Amid the growing debate over the changes,NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has singled out local mayors for “playing NIMBY politics” ahead of the local government elections this year,adding that that some had engaged in “ridiculous,low-rent nonsense”.
NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has taken aim at local mayors for “playing NIMBY politics” over housing in the lead-up to this year’s council elections.Dominic Lorrimer
TheSydney Morning Heraldreported this week that some Labor councils had voiced their concerns over the government’s push for increased housing density,with Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek angry at plans he said would lead to “”.
Independent Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone this week declared the changes would be “the end of the backyard” and would turn “western Sydney into Kolkata”. In Ku-ring-gai,the council held a public forum where residents were.
Jackson said on Thursday that while some local mayors had been “constructive” or raised legitimate issues,she labelled others “hysterical”.
The minister — who was not responding to Moore’s criticisms — accused some local mayors of putting “politics ahead of the public interest” ahead of the council elections,saying they were “not motivated by the best interests of the state”.
“I don’t think people should be able to get away with it,” she said. “It’s misleading,it’s hysterical,it’s fearmongering,and it’s going to result in the situation we’re in — where Sydney is already becoming more unequal and people in their 20s and 30s are giving up on buying a home — will get worse.”
The government is rolling out a series of “transport-orientated” developments zones allowing more density around 39 Metro and heavy rail stations across Greater Sydney,Newcastle and Wollongong while also forcing councils to allow terraces,townhouses and low-rise apartment blocks near other transport hubs and town centres.
David Borger,a former Labor housing minister who heads a coalition of business groups,unions and university leaders called Housing Now,urged councils not to oppose the planning changes.
“Winding the clock back to the 1950s and dreaming of large backyards in inner-city suburbs or walking distance from a train station is lunacy,” he said.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has labelled the Minns government’s housing plans “half-baked”.Jessica Hromas
Minns has also found allies on some councils,with Blacktown Mayor Tony Bleasdale congratulating the premier for “trying to find solutions” to Sydney’s housing crisis. He told ABC radio on Thursday that Minns deserved “10 out of 10″ for tackling a problem that “should have been dealt with years ago”.
However,Clover Moore,the long-serving independent lord mayor of Sydney,said the suite of reforms announced by the government were “the most significant in a generation” but were being “rushed in a one-size-fits-all approach that invites a series of unintended consequences”.
“The proposed changes represent the biggest changes to the NSW Planning system in decades,yet the government is intent on rushing them through half-baked,” she said.
Moore said building more housing along transport corridors was key to tackling the housing crisis. But,she said,renewal projects such as Green Square had been successful because of careful planning.
“The solution to the housing crisis is not building unlivable and poorly designed neighbourhoods through a developer-driven,one-size-fits-all approach,” she said.
Minns has also said he wants to work with councils and is open to adjusting areas the government has identified for greater density. On Thursday,he said he was primarily interested in “the amount of housing that comes into that community”.
On Friday the NSW government will target the housing crisis in Lismore,still reeling from the 2022 floods,with Southern Cross University handing 72 hectares of its surplus flood-free land to government developer Landcom for 400 new homes.
At least 20 per cent of the new homes will be set aside for affordable housing. Landcom will invest $60 million to develop the site in East Lismore,including providing the infrastructure for development such as new roads,power,water,and sewerage connections.
A number of the serviced lots will also be made suitable for the relocation of existing homes from flood-affected areas,with the land and housing likely to be available for sale from 2026.
