James O’Doherty: Chris Minns finally has something exciting to announce

It may have taken him almost nine months, but Premier Chris Minns has finally had an exciting idea with his plans to turn Rosehill Racecourse into a new suburb, writes James O’Doherty.

With the end of the year fast approaching, Premier Chris Minns and his ministers are heading off on a working weekend getaway.

Cabinet colleagues will hole themselves up at the Wollongong Novotel from Friday for a private two-day retreat to thrash out some ideas for 2024.

They will also hold a couple of community events around the edges for good measure.

For his part, Minns will arrive with a spring in his step: it may have taken him almost nine months, but he has finally had an exciting idea.

The man who won the election by basically promising to be boring has spent most of his time in the top job living up to his brief: slow and steady, with few surprises.

That is beginning to change.

It does not get much bolder than championing a plan to turn the historic Rosehill Gardens racecourse into a thriving new high-rise suburb with 25,000 homes, a school and a metro station.

Planning Minister Paul Scully, Transport Minister Jo Haylen and Premier Chris Minns announce plans for Rosehill Gardens Racecourse. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The project is not set in stone: because the idea came from the ATC as an “unsolicited proposal,” it is still subject to bureaucratic checks. It will also hinge on a new Metro station being built at Rosehill.

But Minns is all in on the idea.

He declared on Thursday that he was “very confident” that a deal between the ATC and the government will go ahead.

“It’s clear that the ATC wants to do this … and we want it to happen as well,” he said, hopeful of the idea getting the green light next year.

Ironically, the proposal only came about because Labor started rethinking the plans to build a new metro line between Parramatta and the CBD.

After months of uncertainty, Minns has now guaranteed the Metro West project will be finished, albeit two years later than planned.

In truth, the government could never have scrapped the project, despite what the Premier suggested earlier this year.

As I revealed last week, taxpayers have already committed $11 billion to the project. More than $7 billion of that has already been spent and construction is well under way.

Scrapping the plan now would have been about 10 times as dumb as when former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews spent more than $1.1 billion not to build the East West Link.

It took a while, but Minns has a bold plan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Instead, Minns wants bureaucrats to explore adding two additional stops: the one at Rosehill and, possibly, one at Silverwater. That will help the project stack up by allowing higher density housing around the extra stations.

That idea was applauded by Western Sydney business leaders, even if it will delay the project until 2032.

Minns has missed a trick by not exploring extending the Metro line east to Moore Park to make it easier to get to sporting games and the Entertainment Quarter, but at least he’s not ruling that out in future.

“I have to be really realistic about the amount of revenue and capital and debt that we have on hand to build public transport,” he said on Thursday.

“We’re showing the people of Sydney exactly how the city will grow and I expect future parliaments to make decisions about extending metros west and east in the future.”

The eastern suburbs were also ignored in a major housing blueprint released this week targeting eight suburbs for new high-rise developments and 31 others for more mid-rise apartment blocks.

Planning Minister Paul Scully insists that new rules seizing planning controls from councils will ensure NIMBY suburbs in the east will do their part in increasing housing supply.

“If we are going to have any hope of tackling this housing crisis, our city is going to have to change,” Minns said.

One change he has refused to address is regarding our migration settings. Minns argues he cannot do much about the number of people migrating to Australia because that’s a federal government issue.

That is true but, at some point, we will need to take a collective look at whether we have any chance of truly fixing the housing crisis amid record migration-driven population growth.

Perhaps that’s an argument Minns and his ministers can have on their weekend working retreat in Wollongong.

Minns has not had an easy start to his four-year term in government, at times he has been flailing from one scandal to the next (almost all self-inflicted, at the hands of hapless ministers).

But as 2023 comes to a close, he appears to be getting some wind in his sails.

Government sources see the Rosehill deal as potentially the biggest thing they will do in this term of government.

Their success in fixing Sydney’s crippling housing crisis could determine whether Minns gets another.