City of Penrith

This article is about the local government area. For the suburb, see Penrith, New South Wales.

City of Penrith New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney
Coordinates
Population	178,467 (2011 census) (17th)
• Density	440.8/km2 (1,142/sq mi)
Established	1959
Area	404.9 km2 (156.3 sq mi)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
• Summer (DST)	AEDT (UTC+11)
Mayor	Karen McKeown (Labor)
Council seat	Penrith
Region	Metropolitan Sydney
State electorate(s)	Penrith Londonderry Mulgoa
Federal Division(s)	Lindsay McMahon Fowler
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Website	City of Penrith
LGAs around City of Penrith: Hawkesbury Hawkesbury Hawkesbury Blue Mountains City of Penrith Blacktown Wollondilly Liverpool Fairfield

The City of Penrith is a City in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The seat of the City is located in Penrith, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Sydney's central business district. It occupies part of the traditional lands of the Darug people.

The Municipality of Penrith was incorporated on 12 May 1871 under the Municipalities Act 1858 (NSW). On 3 March 1890, St Marys was separately incorporated, and on 26 July 1893 and 9 September 1895, Mulgoa and Castlereagh followed respectively. In 1913, Mulgoa became the "A" Riding of the neighbouring Nepean Shire. On 1 January 1949, the Municipalities of Penrith, St Marys and Castlereagh and part of the Nepean Shire amalgamated to form a new Municipality of Penrith. It was declared a City on 21 October 1959, and expanded westwards to include Emu Plains and Emu Heights, formerly part of the City of Blue Mountains, on 25 October 1963.

The Mayor of the City of Penrith is Cr. Karen McKeown (Labor)

Suburbs and localities in the local government area

The following suburbs and localities are located within the City of Penrith:

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Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 178,467 people in the Penrith local government area, of these 49.3% were male and 50.7% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.0% of the population; notably above the national average of 2.5%. The median age of people in the City of Penrith was 34 years; notably below the national median of 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 21.7% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 9.6% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 48.5% were married and 12.1% were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the City of Penrith between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 0.15% and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 3.68%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Penrith local government area was significantly lower than the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Penrith was on with par with the national average.

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in the Penrith local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or Anglo-Saxon exceeded 66% of all residents (national average was 65.2%). In excess of 64% of all residents in the City of Penrith area nominated a religious affiliation with Christianity at the 2011 Census, which was significantly higher than the national average of 50.2%. Meanwhile, as at the Census date, compared to the national average, households in the Penrith local government area had a marginally lower than average proportion (18.4%) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 20.4%); and a higher proportion (80.9%) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 76.8%).

Selected historical census data for Penrith local government area
Census year			2001	2006	2011
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	171,870	172,140	178,467
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		7th	8th
		% of New South Wales population			2.58%
		% of Australian population	0.92%	0.87%	0.83%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian			29.1%
		English			25.2%
		Irish			6.8%
		Scottish			5.3%
		Maltese			3.0%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Arabic	1.3%	1.5%	1.6%
		Tagalog	1.3%	0.8%	1.0%
		Italian	1.0%	0.9%	0.8%
		Maltese	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%
		Hindi	0.6%	0.7%	0.8%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	34.5%	34.9%	35.2%
		Anglican	26.1%	24.7%	23.6%
		No religion	9.8%	11.9%	14.0%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	3.4%	3.1%	2.9%
		Uniting Church	3.7%	3.1%	2.7%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$517	A$623
		% of Australian median income		110.9%	108.0%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,147	A$1,582
		% of Australian median income		111.7%	106.8%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$1,285	A$1,398
		% of Australian median income		109.7%	113.3%

Council

Current composition and election method

Penrith City Council is composed of fifteen Councillors elected proportionally as three separate wards, each electing five Councillors. All Councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council. The most recent election was held on 8 September 2012, and the makeup of the Council is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Independents	9
	Australian Labor Party	4
	Australian Greens	1
	Liberal	1
	Total	15

The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election by ward, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
East Ward		Greg Davies	Labor
		Tricia Hitchen	Independent	A former Liberal Party candidate for the 2007 state election in the seat of Penrith.
		Prue Car	Labor
		Jackie Greenow	Independent
		Maurice Girotto	Independent
North Ward		John Thain	Labor
		Ross Fowler	Liberal	Deputy Mayor
		Marcus Cornish	Independent
		Kevin Crameri	Independent
		Michelle Tormey	Greens
South Ward		Mark Davies	Independent	Davies was elected in 2008 on the Liberal Party ticket and his wife is Tanya Davies MP.
		Jim Aitken	Independent
		Karen McKeown	Labor	Mayor
		Bernard Bratusa	Independent
		Ben Goldfinch	Independent	Elected on Mark Davies' ticket

Sister cities

Since it signed its first agreement with Fujieda, Japan in 1984, Penrith City has gradually expanded its sister cities and international links programme. Presently Penrith has links with:

• Penrith, Cumbria, England - Sister City
• Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan - Sister City
• Hakusan City (incorporating Matto City), Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan - Friendship City
• Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China - Friendship City
• Xicheng District of Beijing City, China - Mutual Co-operation Agreement
• Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea - Mutual Co-operation Agreement

The partnerships enable educational, business and cultural links between the cities.

Media

The City of Penrith has three local newspapers (Western Weekender, Penrith Star and Penrith Press) and one radio station, Vintage FM. A fourth newspaper, Nepean News, bulk drops in the area. Other publications produced locally include Family Life and In Nepean.

External links

• Penrith City Council website