Rod Morrison

In 2017, in a bid to tackle the City’s reliance on cars and reduce emissions, the NSW State government allowed overseas share eBike companies to begin operating in the inner city. The City now has three share eBike companies on our streets – Lime, Beam and Hello Bike.

The NSW State government signed the contracts, and while Council was consulted and broadly supportive they have no powers to police share eBikes (which are governed only by loose guidelines). The result is that no mandatory code of conduct – with applicable penalties – was ever implemented.

There are now over 4000 share eBikes throughout the inner city, most of which are used on short trips that could arguably be done just as easily on foot.

Unlike in other major cities around the world – and indeed unlike the rules governing share cars like Go Get and Uber – share eBikes in Sydney can be discarded at the end of a ride wherever the rider chooses. Riders are supposed to wear helmets and respect the road rules but often do not and this is poorly policed.

This means both helmets and bikes are regularly strewn across the footpaths, thrown into the waterways, dumped in public parks and sometimes even hurled into trees.

Not only that, eBike and eScooter lithium-ion batteries are responsible for fires throughout the City and pose a risk to the community.

For far too long, overseas ‘disruptor’ companies have run amok in our City. It’s only when the damage has been done that the authorities realise they must play catch-up.

The time has come to regulate the use of share eBikes on our City’s streets.

Sydney is a humane city. It is a compassionate city. Yet it is also a city where the gulf between rich and poor has never been wider. Unaffordable housing, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the erosion of formal NSW State services under previous governments have resulted in a worsening homelessness crisis on the City’s streets.

A Council report commissioned in 2019 to address the crisis has not led to change.

The City lists countless charities and private enterprises which support the homeless, but Council’s actual homelessness budget is only around $2 million per annum – covering a skeleton staff plus direct financial contributions to just three organisations.

This budget is dwarfed by most every other Council program. In the current financial year, tens of millions of dollars will be spent on marketing and publicity, public artworks, and the ever-expanding network of bike lanes, most of which have merit. But the City of Sydney should never forget those who have fallen on hard times.

While permanent public housing is largely the responsibility of the NSW State government, Council has both the capability and the money to provide better essential support services. These might include running a fleet of mobile laundry vans similar to OrangeSky (who currently operate just three vans across greater Sydney), soup trucks and coffee vans; converting existing commercial real estate into crisis accommodation; and making the Town Hall available for annual self-care and personal hygiene for the homeless (haircuts, health check-ups, massages), run by volunteers.

Homelessness affects Sydneysiders and visitors alike; Council must do more.

Wentworth Park is one of the City’s largest and best-located green spaces, but it is currently given over to a greyhound racing track and sporting fields. The NSW State government is at present planning to renegotiate the greyhound racing lease, which I believe is a mistake and at odds with community expectations.

For more than a decade, the spotlight has been on greyhound racing. The 2016 report into the industry showed it to be a cruel ‘sport’ where live bating, doping and an alarming number of greyhound deaths (up to 70 per cent) were just the tip of the iceberg. The main beneficiaries are sports betting companies, the NSW State government coffers, greyhound breeders and industry participants. Australia is one of only eight countries around the world to allow greyhound racing. In America, bans in most states have seen its rapid decline in recent years (only two active greyhound tracks remain). I advocate moving the greyhound racing track out of central Sydney.

The northern part of Wentworth Park (by the Sydney Fish Markets) is currently used as ad hoc sporting fields. While community sports are vital, the park’s lack of amenities – such as shaded areas, permanent and portable seating, and ornamental features like ponds, fountains or kiosks – mean this space is under-utilised.

Wentworth Park is in a densely populated part of the City, around the same size as Hyde Park and close to one of the biggest redevelopments in decades (the Sydney Fish Markets). Let’s make it a proper attraction, a place that both locals and tourists will be drawn to. I propose to work closely with the NSW State government to redesign Wentworth Park until it is on par with the greatest parks in our City.

Large and well-located, Wentworth Park could be a world-class attraction.

