Labor slams NSW Government’s rejection of calls for high-rise freeze

Labor has slammed the State Government’s decision to reject residents’ calls for a freeze on high-rise development applications in east Liverpool.

Macquarie Fields state Labor MP Anoulack Chanthivong, southwest Sydney resident Gryffyn Williams-Brooks, Labor candidate for Holsworthy Charishma Kaliyanda and Opposition Planning spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk are campaigning against overdevelopment in Sydney’s southwest.

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Labor has slammed the State Government’s decision to reject residents’ calls for a freeze on high-rise development applications in east Liverpool.

Opposition Planning spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk said Sydney’s southwest had been “clobbered” with “rampant overdevelopment” under the Berejiklian government, promising a Labor government would return communities to the heart of the planning system.

In December, Planning Minister Anthony Roberts rejected residents’ pleas for a moratorium on high-rise development applications in Moorebank, Wattle Grove, Holsworthy and Hammondville until Liverpool Council completed its review of its planning controls.

Opposition Planning spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk says the State Government has failed to listen to communities in southwest Sydney. Picture: Tim Pascoe

Residents have been campaigning against high-rise developments in Moorebank and surrounding areas. Picture: Robert Pozo

The request was supported by Holsworthy state Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons and submitted as part of a community petition that amassed more than 500 signatures from residents concerned about overdevelopment.

Ms Mihailuk said the government had failed to listen to communities in southwest Sydney.

“Here you have a community desperately trying to have some say in how their neighbourhood and how their community should look like and the government won’t wear it,” she said.

“They’ve rejected the community’s call and they’ve rejected their own MP.”

Ms Mihailuk said questions needed to be asked over Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s intervention in Ryde, where Finance Minister and local MP Victor Dominello helped secure a two-year freeze on new rezoning applications for residential housing.

It is the only council area in Sydney where such a freeze has been introduced.

Ryde state Liberal MP and Finance Minister Victor Dominello. Picture: John Appleyard

Holsworthy state Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons supported residents’ calls for a moratorium on high-rise development applications. Picture: Toby Zerna

In December, Ms Berejiklian also directed the Greater Sydney Commission to conduct a review into overdevelopment in Ryde.

Labor has promised to direct the GSC to revise “unfair” housing supply targets across Sydney if it wins the March election.

Labor candidate for Holsworthy Charishma Kaliyanda said Ms Gibbons had failed to serve as an “effective advocate” for the community.

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“One of the overwhelming messages I’m hearing from local residents is that they have had enough of the Liberal Government putting developers and profits before people.”

She said residents were “sick of the blame-shifting”.

Macquarie Fields state Labor MP Anoulack Chanthivong said his ‘Stop the Squeeze’ campaign had triggered a strong response in his electorate and beyond.

“We’ve borne the brunt of overdelopment. Our roads are choked, our schools are full, our hospitals are overextended, our trains are packed, our carparks are full.”