Politics Guide
April 23rd 2007 05:06
Category: Guides
Most of metropolitan Sydney is located in Cumberland County, a geographical area determined by the State of New South Wales. Counties are defined by the State for the purposes of surveying and land assessment, and few have any governing bodies, but from 1940 to 1960, Cumberland County operated a council for the metropolitan area.
In fact, Sydney is quite unusual for a world-class city. Cities like New York and Tokyo have a cohesive, single-visioned municipal government that takes care of city planning and services. Not true in Sydney, where the actual City of Sydney is a relatively small area with just 146,297 people, and has little or no control over the other councils in the metropolitan area.
The City of Sydney was originally formed in 1842, and only contained the areas now called Pyrmont, Wooloomooloo, Chippendale and Surry Hills. Since 1900, the city boundaries have changed many times to suit the policies of the government political party. South Sydney was separated from the City of the Sydney in 1988, ostensibly to prove advantageous to the Liberal party in power. In 2004, the Labour party reversed this maneuver, reuniting South Sydney into the city, hoping to create a super-city with Labour support. This had disastrous consequences, however, as an independent candidate, Clover Moore, won the election and title of Lord Mayor.
Clover Moore grew up in Sydney and studied at the University of Sydney before leaving for London, England. On her return, she moved into Redfern, a notoriously rundown suburb in South Sydney; she was appalled at the conditions in Redfern, and this spurred her to take an active role in politics as an unaffiliated councilman for South Sydney. As previously mentioned, when the re-merger of South Sydney occurred, the voters turned to Moore as an obvious choice, making her Lord Mayor by a comfortable margin.
There has been some criticism of Moore in the past year, mostly due to some inaccurate comments published by the media, and some third-hand anecdotal information, although she did come under fire for presenting a remixed version of the National Anthem on New Years 2005.
Sydney, the metropolitan city, is divided separated into over 300 suburbs, which are used for addressing and postal information, and these suburbs are grouped together under local governments, which are responsible for most of the services in the area. The local governments, called councils, oversee most of the regional services like town planning, park maintenance, libraries and so on.
Major city services, like public transportation and utilities, are managed by the State Government of New South Wales, for example, CityRail, Sydney Ferries and Sydney Buses are all managed as corporations within the New South Wales government, providing train, ferry and bus services throughout the Sydney region. Other services provided by the state include education, emergency services and health services.
Sydney was, at one time, considered for the national capital, with its cross-coast rival, Melbourne, as the other option. The tug-of-war between the two major cities resulted in the creation of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory; imagine how different politics would be if the capital was placed in Sydney. Certainly, Sydneysiders consider their city to be the most influential city, especially on a worldwide scale.
In fact, Sydney is quite unusual for a world-class city. Cities like New York and Tokyo have a cohesive, single-visioned municipal government that takes care of city planning and services. Not true in Sydney, where the actual City of Sydney is a relatively small area with just 146,297 people, and has little or no control over the other councils in the metropolitan area.
George Street in 1828
Clover Moore grew up in Sydney and studied at the University of Sydney before leaving for London, England. On her return, she moved into Redfern, a notoriously rundown suburb in South Sydney; she was appalled at the conditions in Redfern, and this spurred her to take an active role in politics as an unaffiliated councilman for South Sydney. As previously mentioned, when the re-merger of South Sydney occurred, the voters turned to Moore as an obvious choice, making her Lord Mayor by a comfortable margin.
There has been some criticism of Moore in the past year, mostly due to some inaccurate comments published by the media, and some third-hand anecdotal information, although she did come under fire for presenting a remixed version of the National Anthem on New Years 2005.
Sydney, the metropolitan city, is divided separated into over 300 suburbs, which are used for addressing and postal information, and these suburbs are grouped together under local governments, which are responsible for most of the services in the area. The local governments, called councils, oversee most of the regional services like town planning, park maintenance, libraries and so on.
Major city services, like public transportation and utilities, are managed by the State Government of New South Wales, for example, CityRail, Sydney Ferries and Sydney Buses are all managed as corporations within the New South Wales government, providing train, ferry and bus services throughout the Sydney region. Other services provided by the state include education, emergency services and health services.
Sydney was, at one time, considered for the national capital, with its cross-coast rival, Melbourne, as the other option. The tug-of-war between the two major cities resulted in the creation of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory; imagine how different politics would be if the capital was placed in Sydney. Certainly, Sydneysiders consider their city to be the most influential city, especially on a worldwide scale.
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