Minns’ housing push will ‘kill backyard cricket’

Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone says the NSW government’s housing push will end backyard cricket and turn “western Sydney into Kolkata”, as he urged the premier to deal with what he says is the real cause of the housing crisis: immigration.

In an incendiary spot on Sydney radio station 2GB, Carbone, an independent mayor in Sydney’s south-west, said he had no problem with the government’s plan to uplift around transport hubs, but claimed the plans to allow dual occupancy on properties would “bring the end to the family home”.

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone has been critical of the Minns government’s handling of development.Credit: Steven Siewert

“It’s the end of the backyard. You won’t be able to put a Hills Hoist in the backyard; you certainly won’t be able to play backyard cricket,” he told Ben Fordham Live on Wednesday morning.

“Let’s not kill off our backyard. They’re gonna turn western Sydney into Kolkata: overpopulated, no transport links.”

Carbone said the housing shortage was a consequence of immigration tripling, but also said developers were unable to build homes in part because of a $12,000 tax he said the state government was placing on every home.

Minns rubbished Carbone’s allegations, saying they were “clearly ridiculous” and an effort to run a scare campaign ahead of local government elections this year.

“It is just hyperventilating from him. Not true; not based in reality. I think he said on the radio this morning, ‘The government’s playing politics’. If we were playing politics with this issue, we wouldn’t touch it,” he said.

“Just to make a point about Fairfield: under the previous government’s agreed-upon housing targets, Fairfield Council missed it by 50 per cent. So even when there is co-operation between that council and the state government, they don’t meet the targets.”

Minns noted Sydney was the 800th densest city in the world but in the top 20 most expensive.

“We can have a reasonable landing in where we get some density, particularly on public transport lines, while we keep the essential nature of Sydney. It’s not going to be too radical,” he said.

However, the premier declined to commit to releasing the modelling underpinning councils’ yet-to-be-released housing targets, saying the plan was “based on a clearly articulated mandate” Labor took to the 2023 state election.

“I’ve been clear about this before the election, after the election, or clearly articulated it. We’ve been very, very direct about the transport-oriented steps. In fact, it’s so transparent that you’ve seen the results of transparency on the radio this morning,” he said.

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