I’m obviously disappointed that the proposal to build 25,000 new homes at Rosehill was voted down yesterday.
This was always a decision for the Australian Turf Club and I respect the outcome. But I don’t regret supporting a project for more housing in Sydney, which this city desperately needs.
The truth is, putting up an idea like this was always going to be a big gamble. And sometimes in life, the big gamble doesn’t come off.
But that’s not a reason to run away from the housing challenge, or to avoid these kind of big ideas in the future.
One of the reasons our housing situation has gotten so bad is that governments have been too scared to take risks on housing because of the backlash from NIMBY groups.
A city pays a price for that kind of timidity. And in Sydney, that price is being paid by our young people.
With that in mind, hats off to Peter McGauran and Peter V’Landys.
Peter McGauran had a crack, and I will always respect him for it. We need more people bowling up ideas and trying to get things done for the city, not less.
I didn’t know Peter V’Landys very well before I became Premier, but he’s a do-er. He’s someone who grabs initiatives and pursues them. I think Sydney could do with ten Peter V’Landys rather than one. We would be a more exciting, more dynamic city as a result.
If you try anything difficult, failure is always a possibility. But the lesson should never be ‘don’t try, because you might not succeed in the end’.
When it comes to housing, we have to take the opposite lesson: that we can’t give up, that we have to keep taking risks, to give our kids a future in this city.
As everybody knows, in the second most expensive city on Earth, the one thing we need is more housing. Victoria and Queensland have been outbuilding us for decades. And we are now losing twice as many young people as we are getting back in return every year.
In order to get the ball rolling, we have to take some chances.
That’s why we changed the rules, to build thousands of new homes around train stations. It’s why we backed this up with the biggest government housing build in New South Wales. It’s why we established the Housing Delivery Authority, which has already approved 45,200 for our development pathway.
And ultimately, it’s why we said this proposed new suburb of housing in Rosehill was a one in a generation opportunity.
If the charge is that we were too bold, I have no problem with that.
This was a rare opportunity to build on top of the new metro line. It would have given tens of thousands of people a well-located home in the heart of Sydney. I still think it was a good idea, with a good motivation.
And if I had my time again, I’d back it in just as fiercely.
We will keep supporting big bold solutions for housing. We will keep our foot on the accelerator.
MEDIA: Zack Solomon | Premier | 0414 638 904
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I read Premier Minns statement about the lost vote re Rosehill Race Course. We now have to move away from Sydney Centric planning and investments in infrastructure and come up with visionary plans to develop the whole State to benefit many rather than the few.
One thing the NSW government can and should focus is to plan satellite regional cities and connect them with roads and rail so that those affected by high rents and housing prices in Sydney and elsewhere can move to such cities and commute.
Planning for regional NSW seems to be business as usual even after we had the pandemic and daily life was disrupted. We are still suffering from supply line issues and cost of living crisis.
In NSW there are more non-operational railway lines than operational ones. Where is the plan to re-develop some of these railway lines for passengers and freight? Repairing a station here and there and allocating a few million to improve Country Rail Network are not worthy of attention.
The model used to build housing in Sydney is also more of the same with some targeted for social housing. I support building more social housing for the disadvantaged but the prices of the rest keeps rising. Even our young cannot afford to buy a house without 1.5 million in Sydney. So long as more immigrants are brought and allocated to Sydney and Melbourne mainly, the housing problem will keep boiling. Who benefits from large developments in cities are the developers and investors. Govt can launch a bank to assist home buyers and also start building houses and apartments so that it can sell at a reduced cost through a housing corporation owned by the government(Greens support this).
There has to be some radical change in the system in our governance system. A recent example for a political movement for such change is Sri Lanka. A completely new party or a collection of parties who have never been in power came to power end of last year. People who had been exposed to two party or coalition system voted with their feet to change the political culture.
Recent floods in mid north coast, diversion of traffic to New England highway and significant dame caused highlight that our governments have to care for regions rather than shedding crocodile tears when natural disasters and other emergencies take place. The are reactive rather than proactive.
Something drastic is happening to our climate and we are living in a transition period with a climate emergency. If we have not realised this by now, it is madness. If the NSW government is not prepared to think beyond the box and prepare plans for regional sustainability, growth and development for the future, they are actually neglecting its duty.