourne Docklands. One challenge is to get many more people to travel to and from the new area by public transport. Another challenge is to set up an area for new offices of the future during a recession. Paul Keating chairs the public design review committee.

The Minister finished talking at 7:20pm.

The first question was about "zoning" and if it was a good idea. The comment was that a lot of the Minister's streamlining was about sidestepping the zoning, so why not eliminate it? The Minister acknowledged the difficulties with zoning and indicated support for councils which want flexibility.

The second question was about integrating planning with whole of government and budget. The Minister did well to clarify an unclear question and commented on the difficulty of planning in a democracy and when conditions change.

The next question was about the wisdom of moving the cruse ship terminal to Balmain. The Minister replied that the straightforward answer was that a 30m security exclusion zone was required around cruse ships. Also it would be difficult to provision ships at Barangaroo.

I asked the Minister if she had yet considered how to incorporate the federal government's NBN policy in planning. She said they had started to consider this and is likely to involve some public consultation shortly.

The Minister gave an impressive delivery with a lot of detail. It was unfortunate that the speech was not provided on the Minister's web site, with links to the many initiatives mentioned.

NSW Land Planning for the Global Economic Crisis

Kristina Keneally, NSW Minister for Planning, and Minister for Redfern Waterloo will talk on "Planning in New South Wales - Responding to the Global Economic Crisis" in the Sunset Seminar Series at the University of Sydney, 6.00 pm, 8 April 2009.

As the global economic crisis begins to take effect in NSW, a key question on the minds of developers, planners and policy makers is what impact this will have on urban and regional development and planning policy.

The Minister for Planning, the Hon. Kristina Keneally, will present an informative, no-nonsense, discussion on the State's responses, including Part 3A reforms to the planning and assessing regime and the short and long-term impacts this will have in speeding up of approval processes and in stimulating economic activity in NSW....

From: "Planning in New South Wales - Responding to the Global Economic Crisis", Sunset Seminar Series, Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning, University of Sydney, 2009

I hope to attend the talk. One aspect of this is the role of new computer and telecommunications technology in speeding up of approval processes, as well as stimulating economic activity. The NSW government has encouraged local councils to move their planning processes online and, in theory, it would be possible to do all the "paperwork" needed for planning approval of a home from an iPhone while out on a building site.

In terms of wider economic issues, use of computers and telecommunications can lower costs, while reducing carbon emissions, without needing large investments in new roads or public transport. This is called "dematerialisation" and I teach it in the course "Green ICT" run by the Australian Computer Society.

An example of the use of ICT in planning is the use of electronic signs to make public transport more efficient. An example of this is the recently introduced Sydney MetroBus. A metro is a public transport system which is so frequent it does not need a time table. The term is usually applied to underground trains (such as the Sydney Metros which NSW state government keeps announcing and then cancelling). However it can also be applied to buses. One way to make the system more attractive is to provide electronic signs which say when the next bus will arrive. This was planned as part of the Sydney MetroBus, but has not been implemented. The information can also be provided via mobile phones. The electronic information increases the usability of the metro for very little additional cost.

Another way to use ICT to improve transport use is to provide WiFi access, as on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. This will encourage travellers to undertake longer journeys, as they can do useful work, or entertain themselves, while travelling.

The Green ICT course is designed for ICT professionals, but I hope to get planners involved. I will be delivering a version of the course next semester at ANU in Canberra, but the course is open access and universities could use it o train planners and architects.

ps: I gave a seminar on ICT for planners from the "new" Bauhaus at the USyd Faculty of Architecture in 2002.

Linux sneaks onto NSW student netbooks

News reports indicate that Lenovo IdeaPad S10e netbooks with Windows XP have been selected for NSW secondary school students. While it would seem that Linux misses out, the retail IdeaPads also come with "Splashtop", an instant on version of Linux with simplified applications.

The IdeaPad has had mixed reviews, but should stand up to student use more than many portable computers. The first batch will have Windows XP installed. This is supposed to be later upgraded to Windows 7, but that would be a very complex undertaking. If the netbooks also come with Linux, then a better option might be to upgrade that and keep Windows XP, for legacy applications.

While not specifically designed for students, Splashtop's simplified interface has similarities to the OLPC's Sugar child friendly graphical user interface and so may be better for education. Splashtop may also be less demanding of system resources, allowing the limited capacity of the netbook to perform better. It would also be immune to the many Windows security attacks.

Public and Private Housing Mix

A National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) commences in 2009, with $6.1B for social housing, private rental assistance, accommodation for homeless and home purchasing assistance. One way would be to combine public and private housing in the same developments as was done at City Edge in Canberra. The Australian Government released a White Paper on Homelessness: T he Road Home on 21 December 2008 (Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek).

An example of where this could be done is in Sydney with the $29.5M public housing redevelopment project in Lilyfield. This is the redevelopment of a an old public housing estate at Lilyfield Road, Balmain Road and Edward Streets. As was done at city edge in Canberra, old flats are being replaced with new style ones. In Lilyfield 40 flast are being replaced with 88 (26 one bedroom, 53 two bedroom and 9 three bedroom). Like the Canberra units, the Lilyfield ones will be environmentally efficient and the ground floor units will be wheelchair accessible. The difference is that in Canberra, most of these were sold to private buyers, with some retained for public housing (administered by a non-profit non-government cooperative), to give a balance of occupants. One problem with the Lilyfield site is it is at the end of the the Sydney Light Rail. , which the NSW Government has refused to extend.

Influencing Climate Change with ICT

Greetings from Influence Forum 2007 at the Crowne Plaza resort in the Hunter Valley of NSW. This IT event starts at 12 noon with Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN. I am here to talk at the green ICT session, and perhaps do more than some of the vague pledges made in the Sydney APEC Leaders' "Declaration On Climate Change, Energy Security And Clean Development Sydney, Australia".

Keeping with the green theme, the event is remarkably free of the usual brochures and handouts. The media room is equipped with rows of low power laptops. There is also a podcast room for digital audio and a digital video room. Out every window you can see a golf course, which is less green. ;-)

NSW IT Ministers fight it out, 21 February, Sydney

This should be entertaining:

PANEL DISCUSSION on NSW ICT for 2007 State Election: Building Prosperity through ICT
Sydney, 21 February 2007, 5.30pm - 7.30pm

As the professional association for the Australian ICT sector, the ACS wishes to raise the level of attention and focus given to technology issues amongst Government policy-makers. ...

Moderator: Mr Peter Roberts, Managing Editor of BRW

Panellists:

* The Hon. John Della Bosca, Minister for Commerce, Minister for Finance and Minister for Industrial relations (Labor)
* The Hon. Gregory Stephen Pearce, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Commerce (Liberal)
* Prof Roy Green, Dean of the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM)

Questions for the panel, by 14 February 2007, to: donna.burridge(a)nsw.acs.org.au

For my take on IT industry policy see "Building Arcadia: Emulating Cambridge's High Technology Success".

I applied some of these ideas when helping the Australian Technology Park in Sydney, with their web site and "ATP Discussion Forums" in 2004/5. But my impression is that NSW trails behind Queensland and Victoria when it comes to state IT industry policy.