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NSW Labor leader Chris Minns says his government would plan to extend two Metro projects if elected in March.Credit:Tony McDonough

In a major announcement ahead of the March state election,Minns said Labor planned to connect the Western Sydney Airport Metro to the Northwest line as well as extending the project towards Macarthur and Glenfield in the city’s south-west.

Unlike the Perrottet government,Labor would not proceed with business case plans to connect the Metro West from Parramatta to the new airport line,or the problem-plagued Southwest Metro from Bankstown to Glenfield.

The Perrottet government has committed to all four projects,but Minns warned the state should not rush into building two of the extensions until cost blowouts and delays to the Southwest Metro were known.

The government has already delayed the conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown line on the Southwest Metro for a year,while theHeraldlast year revealed the entire project had blown out by $6 billion.

Minns said the NSW government needed to come clean on the scale of delays and blowouts on the project,which was also severely hampered by industrial action during the state’s year-long fight with transport unions over wages and safety.

“We still haven’t got clarity about whether that project will go ahead at all,and we made a decision that it wouldn’t be responsible to put money into planning for stage two if we’ve got no idea whether they’re going to go ahead with stage one,” Minns said.

Those two projects are being prioritised to achieve a public transport ring around the city,Minns said.

“The decisions that we’ve made in relation to early planning stage money for the Metros in Sydney are about making sure we can look at the loop,that Metro loop for Sydney,” he said.

A business case to analyse costs and benefits of extending the new airport Metro south towards Macarthur and Glenfield would be jointly funded between state and federal governments,Minns said.

While the government last year said part of the Southwest Metro would open in 2024,and the Sydenham to Bankstown section a year later,Perrottet did not answer on Sunday whether the project was still on schedule.

“We are completely committed to the Southwest[Metro] – we are committed to all the Metro projects across the state,” Perrottet said.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said the Coalition government had made many promises over future Metro projects at the previous election but failed to deliver them.

“Given the huge cost blowouts and delays of these metros under the Liberals,Labor is prioritising delivery over broken promises,” she said.

NSW Infrastructure Minister Rob Stokes seized on Labor’s announcement and said it was proof the alternative government would provide less for western Sydney.

“Chris Minns supposedly wants to be Premier,but he’s already telling the people of western Sydney to expect less from a Labor government,” he said.

As Minns outlined his public transport vision for western Sydney on Sunday,Perrottet was backing in his government’s expansion of stamp duty reform.

Premier Dominic Perrottet talks up his stamp duty proposal with Treasurer Matt Kean and Kogarah candidate Craig Chung on Sunday.Credit:Dean Sewell

Perrottet said the government was “doubling down” on its reform,announcing that first home buyers would be allowed to continue to pay an annual tax rather than an upfront stamp duty payment when they upgrade to larger and more expensive properties in the future.

The premier described stamp duty as a “terrible tax” but rejected assertions he was creating a two-tiered tax system.

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