Category: NSW News

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman and Shadow Planning and Housing Minister Scott Farlow have called on the Labor Government to explain how their plan to increase densities for projects with 15% affordable housing will deliver more affordable homes.    

“The Opposition is committed to working constructively with the government to identify solutions to the National housing crisis, but we need more than social tiles and press releases to see how the Government will actually deliver 314,000 homes in the next five years,” Mr Speakman said.

“To date, the Labor Government have demonstrated an ideological approach, including the repeal of First Home Buyers Choice which increases the barriers to home ownership and their ill-fated rental reforms that would have resulted in higher rents.”

“Today’s announcement in concerning as there’s no evidence that the Labor Government have engaged with industry, stakeholders or local government.”

“Solving the housing crisis will take more than repackaging old policies and telling communities to “get out of the way”.

“We call on the Labor Government to provide detail to today’s announcement, how many properties will it deliver? Where will they be built? And will appropriate access to infrastructure including public transport be guaranteed?”

Mr Farlow questioned how the proposed change in affordable housing requirements, from 20% to 15% would deliver more affordable homes, given the Labor Government had provided no detail or modelling.

“The requirement of 15% affordable housing in order to gain a floor space ratio bonus is less than the 20% trigger that exists at present under the Housing SEPP, while delivering increased floor space ratio and height bonuses,” Mr Farlow said.

“How many additional dwellings will be delivered as a result of this change?” Mr Farlow said.

“At the same time the Labor Government announces higher density for the city, they announce plans to reduce Sydney’s housing supply by removing new greenfield sites. People across Sydney should have choice about where and how they live.”

“Our State needs a properly thought through response, with detailed policies and the impact of change understood – not the quick fix bandaid solutions evidenced by this Labor Government.”

Eleven different marine and environmental groups have come together today on World Ocean Day to support the NSW Coalition’s proposed legislation to prevent offshore coal, gas, mineral and petroleum mining, and exploration in NSW waters.

The Minerals Legislation Amendment (Offshore Drilling and Associated Infrastructure Prohibition) Bill 2023 will deliver on the Coalition’s long-held policy to prevent offshore mining and exploration in NSW waters.

Professional sportspeople, community advocates, scientists and economists joined environmental groups in a strong show of support for the Bill.

“On World Ocean Day we’re calling on all political parties and independents to unite behind this important bill, which will provide certainty for our coastal communities,” Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said.

Shadow Environment Minister Kellie Sloane says the Coalition’s legislation cements its opposition to offshore gas exploration and mining.

“Our coastal communities have long been opposed to offshore drilling for gas. We have listened. We made a commitment. And now we are acting on that commitment.”

“These new laws will make it clear to anyone looking to drill for gas in NSW waters they can forget about it.”

Member for Pittwater Rory Amon will introduce the Bill, as one of his first acts as the new local member.

“This is a strong demonstration that the Coalition will continue to stand up for our communities, and the people of NSW, and act when the Labor Government fails to do so.”

To help tackle beach erosion, the proposed legislation will continue to allow mineral exploration or mining in NSW waters for beach nourishment where a clear public benefit can be demonstrated.

Member for Manly James Griffin has been a strong voice advocating on behalf of the local community.

“As the Member for Manly I have long campaigned to ensure our coastline remains pristine and protected. Today is another example of my commitment to that mission”.

NSW Liberal Leader Mark Speakman has called on the Minns Labor Government to protect household budgets from increasing cost of living pressures.

As households across the state are hit with another interest rate rise, the Labor Government won’t come clean on what programs will be cut to deliver their unfunded $618 million per annum wage offer to union bosses.

“At a time when many families are struggling, the last thing they need is for this government to cut vital programs like Active Kids. The Premier needs to prioritise families ahead of deals with unions,” Mr Speakman said.

“The Minns Labor Government must immediately explain how they’ll pay for their unfunded wage offer.

“The Labor Party went to the election claiming that wage increases would cost $0, but that has now been proven to be a lie.

“They had also promised before the election that productivity savings would be made to offset increasing public sector wages, but so far no savings have been identified.

“With the state now facing a $618 million annual bill, we don’t know what will be cut to pay for it.

