“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”.
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“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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