James O’Doherty: Ministerial dramas overshadow Minns’ grand housing plan
If Premier Chris Minns seriously wants to launch any bold plans for Sydney’s future, he needs his Transport Minister to come to the table, writes James O’Doherty.
Opinion
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Almost 12 months ago, at The Daily Telegraph’s Bradfield Oration, Premier Chris Minns launched the first salvo in what could end up being his greatest battle as Premier: the fight against NIMBY councils.
“We are now locating the most people in the areas with the least public transport — and the least people in the areas with the most public transport,” Minns said.
“Population growth needs to be better planned, and better matched to existing and future infrastructure — especially public transport.”
In citing the gross inequality between councils’ housing targets, Minns argued that Sydney needed to grow up, not out.
Amid a policy platform that was bereft of big ideas, Minns’ plan to increase density in leafy inner-city suburbs was one of his more bold plans.
Now, in the lead-up to delivering this year’s Bradfield Oration, Minns is starting to put some meat on the bones.
Plans for a rapid rollout of “pattern book”, Paris-style medium-density apartment blocks is a good first step.
The Daily Telegraph’s John Rolfe revealed on Monday where some of those apartments could be built, including along bus lines, above older shopping villages like West Pymble, and beside arterial routes like Parramatta Road.
Those in government say these developments service the “missing middle”. They may as well call them “Goldilocks” developments: tall enough to put a dent in our housing supply crisis, but not so tall as to be opposed by councillors facing their own election next year.
Parramatta Road would be the perfect place for this housing “French revolution”. The dilapidated shops that line the tired high street are a waste of space and a blight on the landscape.
As industry and business leaders told me this week, overhauling the thoroughfare, potentially with a light rail line or a rapid bus network, should be a top priority.
And if local councils are unwilling to step up, they should be made to get out of the way.
Planning Minister Paul Scully has made no secret of the fact that he expects councils to step up their game when it comes to approving more housing: as I revealed last month, he is now considering banning councils from blocking the low-rise apartment buildings and terrace houses which helped make the inner suburbs what they are today.
The natural place for all this new density will be along the new Metro West line, running from Parramatta to the CBD.
Despite throwing the future of the project into doubt after he won government, Minns is set to announce construction will continue on the $25 billion transport link.
There will probably be some changes to the former government’s plan: more stations could be added to make it stack up financially (by imposing taxes on commercial landowners whose land is rezoned), and it may face delays to keep costs down.
But Minns cannot afford — financially or politically — to scrap it.
Beyond completing things that were already on the former government’s books, Minns has given Sydney little to look forward to when it comes to future infrastructure projects.
He has been more focused on crisis management than bold ideas in his first eight months of government.
The latest controversy involving his Transport Minister is case in point: the government has been forced on the back foot after revelations a public servant on loan to Jo Haylen’s office from the department was doing political work he was banned from doing.
Haylen has also faced criticism from the Opposition over her former Chief of Staff asking the department to loan her hand-picked senior staff with links to the Labor Party.
While the allegations are not as serious as the ones that forced Minns to dump Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp from cabinet, Haylen’s staffing arrangements suggest she came to government focused more on bolstering her office with friendly staff she didn’t have to pay for than delivering major transport projects for the state.
The fact that Haylen has refused to say whether she personally requested the Labor-linked Kieran Ash to be seconded into her office is telling; if she had nothing to do with it, why doesn’t she just rule it out?
Haylen is still yet to put her stamp on Sydney’s transport needs, beyond launching a series of reviews and a bus network white paper.
If Minns seriously wants to launch any bold plans for Sydney’s future, he needs his Transport Minister to come to the table.
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