At a Glance

• Advocacy is a core duty of local leadership when growth is not matched by investment
• Campbelltown and the wider Macarthur region need transport, jobs, water, and civic infrastructure
• Progress is often incremental, but persistence can secure meaningful outcomes over time
• Regional success depends on cooperation across councils, governments, and institutions

Advocacy Is the Work Between Announcements

I have always believed that much of public leadership happens away from ceremony. It happens in the work between announcements, in the patient effort to make a case, to return to it, and to keep returning until the needs of a community are properly understood. That is why the recent Business Western Sydney lunch in Campbelltown carried particular meaning for me.

While the event focused on the New South Wales budget, I took the opportunity, as Mayor, to speak not only about the significance of budgets in shaping cities, but about the continuing need to advocate for Campbelltown and the wider Macarthur region. Budgets are never merely financial instruments. They are moral and strategic documents. They reveal what a government is prepared to back, what it is prepared to defer, and what kind of future it is prepared to build.

I was reminded at that event of a verse that has long resonated with me from the Gita: “You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.” There is wisdom in that for anyone engaged in advocacy. One must do the work with discipline and conviction, without assuming the result will come easily or immediately.

Campbelltown Must Be Seen in Regional Terms

One of the points I have consistently made is that Macarthur should be understood as a region in its own right, not simply as an indistinct part of Western Sydney. Scale matters in planning, but so does identity. Our communities are growing rapidly, our responsibilities are increasing, and our needs cannot be reduced to a broad metropolitan category that overlooks the particular pressures we face.

Macarthur is already a major urban region, and its growth trajectory is clear. We are expected to carry a substantial share of future housing and population growth. I do not oppose that. I have long said that Campbelltown and our neighbouring councils are willing to support growth and to contribute to broader solutions, including housing supply and diversity. But growth that is not matched by investment is not sound planning. It is deferred pressure.

What was clear to me in reflecting on this period was that transport, water, sewerage, jobs, and social infrastructure remain the decisive questions. A region cannot be expected to absorb rapid change while remaining heavily car dependent, disconnected from major economic opportunities, and underprovided with the infrastructure that gives everyday life dignity and efficiency.

Persistence Is a Civic Duty

Advocacy has been one of the defining responsibilities of my mayoralty. It is not glamorous work, nor is it always immediately visible to the public. But it is essential. Where there is a gap between what a city needs and what higher levels of government are yet to provide, local leadership has an obligation to keep pressing the case.

I drew on a line from the Treasurer’s inaugural speech to describe that reality: “It is akin to a quest, a hard quest, with defeat, followed by setback, followed by regeneration, some reflection and at least for the persistent the chance of triumph.” I thought that captured advocacy well. It is rarely linear. It demands resilience. It demands the willingness to continue after disappointment.

Over this term, I have pursued that responsibility with determination. Letters, meetings, inquiries, forums, interviews, and public commentary have all been part of the effort to keep Campbelltown’s priorities before decision makers. Some outcomes have been secured. Others remain unresolved. That is the nature of the work.

“We have been persistent and will continue to be.”

Success Must Be Understood as Cumulative

Public life can sometimes encourage a distorted view of success, as though it only counts when everything is won at once. I have never accepted that view. In local government, success is often cumulative. It is built through successive grants, partnerships, approvals, and commitments that, taken together, begin to shift the trajectory of a place.

In Campbelltown, advocacy has helped secure substantial investment in community infrastructure, roads, drainage, safety, recreation, and active transport. These outcomes matter not only because of their monetary value, but because they improve the daily experience of residents and strengthen confidence in the city’s future.

I am especially mindful that none of this work is done alone. Staff have invested considerable effort in studies, business cases, submissions, and planning. Fellow advocates across government and the community have added their support. In reflecting on that, I am reminded that institutions are at their best when they combine ambition with administrative discipline.

The Community and Justice Precinct and the Shape of Regional Opportunity

One of the clearest examples of the long view in advocacy is the Campbelltown Community and Justice Precinct. I have consistently regarded this as more than a building project. It is a statement about the economic and institutional future of our region.

A precinct of this kind would bring employment, professional services, public sector activity, and the broader economic effects that follow when important civic functions are located in a growing centre. It would support not only justice outcomes, but regional maturity. For that reason, our advocacy has remained steady. We have planned carefully, consulted meaningfully, and worked with government to establish a foundation for delivery.

These are the kinds of projects that shape cities for decades. They require persistence precisely because their benefits are so significant.

Reflection

As I reflect on this period, I remain convinced that advocacy is one of the purest expressions of stewardship in public life. It asks leaders to work beyond the immediate horizon, to persist through uncertainty, and to keep faith with the future of the places they serve. Campbelltown’s journey has been one of effort, cooperation, and patience, and I remain grateful to all who have contributed to it. The task is not yet complete, but the direction is clear: to keep building a city and a region that are connected, prosperous, and worthy of the people who call them home.

Read the original Mayoral Minute here: Building a Better Future: Campbelltown's Journey Through Advocacy