A political wrecking ball could destroy urgent housing before it’s even built

Talk about awkward. It was not even 18 months ago that one of the NSW Liberals’ most senior ministers was fighting for his political life. He did not survive, with former trade minister Stuart Ayres leaving Macquarie Street after losing his western Sydney seat of Penrith.

Ayres moved on, and is now head of the pro-development lobby. But forget political allegiances. The man who, only months ago, was touted as the next NSW Liberal president, is now chastising his former party colleagues for standing in the way of fixing NSW’s most pressing crisis.

I came in like a .… confused opposition to urgent housing policy. Credit: Getty

As chief executive of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, Ayres delivered a blistering attack on his former Coalition colleagues on Wednesday after they took the extraordinary step of introducing legislation to kill off the Minns government’s signature housing density policy.

Now out of politics, it is Ayres’ job to advocate for development without partisanship. Nonetheless, his take-down of his former Liberal mates was audacious.

Without warning (even for some within the Liberal Party), the opposition’s planning spokesman Scott Farlow quietly dropped a bomb in the upper house on Tuesday afternoon. The Liberals, Farlow told the house, had devised a bill designed to undo NSW Labor’s major program to build more apartments around 37 train stations.

That program, which formally started in May, is the cornerstone of the government’s push to build up, not out. NSW, and in particular Sydney, needs to dramatically increase density and build tens of thousands of new homes every year if it is to go close to reaching targets set under the National Housing Accord. The Liberals, however, see a political advantage in causing damage.

Ayres was not restrained when he issued a statement on the Liberals’ assault on development: “Not only would this proposed legislation undermine the transport-oriented development program,” he thundered, “but [it] would set a dangerous precedent where key policies, critical to the operation of the NSW planning system, could be abolished or amended on a whim.”

Premier Chris Minns has made it clear that the west must stop taking all the growth and the eastern and northern suburbs must share the load of a growing city. Minns has made housing his government’s No.1 issue and with ambitious targets to meet, his political future will be judged against his success or failure to deliver the homes we need.

The opposition is searching for ways to ensure Minns fails. But in its political expediency, the Liberals are also bitterly split on how to approach housing. There is a clear generational divide. In the NIMBY camp is Ku-ring-gai MP and shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens.

The proportion of 25 to 29 year-olds in leafy Ku-ring-gai is among the lowest in Sydney. The area also has a relatively small number of renters and a high proportion of homeowners without a mortgage. It has been the thorn in the government’s side since it began negotiating (or sometimes sparring) with councils over NSW’s biggest planning reforms in a generation. Twelve of the 13 councils with transport-oriented development locations have reached an agreement with the government.

Ku-ring-gai has not.

Henskens’ argument is this: “For a government that cares about climate change, why should we lose 40,000 trees to make way for $4 million apartments.” Henskens, rightly, says his job to represent the views of his electorate and Ku-ring-gai has made those views blatantly clear. But in his haste to defend his electorate’s NIMBY stance, Henskens also managed to score an almighty own goal.

Using parliamentary privilege, Henskens earlier this year accused a senior female NSW public servant of using inside information to bolster the value of her $3.8 million home. The official, who The Sydney Morning Herald has always chosen not to name, was stood down from her role in the Department of Planning and referred to the anti-corruption watchdog.

Henskens alleged there was a “strong circumstantial case” the official had bought the home based on access to information about the planned housing reforms. The watchdog did not agree and cleared the public servant of any wrongdoing. It was an embarrassing blow for Henskens and the opposition.

But while Henskens is firmly in the NIMBY camp, his younger colleagues have a different take. There are five Liberal MPs aged under 35 in the NSW parliament (a measure on which they outdo Labor) including upper house whip Chris Rath. Last year, Rath used a speech in parliament to urge his fellow Liberals to ignore NIMBY Baby Boomers who oppose new housing in their electorates.

“The reality is that you’re not going to lose your seat because of 10 letters that you receive [about] a development from a few NIMBYs that don’t want it to go ahead,” Rath said.

Ayres had a similar message for his Liberal colleagues in his missive. “NSW is in the midst of a housing supply and feasibility crisis. Parliamentarians should be putting citizens first and working together to ensure there are more places for people to call home.”

Awkward, indeed.

Alexandra Smith is state political editor.