Housing under threat: The plan to kill off Sydney’s signature density policy

The NSW Liberals have moved to kill off the Minns government’s signature density reforms and overturn new planning controls at 37 train stations, where six-storey apartment blocks would be built as part of its transport-oriented development program.

In an extraordinary step, the opposition’s spokesperson for planning, Scott Farlow, on Tuesday told parliament that he would introduce a bill to allow for the abolition of transport-oriented development (TOD) locations. This could stop any or all of the 37 different TOD locations.

The transport-oriented development program began in May in 18 suburbs with train stations around Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Central Coast, allowing development up to six storeys within 400 metres of the station. Another 19 are slated to begin by June next year.

The program is a key plank of the government’s push to dramatically increase density and supply.

Premier Chris Minns last week announced long-awaited new council housing targets for the next five years, which rely heavily on homes projected under the TOD program and other reforms.

Under the ambitious targets, Ku-ring-gai’s five-year target will increase from 3000 to 7600, while Woollahra’s has nearly quadrupled from 500 to 1900. North Sydney, the Northern Beaches and Fairfield have all doubled from 3000 to 5900 each.

However, Farlow said the housing targets should have been the starting point and communities must have the chance to design how the government’s new targets will be met.

“The Minns Labor government’s transport-oriented development (TOD) planning laws came into force after being imposed on communities without any consultation or additional funding to address infrastructure needs and essential services,” Farlow said.

“The Coalition has introduced legislation, so the parliament has the power to disallow the provisions of the TOD SEPP [state environmental planning policy], where there has been no community consultation and the government has refused to listen to the people impacted by these change.”

Farlow said that in some cases, the Minns government prioritised “politics over planning” by delaying the SEPP’s implementation in some precincts to June 2025. Marrickville, Dulwich Hill and Ashfield have been pushed back until December, while North Wollongong, St Marys and Wiley Park have been delayed until April 2025.

The government does not have a majority in either house of parliament but the Coalition bill would require the support of the Greens and the Animal Justice Party in the upper house, as well as other crossbenchers such as independents Mark Latham and Rod Roberts. The Coalition has had success recently working with the crossbench to get support for motions to pass the upper house, including establishing an inquiry into the proposed housing development at Rosehill Racecourse.

The government on Tuesday warned of serious consequences if the opposition successfully tore apart the government’s key housing policy, saying the abolition of the TOD locations “would have a significant impact on feasibility of developments as well as business confidence”.

Twelve of the 13 councils with TOD locations have reached agreement with the government to plan for more housing. Ku-ring-gai is the only council that has not.

Planning Minister Paul Scully said it was a “desperate attempt by an opposition with no plan to address the housing crisis, to stop the development of new homes for those in desperate need”.

“Rather than supporting a program that every serious commentator has applauded as increasing housing supply, they instead want to legislate to disallow that program to support the last council resisting increasing housing supply,” Scully said.

Scully said the opposition was trying to confine another generation of young people to not being able to afford to rent or buy a home.

Greens MP and spokesperson for housing and homelessness Jenny Leong said the government “can’t outsource solving the housing crisis to the private market”.

“Setting housing targets is all well and good, but unless the NSW Labor government is going to step up and provide the financial investment needed to deliver this housing, then it’s just another empty announcement that won’t actually deliver a single home,” Leong said.

“Planning reform that relies on the private sector to deliver housing is not a stand-in for real housing solutions and the NSW Labor government needs to take responsibility and start building public and genuinely affordable housing itself.”

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