The Commonwealth Bank is pulling thousands of employees out of western Sydney, angering advocates for the region concerned the Baird government is failing to support professional jobs in the area.
The bank is to become the anchor tenant of a $1 billion development at Australian Technology Park near Redfern Station, which has been sold to a Mirvac-led consortium almost a year after it was quietly put up for sale.
Announcing the $263 million sale on Thursday, Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the consortium would help deliver a "vibrant creative and tech precinct" complete with facilities for start-up businesses.
But the inner city's gain will be western Sydney's loss, with the bank confirming it would not renew its existing office leases at Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park and Lidcombe.
And critics immediately lashed out at the implications of the move, which has been assisted by the government's property developer UrbanGrowth NSW, and which will concentrate more jobs away from major residential hubs in the city's west.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley said: "This torpedoes policies designed to grow western Sydney."
"This is a direct result of the Government's new train timetable removing all direct train services between the city, Strathfield and Sydney Olympic Park," Mr Foley said.
Professor Phillip O'Neill, director of the Centre for Western Sydney at the Western Sydney University, said Urban Growth needed to be "pulled into line".
"What is very disappointing about the announcement is that you have a government property developer enticing jobs out of western Sydney at a time when government policy and the rhetoric of major government figures has been to promote jobs growth in western Sydney," Professor O'Neill said.
"Urban Growth needs to be pulled into line by the NSW Government otherwise NSW Government plans for jobs generation in prime locations like Parramatta can only only be seen as rhetoric."
Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chairman Chris Brown said the move of 7000 jobs would leave the bank with a "trashed reputation" in western Sydney.
The Baird government had a responsibility to find solutions to replace the loss of these "smart jobs" from the region, he said.
"This decision is hard to fathom," Mr Brown said. "It's that offensive a decision by the Commonwealth Bank to just say 'up yours' to two million people who live in western Sydney."
Sydney Business Chamber's western Sydney director David Borger said the bank's decision showed that a clear strategy was needed to build technology hubs in western Sydney not just the Sydney CBD.
"Clearly the growth sector of the economy is around technology jobs and western Sydney needs to be a part of that. We can't afford to have half a million people travelling into the Sydney CBD to access work," Mr Borger said.
"Both the Bays Precinct and ATP have a clear vision for technology as driving jobs development and we're not seeing the same focus on western Sydney and we need it."
Mr Stokes said the government had no control over the commercial decisions of a company, but "the exit of the Commonwealth Bank from Sydney Olympic Park provides an opportunity to re-imagine the precinct".
"The NSW Government is committed to the long-term growth of Sydney Olympic Park as a residential and commercial precinct that honours its sporting legacy," he said.
Residential development will not be permitted at the 13.2 hectare Australian Technology Park, comprising three development plots as well as a range of heritage buildings, commercial space and conference facilities.
"Mirvac and its partners have made a commitment to revitalise the existing technology precinct, and the NSW Government has secured ongoing environmental, heritage and access commitments," Mr Stokes said.
This includes the estimated $1 billion development of 93,000sqm in office space for the Commonwealth Bank, to be jointly funded by Mirvac, AMP Capital and Sunsuper.
The bank's chief financial officer David Craig said the "office campus" would host its largest number of employees ever accommodated at a single site when it was completed in 2020.
"Moving to the transformed Australian Technology Park will put 10,000 of our people in the heart of a growing technology hub, providing us with a significant opportunity to partner and collaborate with universities, start-ups and other innovative companies," Mr Craig said.
The move is also a blow to the multibillion dollar Parramatta Square redevelopment, one of the largest urban renewal projects underway in the country.
Parramatta Council had been pinning its hopes on the Commonwealth Bank consolidating its offices and becoming the major tenant of the commercial towers at the heart of the project.
Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Garrard said there were other major companies eyeing Parramatta Square and the project would go forward despite the bank's decision.
The bank's decision also complicates the case for a light rail line around Parramatta. The Baird government has frustrated advocates for western Sydney by not being able to nominate where it would want to build a light rail line in the area.
A favoured option has been to run a line from Parramatta through Sydney Olympic Park to Strathfield, but the impact of the Commonwealth Bank's withdrawal from the region remains to be seen.
