Minns refused to countenance an ACT-style rental cap on Thursday,saying he was focused on long-term reforms to speed up the planning system and build more homes.
“I’m ruling it out,” he said. “We believe that would have an impact on supply,and we need to get supply going. The vast majority of rental market and new supply in the NSW marketplace has got to be provided by the private sector.”
Minns said the housing and rental crisis had been ongoing for years and in the short-term “I’m not going to proclaim that we can produce miracles”.
The premier acknowledged the stakes were high as young people and essential workers – including the paramedics he was standing beside following a graduation ceremony – were leaving Sydney due to the ballooning cost of housing.
“If we don’t get this right and start getting supply moving in this state,we will lose a generation of young people,” he said.
During the election campaign,Labor said it would rebalance Sydney’s population growth eastward and increase housing density near major transport hubs,including the new metro lines,as the west had borne the brunt of the city’s growth.
Minns said on Thursday his government now had a clear mandate for that policy. He said his new planning minister,Paul Scully,had also been tasked with clearing out the bureaucracy and red tape associated with development approvals.