James O’Doherty: It’s time for Chris Minns to stop blaming the Coalition for his lack of progress

All new governments get a leave pass to blame the previous mob, for a time. But the blame game can only last so long before voters expect solutions rather than excuses, writes James O’Doherty.

When Premier Chris Minns met with developers this week, the mood was frosty.

While attendees at the roundtable did not want to reveal too much, there was a fair amount of frustration directed at the government over what it is doing to clear a massive housing backlog.

A lot was directed at the sluggish planning department.

For his part, the Premier is still blaming his predecessors (and bureaucrats) for the mess we’re in.

All new governments get a leave pass for blaming the previous mob, for a time.

But the blame game can only last so long before voters expect solutions rather than excuses.

Despite all the work Minns has done since taking office to increase the supply of housing, we are still going in the wrong direction.

It’s time for Chris Minns (left) to stop claiming that all of his government’s problems were caused by the previous Coalition government led by Dominic Perrottet. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Housing approvals have flatlined and approvals for dwelling units have fallen, again, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last week.

Unless the number of buildings being approved starts to increase, and quickly, we will have no hope of meeting ambitious housing targets.

And developers are increasingly warning that it does not stack up financially for them to build the higher-density housing the Premier believes will build us out of the housing crisis.

Government officials argue that planning reforms need more time before they have an effect.

But all those reforms will be for nought if construction continues to be delayed by the Electrical Trades Union, now refusing to connect new developments to the power grid as part of a months-long pay dispute.

Minns blamed the Coalition for this dispute, too, insisting that he cannot do anything to stop the ongoing industrial action after the power companies were privatised.

The Lumia development in Norwest in Sydney’s Hills District is one of many completed building that needs to be connected to power. Picture: Jeremy Piper

The Premier told 2GB’s Ben Fordham this week that his hands were tied. “I haven’t ducked my responsibility,” he said.

One thing the government could do is to make an application under Section 424 of the Fair Work Act, arguing that ongoing sparkies strikes are likely to cause “significant damage to the Australian economy”.

Government sources say the bar here is too high; during 12 years in power, the Coalition made two Section 424 applications in a bid to stop strikes on the rail network. One was successful. Another failed.

While the Premier continues to blame his predecessors on housing supply and industrial action, there are signs that he knows his time for shifting the blame is up.

That came after an extraordinary plea for help from one of the state’s most senior cops, in an internal briefing for police executives.

Assistance Commissioner Brett McFadden says NSW is 4000 officers short.

In an explosive briefing, known in the force as a “yellow,” Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden estimated that statewide, NSW Police is 4000 positions short.

Staff shortages are “exceptional and deteriorating,” McFadden said, warning a recruitment drive will not stop numbers falling.

This “sensitive” internal document, which I revealed on Thursday, detailed for the first time just how bad things are on NSW’s increasingly thin blue line.

In the southwest, highly trained detectives are being called back to respond to triple-0 calls in one of Sydney’s busiest police regions, hurting their ability to prevent and disrupt crime.

McFadden warned his superiors that the crisis in the South West Metropolitan Region — one of Sydney’s busiest for policing — merely foreshadowed the problems other areas will inevitably face.

After previously blaming the Coalition’s wage policies for police shortages, Minns was right on Thursday to accept the blame.

“The onus is on us, we’ve got to cop the criticism, and we have to make a change,” he said.

The plea for help comes after sustained pressure on Police Commissioner Karen Webb, who is already under fire for an exodus of experienced officers from the force.

In a significant admission, Webb said that her frontline officers are now under “unacceptable” pressure.

“They are working harder to make up for shortages within their Command and I want officers to know I understand this,” she says.

Webb says she has launched Operation Omni to find a quick fix, and is working to put other agencies in charge of responding to things like mental health incidents (which could be handled by NSW Health).

On this, Minns said he will have “more to say” soon.

Further excuses will not cut it.

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