‘We were wrong’: Former Minister’s shock housing admission following Rosehill vote

As developers urged Premier Chris Minns to press ahead with a Rosehill Metro station, former minister Stuart Ayres admits the previous government was ‘wrong’ when it opted to omit one.

The Berejiklian government made a mistake when it decided not to include a station at Rosehill in plans for a new Metro line to Parramatta, a former Coalition minister has declared.

The shock admission, from former Minister Stuart Ayres, came as developers and housing advocates called for Premier Chris Minns to revive a stalled plan which could deliver tens of thousands of new homes in Rosehill and Camellia, while leaving the Rosehill racecourse untouched.

The Camellia-Rosehill Place Strategy, developed under the previous government, planned for 10,000 new homes around the Camellia town centre.

Developers say it could replace the torpedoed housing development at Rosehill racecourse entirely, if supported by a new Metro station.

Mr Ayres on Wednesday conceded that his government got it wrong when designing a new Metro line to Parramatta, by prioritising faster travel times over housing development.

An impression of development in Camellia, under the stalled Camellia-Rosehill Place Strategy.

“There should have been a station at Rosehill, and that was an error,” Mr Ayres told The Daily Telegraph. “It was a mistake”

At the time, Transport bureaucrats told ministers they should deliver a Metro link that got passengers from Parramatta to the CBD in 20 minutes.

The strategy was put “on hold” amid the debate over Rosehill.

Adding an extra station between Olympic Park and Parramatta would have added just five minutes to that travel time.

“The distance between Sydney Olympic Park and Parramatta is the longest uninterrupted gap in any Metro line in the world,” Mr Ayres said.

“The previous government prioritised travel times over delivering housing, and that was a mistake.”

Mr Ayres, now the boss of the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s NSW arm, urged the Premier to push ahead with a new Metro station near Rosehill, even though the racecourse will remain in the Australian Turf Club’s hands.

Australian Turf Club members voted against selling off Rosehill for housing.

Mr Ayres said 25,000 new homes could be built in the Camellia-Rosehill precinct, if supported by a Metro station.

“I can’t see a reason why we could not achieve a similar yield, 25,000 homes, over a wider development area, which potentially provides better public amenity and a better housing solution,” he said.

Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest agreed.

UDIA NSW CEO Stuart Ayres. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

He said the “whole point” of a Metro is to support higher density housing between frequent stops.

The Camellia-Rosehill strategy was finalised in March 2022, but was shelved by the Minns government while the proposal to develop Rosehill racecourse was being considered.

Planning department boss Kiersten Fishburn told a parliamentary inquiry into the Rosehill proposal that the strategy had been put “on hold”.

Premier Chris Minns says he is working on a “Plan B” to replace housing at Rosehill. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

“We are certainly not progressing it aggressively to get it completed at this point in time because we would have to rework it should Rosehill become part of the strategy,” she said.

Mr Minns has always maintained that without housing development at the racecourse, a Metro station at Rosehill would not stack up economically.

“I can’t go ahead with that, I mean, the only way the economics stacked up is if you had the houses alongside it,” he said following Tuesday’s vote.

Originally published as ‘We were wrong’: Former Minister’s shock housing admission following Rosehill vote