Government scraps plans for SBS site in western Sydney

The federal government has given up funding a planned SBS production hub in western Sydney, ending a years-long, multimillion-dollar bid to move the multicultural broadcaster into one of Australia’s most diverse regions.

An email sent out on Tuesday evening by SBS acting managing director Jane Palfreyman and obtained by this masthead has confirmed that SBS will no longer have the funds to expand into western Sydney.

“It is disappointing that the initiative will not be progressing, given the opportunities it presented to expand SBS’s facilities and content capacity, build on our existing work, tell more stories, and deepen engagement in one of Australia’s most diverse and fastest-growing regions,” the email said.

“The government has indicated that its decision has been made in the context of the current fiscal environment.”

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Anika Wells confirmed the announcement. “The government will not be providing additional funding for the expansion proposed by SBS at this time,” they said.

“We will continue to support the important work of the SBS now and into the future.”

The government decision represents the end of the Albanese government’s years-long attempt for the broadcaster to establish a presence in the highly diverse suburbs of western Sydney.

In late 2024, the federal Labor government granted the company $5.9 million for a scoping study into a possible western Sydney production facility. SBS had established a dedicated team to plan the move and a business case for the project was developed at the end of 2025.

Multiple local councils and developers, including the City of Parramatta, Blacktown Council, Liverpool City Council and mega-developer Walker had all submitted expressions of interest to host the broadcaster. Local council sources confirmed the broadcaster had contacted unsuccessful parties in February.

Before the decision, Blacktown Council had emerged as the forerunner for the site, which was planned to be integrated into the council’s redevelopment of its CBD with Walker.

The production hub would have featured a TV studio able to host live audiences, radio booths, collaboration spaces and a workspace to support production output. It was envisaged as a second base, not a replacement, for the Artarmon set-up.

Attempts to shift the network’s headquarters date to 2019. Before being elected to government, Labor promised to set up a feasibility study to examine the merits of moving the whole operation west. In 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the move “certainly makes sense for such a fast-growing, multicultural community”.

Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chair Christopher Brown, who has campaigned for the move for close to a decade, called the decision “an outrageous insult”.

“This decision has not only broken a promise to local voters but to its own MPs,” he said.

Liberal Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun called it a “betrayal for the people of western Sydney”.

“This was about celebrating the multicultural Australian story, a way to promote social cohesion,” he said. “Instead we just have a broken promise.”

SBS declined to comment.

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