Former minister David Elliott says close Long Bay jail to clear land and ease housing crisis

Past NSW governments have looked at selling a Sydney jail, but it has been stymied by bureaucratic resistance. Now Premier Chris Minns is being urged to replace it with 12,000 homes.

Long Bay jail pictured. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

• Tele’s take: A Long Bay we could get into

Selling off Long Bay jail and building a new prison in regional NSW can help deliver Sydney thousands of desperately needed homes, a former police and transport minister says.

David Elliott, who served under four Liberal premiers, says he pushed a plan to offload the jail almost 10 years ago while holding the corrections portfolio - only to be stymied by bureaucratic resistance.

As the state’s housing crisis deepens, Mr Elliott said the 45 hectares of prime land that Long Bay sits on in Sydney’s south east was an ideal development alternative after the government’s hopes to turn Rosehill racecourse into a mini-city were shot down last week.

Premier Chris Minns has refused to elaborate on his “plan B” options following the decision by Australian Turf Club members not to endorse a Rosehill sale to make way for 25,000 new homes.

But Mr Elliott floated twin scenarios for a government struggling to meet housing supply targets – develop the Long Bay jail site at Malabar and construct a metro line between the western suburb of St Marys and Tallawong in Sydney’s northwest.

Former Corrections Minister David Elliott is calling for Long Bay prison to be torn down for housing. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“For the life of me I don’t understand why we’ve still got Long Bay jail,” Mr Elliott, now chief executive of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, told The Daily Telegraph.

“This is not a modern prison. It was designed along Victorian era prison principles. All the rehabilitation programs and facilities are last century.

David Elliott. Picture: Richard Dobson

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“So you could sell that and build a new state-of-the-art, fit-for-purpose correctional facility in the outer suburbs or regional NSW where you’d get so much more bang for buck.

“The Long Bay site once developed would then provide a magnificent place to live for people who work in the city, and you could dedicate a chunk of that to affordable housing. You could also extend the light rail down there (from Kingsford or Randwick).”

Housing Industry Australia NSW executive director Brad Armitage said the jail precinct “would be capable of taking up to 12,000 homes depending on transport infrastructure”.

A potential Long Bay sale has been canvassed by both major parties previously, according to Mr Elliott. He said the Labor government looked into the site as a prospective Disney facility in the early 2000s. His motivation in 2016 was to solve an overcrowded jails issue. Housing crises were not on the radar in either instance.

Long Bay jail. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“Long Bay is a no-brainer now,” he said. “I did the work on it because I had a prison bed capacity problem. Selling Long Bay was going to give us the option of investing in a much bigger facility elsewhere.

“There were literally thousands and thousands of units, houses and townhouses that would have been made available on the Long Bay site, and we looked at options for new jails near Wollongong and Wollondilly.”

The Wollondilly option in Sydney’s southwest would have been the biggest jail in the country, housing up to 5000 prisoners.

“My problem was that boffins in Treasury were annoyed,” Mr Elliott said. “They had just spent money on Long Bay, something like $40 million. But that’s almost 10 years ago now. And I don’t think the Minns Government has spent anything on it.”

Long Bay jail should make way for a state-of-the-art prison in the outer suburbs of Sydney or regional NSW according to former minister David Elliott. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Elliott’s plea to both sides of parliament was to grab “low hanging fruit”.

“This housing crisis is not going to be solved in 10 years, it’s going to take 25 years,” he said.

“So the quickest way to having some early solutions is Long Bay jail and a metro line from Tallawong and through St Marys to the new airport, opening all that up to the northern side of Sydney.”

Paul Nicolaou. Picture: Supplied

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou supported the Long Bay proposal.

“With Sydney’s housing crisis worsening, transforming the jail into a residential precinct is a smart, strategic use of public land in a prime location near hospitals, schools and key social infrastructure,” he said.

Malabar local Gary Langridge has lived for 25 years behind the correctional complex and said he would support replacing the jail with housing only if the necessary infrastructure was in place.

“Yes, I’m for it,” he said. “But you’ve gotta do something about traffic and transport. It’d be another suburb. (So) if they put housing in there, there’s got to be a shopping centre, there’s got to be a park.”

Isabella Ludlow, 22, was once held at knifepoint by an escapee. While she has had moments of concern since the incident, she is not scared to live near the jail.

The ‘Long Bay Housing Estate’ by Warren Brown

On tearing down the prison to build homes, Ms Ludlow added: “The only way it would be a good idea ... is if they actually invest in the local infrastructure.”

The premier’s office, when asked if new metro lines or a Long Bay sale might be considered by government, steered The Daily Telegraph to Mr Minns’ comments on Friday.

“I’m just not going to play whack a mole on (plan B options),” he said. “(The) government is working on infrastructure, housing projects close to the city, which we think are absolutely important in sending a signal that Sydney’s back.”

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Originally published as Former minister David Elliott says close Long Bay jail to clear land and ease housing crisis