July 2025 | ISSUE 52 | 15
www.greaterblacktownnews.com.au
The BCMP is a unique collaboration between Chifley College Bidwill Campus and the Blacktown News where students write and create a mainstream digital and print newspaper section that shares news about school life and the Bidwill local community. bidwill@accessnews.com.au Inside: Athletics and cross-country carnivals.
Edition 3 | July 2025 Online edition is hosted permanently at www.greaterblacktownnews.com.au Students with Blaccktown Mayor, Brad Bunting.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLACKTOWN MAYOR
Journey from footy to Council leader
n BY JERRIAH MAPUILESUA
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INTERVIWED Mount Druitt resident and Blacktown City Mayor Brad Bunting about his role, his interests and his vision for our community. What is the role of being mayor? The role is to lead the community, to understand, to listen to the community, and to deliver council projects and community-focused initiatives. Council provides and maintains the roads, we pick up your rubbish and arrange for disposal, and we look after the parks. Council also provides and maintains libraries, community centres, swimming pools, childcare centres and much more. We do a lot of community-building e orts as well. Advocacy is also a big part of my role. I am regularly talking about Blacktown City’s advantages and achievements to all levels of government, business and other stakeholders to ensure our community receives the investment and services it deserves. Where did you go to high school, and what are some memories of that time? I went to Dunheved High School, which is now Chifley College Dunheved Campus. Dunheved High School used to provide schooling from years 7 to 12. I had great times at high school, great friends, good teachers. Some of my best memories are of playing footy. I played rugby league for Dunheved High. I got to play at Parramatta Stadium when we were in the Commonwealth Bank Cup. It might
be called something else now, but I do remember that in my first game on TV, my first touch of the ball, I scored a try. That's my claim to fame in my high school days. What are some of the most pressing issues facing suburbs in Mount Druitt, and what is being done to address them? Great question. I think we need to address ageing infrastructure around our libraries and swimming pools. My goal is to make sure that we're delivering the same level of services for Mount Druitt that lots of other places have. We're going to expand the Mount Druitt Library and Community Hub with a two-storey wing. We are going to build a new indoor swimming pool at Mount Druitt Swimming Centre, so it'll be open all year round, not just in the summer. And we're going to build a First Nations Cultural Hub, which means that we'll be able to connect better with our
First Nations community as well. Council’s Mount Druitt Town Centre Masterplan will improve Dawson Mall. We will have better paving and gardens, and improved pedestrian access. Council won state government grants for most of these projects, so we are minimising using ratepayer funds. What is your vision for the future of our area? Where do you see the suburb of Bidwill heading in 10 years' time? I’d love to see a Sydney Metro train station at Bidwill. Council has been calling for the Sydney Metro network to connect Tallawong and St Marys, which would better serve the Blacktown City community and provide easy access to Western Sydney Airport. Council has called for stations on this proposed line at Bidwill and Marsden Park. A station in Bidwill would provide new investment. New homes, businesses and activity. What are some of the hard decisions you've had to make as Blacktown Mayor? Oh, now you're going to drill me, aren't you? An important decision Council made was to sell the Blacktown Civic Centre site to Walker Corporation so that the town centre can be redeveloped and rejuvenated, bringing investment and jobs. The investment by Walker Corporation will provide a $920 million investment injection into the economy per year, 4,500 permanent jobs in the town centre and 1,000 construction jobs.
What inspired you to be Mayor of Blacktown? I grew up in the area, I still live in the area with my family, and I want to make sure that our area gets what the eastern suburbs has. Equality for Western Sydney. Obviously when I left school, I didn't think I was going to become the Mayor. You don't know what you want to do. I wanted to play footy, I wanted to play cricket, I wanted to do all those sorts of things. I wanted to be a teacher as well. But life sends you in di erent directions. I'm just happy that I can serve our community. Our conversation continued to my favourite subject – Rugby League. Mr Bunting was surprised that I’m a Queensland fan, but understood that even though I follow the Bulldogs, the Warriors are my second team because I’m originally from New Zealand. He related a similar story to me about his own family. He told me that he follows the Sharks because when he was six years old in 1978 and they got beaten in the grand final, all his family followed Parramatta. He told me that even the people that marry into the family have to follow Parramatta, and that his own father was disappointed that he was a Sharks fan. I got a lot out of meeting Mr Bunting. I realised that despite our di erences, people in our area have a great deal in common. I was surprised that he came from our area, excited by his vision for the future and proud to have represented my school.