Generations of Sydneysiders had a story to tell about Glebe Point Road – the buzzing mix of shopping, dining and open-air markets was a drawcard for students, academics, Bohemians and tourists. During the 1980s and 90s, there were no fewer than four bookshops, as well as countless pubs, cafés, restaurants and independent retailers – even a cinema – along its beautiful two-kilometre stretch.

However, with the installation of expensive parking meters in the 1990s, and the opening of the Broadway shopping mall in 1998, parts of the strip began to decline. Profit over people has damaged the once vibrant high street, leaving in its wake vacant shops, terraces and commercial buildings, often in disrepair.

Glebe Point Road has become a mixed bag – some blocks are thriving, while others feel unloved and forgotten. There needs to be a consistent approach that unifies the mix of retail, hospitality and other commercial activity and ensures the street’s character is preserved.

With its picture-perfect façades, gentle undulations, proximity to the CBD and abundance of natural beauty, Glebe Point Road deserves to be the beating heart of the inner west, up there with King Street in Newtown; Crown Street in Surry Hills; and Macleay Street in Potts Point.

Glebe Point Road should be a destination.

Oxford Street runs from Hyde Park to Paddington and beyond, winding its way through some of the City’s most eclectic and vibrant communities. But of all of Sydney’s streets, only Parramatta Road has been the subject of more debate, more indecision, more mismanagement and more angst. 

From the 1880s until the early 1960s, the gateway to the East was serviced by a popular tramline, which ran all the way to Randwick and Bondi Beach. Not only did this provide an effective means of public transport, it guaranteed a flourishing high-street retail, entertainment and hospitality culture which sprung up around the tram stops.

For decades after the removal of the tramline, Oxford Street juggled its dual roles as an entertainment strip and a major thoroughfare to the Eastern Suburbs. Sadly, in the 1990s, the rot began to set in. As congestion rose, so too did pollution and noise. Kept afloat by Mardi Gras, for most of the year it’s less of a destination and more of a place to pass through.

Successive NSW State governments in partnership with Council have tried to ‘fix’ Oxford Street. All attempts for the past 25 years have failed. A new vision is required – one that preserves heritage, returns the light rail to the East, and rejuvenates the retail offerings.

Oxford Street deserves a fresh start.

In recent years, Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross – once the epicentre of Sydney’s nightlife – has lost its lustre. Most of the nightclubs and bars have gone, and what’s left is a sad, dirty and unsafe stretch of road characterised by homeless people sleeping in doorways, fast-food outlets, two-dollar shops and endless ‘For Lease’ signs.

For far too long, Council has neglected its duty of care to Darlinghurst Road while generations of landlords have treated the ‘Golden Mile’ as a playground for illicit activity.

I advocate the removal of any remaining strip clubs and brothels and the application of pressure on recalcitrant landlords who refuse to maintain their premises. Beautification works that have been lavished on Macleay Street (from the El Alamein fountain down to Wylde Street) should be extended south along Darlinghurst Road to Bayswater Road pronto.

From an architectural and amenities standpoint, Darlinghurst Road is blessed with a mix of charming Art Deco shopfronts, access to a train station and bus routes, wide footpaths and ample tree plantings. Outdoor dining, more cafés, restaurants, bars and small, independent retailers should be incentivised to return, and the street should be promoted as the eclectic and vibrant cultural hub it once was.

The time has come to clean up the strip.

The fate of the block directly in front of the Sydney Town Hall on George Street (currently the Woolworths building) has been debated since the 1980s. Successive Councils have discussed plans to redevelop the block into a large town square, and while the City has come close to progressing the issue on several occasions, invariably it has bowed to its commercial tenants and the rental income they provide. 

This is short-sighted given Council’s significant cash reserves.

As recently as 2023, Council yet again deferred a decision on the redevelopment of the site, citing the ongoing financial benefits of maintaining tenancies.

Whether it’s London, Paris, Venice, New York, Beijing or Rome, at the centre of any great, global city is a great town square – a place to gather, to relax, to celebrate, to commiserate, and even to protest.

These spaces are the beating civic hearts of their cities, and the City of Sydney’s lack of courage and vision in developing our own town square needs to stop now.

