Ratepayers will spend about $42,000 to send the mayor of a western Sydney council, its chief executive officer, two council officers and four youth delegates to Ireland to discuss developing Gaelic football facilities.
Blacktown City Council, which is proposing a rate increase to address a range of financial challenges, will fly the eight delegates to Dublin to spend nine days with its sister city counterparts in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in August to promote Blacktown and cultural exchange opportunities.
A council report detailed that the main purpose of the trip is to bring Gaelic football to Blacktown by securing funding to build three new sports fields. It said attending in-person would help strengthen relations and inform the planning of Gaelic Athletic Association infrastructure in Blacktown.
The visit was initially scheduled for March but was postponed over “safety concerns” due to the conflict in the Middle East. Due to increased airfares and the need to avoid travelling over the Middle East, as well as the inclusion of two additional youth delegates, the cost of the trip has soared from $34,700 to $42,000.
Blacktown mayor Brad Bunting said the benefits “outweighs the small cost” of the international visit. The planned trip follows a proposed special rate variation, which, if approved, would see the cash-strapped council increase rates for residents paying the minimum rate by an average of $171 a year.
Bunting is aware of the often negative community response towards rate-payer funded international trips, but he believes they’re worth it and said that he’s a “massive fan” of sister cities.
“Not many residents will get the benefit out of doing trips like this, because most people see stuff like this as a junket, that we’re just going for a holiday, and it’s anything but,” he said.
“What we’re getting out of it is commitment and funds from other associations and other governments to help us build things here in our city.”
Blacktown’s many partnerships
Enniscorthy is one of five established sister cities of the council, with the city of Baguio in the Philippines the latest international region to partner with Blacktown through a “friendship agreement”.
But committee meeting minutes published in February reveal the council is looking to expand its social circle further by exploring a potential friendship agreement with the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. Other suggested possible connections include Hyderabad in India, and a sister city relationship with Thursday Island in Far North Queensland.
Sister cities are formal, long-term partnerships between two cities or communities, while a friendship agreement, which can be used as the first stage in establishing a sister city relationship, is considered less formal.
A Blacktown City Council spokesperson told this masthead last year that a selection of Blacktown council delegates had visited its sister cities in China, South Korea and New Zealand between 2025 and 2024. The total cost of these trips was $43,000, with any additional councillor who attended, except for the mayor, paying their own travel costs.
The Sydney Morning Herald has a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email parramatta@smh.com.au with news tips.
Ellie Busby is a Parramatta reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.