Eastern Sydney has incredible beaches and nice architecture. It has ornate terraced homes and some sandstone buildings, often built in the late 1800s, an era with significantly less government taxation than today. I have only spent a few days in the region, but I want to point out its one major flaw - it’s one of the most poorly connected suburbs in terms of public transport in Sydney, despite house values hovering around the $4 million mark. It USED to have a tram line, but the thrifty NSW Government of the post World War Two period decided that ripping up the lines in favour of the growing car and bus market was superior based on overseas consultancy.
The result is the impoverishment of the locals. Operating a fully financed new medium sized car of your own costs $20,000 Aussie dollars a year, according to the 1.75 million member Royal Automobile Club of Queensland 2024 Vehicle Operating Cost report. Not only that, the roads are so clogged that it can take over 30 minutes to get into Sydney’s CBD via car, with traffic lights rather than roundabouts placed every few dozen metres at its worst, increasing traffic congestion.
There is no dedicated rail line from the CBD to the beaches - one must take a bus. Buses are less reliable than trains and are more dangerous to use, while costing more to operate per passenger, which is a burden on the taxpayer as they’re operated by large bus companies on behalf of the NSW government.
The bus operator in Eastern Sydney is Transdev John Holland, which was awarded a $1.3 billion contract to service the region from 2021 to 2030. It’s difficult to compete against them, as bus operators that don’t have a contract with Transport for NSW, or have buses that have twelve seats or less, have to pay the government $1.20 each passenger ticket they sell, which the large operators are exempted from. This government mandated anti-competitive legislation is an example of overreach that is harming even the most affluent areas of Australia such as Eastern Sydney.
The subsequent ghettoisation of Australia, evidenced by the reduction in household disposable income, limited access to quality infrastructure, zoning rules that only allow detached homes to be built that subsequently limits an efficient allocation of housing and an increase in crime, evidenced by the knife stabbing rampage at Bondi Junction in mid 2024 that killed six and wounded twelve more, will continue to rise unless more economic freedom is obtained.
Singapore leads the world in economic freedom according to multiple studies, has an urban land area only seven times greater than Eastern Sydney, houses eight million people compared to Eastern Sydney's 300,000 or so, yet maintains a GDP per capita, or rough economic output per person, $30,000 more per year than Australians do. It had 63 violent crime cases in 2023, Greater Sydney with a 30% lower population had 5500.
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