‘Playing footsies with NIMBYs’: Liberals go toe-to-toe on housing stance

The eastern suburbs Liberal has been forced to deny she is a NIMBY after describing plans for high-density housing in her prestigious postcode as “confronting”.

Liberal Senator for NSW Andrew Bragg has says the eastern suburbs must not be ‘insulated’ against development. Picture: Martin Ollman

The Liberal Party’s biggest YIMBY and new housing spokesman has said no part of Sydney should be exempt from housing after a state Liberal MP called Labor’s plans for a wealthy Sydney suburb “confronting”.

Housing spokesman and NSW Senator Andrew Bragg, who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, said all parts of Sydney need more housing after Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane told a local forum on Wednesday she was opposed to development in Rose Bay without adequate infrastructure.

At the forum, Ms Sloane said plans to build townhouses and apartments in Rose Bay were “confronting” because the community was “a high density community already” and was doing the “heavy lifting” on new housing. 

She pointed to two-thirds of the community living in apartments to back up her comments. 

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Bragg refused to directly address Ms Sloane’s comments but said the east must not insulate itself from a national problem.

Ms Sloane has rejected the term NIMBY and says she supports development in some parts of Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Picture: NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

“I’m not commenting on my state colleague’s public statements but everyone needs to support the supply of new housing, it’s an urgent issue for young people and it’s an intergenerational fairness issue,” he said.

“There is more room for housing everywhere … every part of Sydney.

“I live in the east, and I support more housing in the east. We can’t have a situation where parts of Sydney are trying to hive themselves off from a national problem.”

Mr Bragg has previously called out NIMBYs – people who are supportive of social reforms but ‘not in their backyards’ – including his own colleagues.

“The NIMBYism is poison,” Bragg told the Australian Politics podcast.

“I’ve been very critical, in some ways, of some of my colleagues, because I think the Liberal Party has to be a party of supply and development.

“I’ve been concerned that some of my NSW colleagues may have been playing footsies with NIMBYs, and I don’t think it’s healthy.”

Ms Sloane told the Telegraph she was not a NIMBY and supported more housing around Edgecliff station, which is in her electorate, and Bondi Junction, which is nearby but outside her electorate.

Ms Sloane defended her comments telling the Telegraph she wasn’t opposed to new housing but wanted more infrastructure to support it. ”We can do more but there will be limits,” she said. ”I reject the term (NIMBY), I am pro development, it’s a responsibility for every community but I want a guarantee that it comes with investment in infrastructure.

“Ms Sloane said she wholeheartedly agreed with Mr Bragg’s vision for more housing.

Sydney YIMBY chair Justin Simon rejected Ms Sloane’s claim that her electorate was doing the heavy lifting on housing.

“Their housing stock has only grown by 8 per cent since 1991,” he said.

“Their population is down over the last 10 years. (Ms Sloane’s comments) are representative of the NIMBY cycle. Oppose housing because there is no infrastructure and then when infrastructure comes up, they oppose that.”

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