Sydney Metro West part 4: separate Parramatta CBD station confirmed

My previous posts on Sydney Metro West (November 2016) highlighted how Parramatta station in the coming decades will be as busy as Wynyard is today.  The conclusion drawn from my post in November 2016 was that the current Parramatta station will be primarily a destination station (like Wynard/Town Hall today, with 4-6 platforms), and could not serve an interchange function (like Central is today, with approximately 20 platforms).  This seems pretty basic and self obvious, as Parramatta station is only 4 platforms with limited stairs/lift capacity, and it would be expensive and disruptive to upgrade it into 20 odd platforms like Central today.

Six months after my post, Parramatta city council has released a transport study.  The link to this study is at:

https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/sites/council/files/inline-files/Att_01%20Parramatta%20CBD%20Strategic%20Transport%20Study.PDF

This study was commissioned by the local government council but used the TfNSW Strategic Transport Model (STM).  It is full of reams of new data but of particular relevance is Action 10.2 on page 33, which states the following:

Action 10.2: Consider the need for, and plan for a second railway station in the CBD in order to offer additional travel options from broader areas to the CBD and address future level of demand. Current forecasts indicate similar station demand to Wynyard by 2036; there is a need to decentralise demand and de- congest the Parramatta Transport Interchange 

US Tech Giants secretly funding Aussie housing "bubble" but Trump may pull them out

Much has been written about the multi-industry disruption arising from the entry of US technology giants into phones, music, automobiles, advertising, publishing and retail.  Now also add secretly funding the Aussie housing "bubble" to that list.

As revealed in a speech by Aussie central banker Guy Debelle, the cash rich US tech giants have been tapped by major Aussie banks (Westpac, CBA, ANZ, NAB) to replace the funding Aussie banks lost following the withdrawal of funding by US money market mutual funds.  A central bank research paper by Susan Black et al provides further detail on the quantum of this funding - as shown in graph 10, nearly $70 billion of Aussie bank funding has been pulled out by money market funds, but Aussie banks have nearly entirely replaced this funding with cash from giant US companies.