There has been a flurry of activity at WSROC in the first two months of 2025, with some wonderful initiatives benefiting Western and South Western Sydney communities.

These have been particularly noteworthy in the areas of waste management, community climate resilience and urban design, sustainable energy, bushland management, and some excellent education initiatives — not least being the creation of a new postgraduate university course to better prepare future leaders in local government.

With the federal election on the horizon, WSROC is also keen to engage with a future Federal Government on matters of concern to the people of Greater Western Sydney.

The WSROC Board has recently endorsed a ‘Federal Issues Brief’ to guide our advocacy in the lead up to the Federal Election and beyond.

The brief aligns with both Local Government NSW (LGNSW) and Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) advocacy, particularly around councils’ financial resilience, and will be an important tool to inform advocacy through both political and professional forums.

Our priority areas also include:

• Reforming local government funding to support building stronger, resilient communities,
• Assisting councils with local skills and labour shortages.
• Investing in public transport across the region.
• Monitoring the impacts of the new Western Sydney Airport by establishing a community forum.
• Investing in 'Country' across Greater Western Sydney to 'Close the Gap' for one of Australia’s largest First Nations populations.
• Managing the impacts of heatwaves through national housing and disaster policies and establishing a heat innovation fund.
• Implementing national packaging stewardship to prevent hard-to-recycle packaging and unsafe products.
• Stopping the importation of problem wastes such as PFAS.
• Support local emissions reduction, and
• Protecting Western Sydney’s unique species.

- among other initiatives.

I encourage you to download a full copy of the WSROC Federal Issues Brief here.

Waste Infrastructure Crisis

How to deal with our growing volumes of household, industrial and other waste is an ever more urgent issue confronting councils in Western Sydney.

To help tackle the problem, WSROC has been working with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (NSW EPA) and other government departments to strategically plan for waste services and transition towards a circular economy.

WSROC continues to represent Western Sydney councils on the NSW EPA’s Waste Infrastructure working group to guide EPA actions and help inform a NSW Waste Infrastructure Plan.

WSROC is working closely with the other Sydney regional organisations of councils to push for a coordinated approach to strategic waste planning to ensure NSW Government agencies with responsibility for critical state infrastructure (including the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure) are working towards addressing looming waste infrastructure shortfalls.

Litter Reduction

Meanwhile, at a local level WSROC will be actively engaging external stakeholders and key landowners over coming months to join a Litter Reduction and Prevention Taskforce.

To start things rolling, WSROC will host a ‘Litter Summit’ in early 2026, engaging broadly across Western Sydney to reduce littering and to stimulate investment in and delivery of litter prevention activities beyond local government.

Presently, WSROC is conducting a coordinated year-long regional social media program, with seven participating councils promoting aligned litter prevention messages to the community over 12 months.

This has resulted in the widespread uptake of key WSROC litter-messages, demonstrating exceptional outreach into the community.

WSROC has also developed innovative training for councils, to ensure their staff have the skills and capacity needed to tackle litter.

FOGO

WSROC has also been working through the state government’s Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) mandate bill, providing feedback on behalf of councils and seeking support programs that assist councils in the delivery of services. 

WSROC will continue to advocate for councils in the development of the FOGO exemptions process, to ensure difficult to service properties and compliance mechanisms are in line with councils’ capabilities.

WSROC is working with NSW EPA to address planning controls that shape the development of new residential housing, to ensure new homes are built FOGO ready.

Climate Resilience: The Next Steps

Following the successful launch of the Heat Smart City Plan on the 5th December last year, WSROC has been working with Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce partners the next phase of the program.

This issue of our newsletter includes a summary of what’s already been achieved by Taskforce partners over the summer, and next steps for the program.

Cumberland Plains Conservation Plan

WSROC’s wonderful Cumberland Plains Conservation Plan (CPCP) team is working with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) on several new engagement and educational projects to reduce illegal native vegetation clearing in Western Sydney and enhance existing ecological communities in the Cumberland Plains and its subregions lying to the west of Sydney.

The CPCP team is also engaging closely with nine councils to identify their priority educational topics. The councils have recently nominated two staff members each to attend an International Association for Public Participation (IPA2) course ‘Essentials of Engagement’.

Additionally, WSROC’s CPCP team will take the opportunity to discuss with the region’s councils’ significant policies, practices and events that have, and continue to, shape First Nations’ community dynamics, polities and relationships.

Top priority, of course, will be the aspirations and requirements of our CPCP stakeholders delivering DPHI grants with Aboriginal communities in Western Sydney.

The conversations are intended to inform a deeper analysis of the stakeholder’s strategies and approaches most appropriate to future community engagement.

Tomorrow’s Leaders

As much as is being achieved today, local government must always look to the future.

For that reason, WSROC and Western Sydney University (WSU) have been working to establish a postgraduate certificate course focusing on enhancing quality management within local government. The aim is to ensure that the course is relevant to councils regardless of their size.

Dr Geoff Lee and Dr Laurel Jackson from Western Sydney University are driving the initiative that may eventually lead to a Master of Management (Local Government) qualification.

Already, a total of 20 student participants are enrolled in the postgraduate certificate course, which is a great start.

Indeed, the future for Western Sydney is looking very bright.

Cr Brad Bunting — President, WSROC