I will advocate working closely with the NSW State government and other relevant stakeholders to expedite the redevelopment of the Woolworths building site, implementing a tighter timeline in order to create a great civic space befitting our great city.

Sydney deserves a world-class city square.

Sydney has a recycling problem. It’s mountainous – and it’s only getting bigger. When the Federal government banned the export of recycled rubbish in 2020, an opportunity was created for local businesses to step up to the plate. This didn’t happen. We started stockpiling plastics and other waste until the system broke under its own weight. The collapse of the supermarkets’ REDcycle scheme was another major setback.

The ‘circular economy’ – where we recycle and reuse what we produce – is not a new idea. Countries like Germany, Sweden, Japan and South Korea long ago realised their relatively small landmasses could not sustain endless landfill. They put in place education programs, made it easy for their citizens to recycle and invested heavily in innovative homegrown industries. Today, Germans recycle 70 per cent of their municipal solid waste while the Swedes use it to generate power – in fact, they import garbage to keep these power plants at full capacity throughout the year!

Council has a responsibility to ensure when residents sort their recyclables, they’re not going to end up in landfill. The process cannot be complicated or confusing. We need better instructions on how to sort: clearly separating glass, metal, paper and plastic into colour-coded bins. And with the cooperation of the NSW State government, the City of Sydney could lead the way in supporting a sustainable homegrown recycling industry. A fast-growing Sydney means that the mountain is only going to get bigger.

Let’s lead the way in recycling.

In the early 20th century, Sydney had an extensive network of electric tramlines, at the time the largest in Australia and second only to London in the Commonwealth.

Trams ran all over the inner city, covering the CBD and extending out to Randwick and Bondi Beach in the east, and Erskineville and Glebe in the west. The wider network serviced the North Shore and Northern Beaches and the south-east and inner south of the city. 

Trams were convenient, affordable, effective and fun. They were also emissions-free. 

But in the 1950s, the car and bus took over – and with it came congestion, pollution and the end of dozens of vibrant high-street communities. By 1961, ‘car culture’ was so dominant that the trams were removed altogether.

But what goes around comes around. With increased awareness of the damaging effects of vehicle emissions, a new appreciation for trams emerged in the 1990s. A line was developed from Central to Wentworth Park, cleverly using an old goods line. And so began our new light rail system.

Public transport is the most viable and ethical means of getting people from A to B. I propose to work closely with the NSW State government to extend Sydney’s light rail network. Public education about the benefits of light rail needs to occur. Sydney is at a tipping point, slowly re-embracing public over private transport.

It’s time to rebuild Sydney’s light rail network.

At the southern end of the Sydney CBD sits one of our city’s greatest planning disasters. Historically, Railway Square (originally known as Central Square) was a grandiose junction (or node) featuring a tram terminus, elegant department stores and ample open space on which commuters could move about.

Flanked by the magnificent edifices of Central Station; the Marcus Clarke buildings and the George McRea-designed Parcel Post Office, the square anchored the southern end of the city and provided an historic counterpoint to the northern precincts.

Today, after a series of structural and development blunders, it has become one of our city’s greatest eyesores; a chaotic, ugly and dangerous confluence of noise, pollution and abysmal design.

As trams gave way to cars and buses, the square’s infrastructure was modernised. Elegant appurtenances were removed. Insult to injury was cemented with the 1999 vandalisation which included impractical new bus shelters, dismal subterranean pedestrian ways, and four enormous towers with coloured steel ribbons inside. Of all the indignities foisted upon the Emerald City, these are surely some of the worst.

With the soon-to-be-open ‘tech central’ development – an oversized monstrosity that broke all planning laws and will dwarf other precinct buildings – once again the fate of a key CBD location has been thrown to the wolves.

Railway Square needs to be fundamentally rethought. Extending the light rail from Haymarket to Glebe along George Street and Broadway is essential. The square then deserves to be returned to its glory days; a node that was once both functional and beautiful. With the influx of thousands of new workers – on top of the tens of thousands of students and travellers that already throng the area – a revamp is more pressing than ever.

Let’s rejuvenate Railway Square now.