“A responsible government does not offer unfunded pay rises or put additional pressure on people across this state at the worst possible time as prices and interest rates skyrocket.”

“Wage increases for public sector workers are important, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of cost of living support for families and households who are struggling during these difficult economic times,” Mr Speakman concluded.

Labor has failed in its first attempt at rental reform, backflipping on the secret rent bidding ban and abandoning the measure.

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said that it was clear that Labor hadn’t done the work in developing legislation to ban secret rent bidding.

“The Government rushed the process, did not properly consult and ignored warnings,” Mr Speakman said.

“It’s day 74 and the broken promises are mounting. They’re backflipping on election promises. They promised to ban secret rental bidding and have now backflipped. They promised to roll over Active Kids and are now looking to cancel it. They promised that extra wage increases would cost nothing and be offset with productivity gains but it’s now going to cost $618 million per annum. They promised no privatisation but they’re now looking to privatise public land.”

Shadow Fair Trading Minister Tim James said the government should have never attempted to introduce such under prepared policy.

“Labor has let down renters. During a rental affordability crisis we need a government that understands the issues facing the people of NSW instead of making life harder.”

“If Labor did the homework, and listened to the community and experts earlier, it wouldn’t be forced into a backflip on this poorly conceived idea that everyone had said would inflate rents,” said Mr James.

“The government needs to explain why they ignored repeated warnings that this policy will create a rental auction that fuels rent increases, putting a home further out of reach for millions of NSW renters.”

“This flawed process has placed uncertainty and anxiety on renters and the property industry.”

Mr Speakman said the people of NSW deserve better from their government.

World Environment Day 2023 is a reminder that people’s actions on plastic pollution matters.

Shadow Minister for the Environment Kellie Sloane says it’s up to each and every one of us to play our part, and is urging people to go plastics-free for World Environment Day today – and to kick start some new habits to protect our planet.

Under the former Coalition Government single use plastics such as lightweight plastic bags were initially banned, followed by single-use plastic straws, stirrers, polystyrene cups.

Ms Sloane has called on the Labor Government to work with industry to find sustainable alternatives to other single use plastics items that remain on our supermarket shelves, such as single use plastic bowls and cups with lids, plastic stickers on fruit and oxo-degradable plastics which break down into micro plastics but don’t degrade.

“NSW generates 800,000 tonnes of plastic each year and only 10% is recycled, “said Ms Sloane.

“The previous Coalition Government had a clear plan to triple the plastics recycling rate by 2030. We are creating a mountain of waste that simply doesn’t break down – and so much of it is unnecessary.”

“The failure of the REDcycle recycling scheme, which saw the stockpiling of tonnes of soft plastics from Coles and Woolworths, has made it even more important to come up with new and innovative solutions to manage waste.”

Ms Sloane invited people right across NSW to come together this World Environment Day and join the global effort to #BeatPlasticPollution

For more information visit: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global

The NSW Coalition will introduce legislation to prevent offshore coal, gas, mineral and petroleum mining and exploration in NSW waters, fulfilling an election commitment and renewing calls for the Federal Labor Government to prevent offshore mining in neighbouring Commonwealth waters.

The Minerals Legislation Amendment (Offshore Drilling and Associated Infrastructure Prohibition) Bill 2023 will deliver on the Coalition’s policy to prevent offshore mining and exploration in NSW waters.

“The former NSW Coalition Government was consistently opposed to offshore mining due to the grave concerns we hold about the possible impact on the environment,” Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said.

Shadow Environment Minister Kellie Sloane has called on the Labor Government to support the legislation saying “the Coalition will always stand up for the environment and our communities, who have said loud and clear that care deeply about our pristine coastline”.

“The NSW and Federal Labor Governments must confirm that they support our ban, otherwise the uncertainty of future offshore exploration and mining will continue to hang over our coastal communities,” Ms Sloane said.

Member for Pittwater Rory Amon, who will introduce the Bill in the Parliament, said this fulfils a key election promise and makes it abundantly clear that anyone looking to drill for gas in NSW waters won’t have the opportunity.

“Pittwater is just one of many coastal electorates who hold deep concerns about the environmental impact of mining and exploration off our shore,” Mr Amon said.

“I made clear prior to the election that this would be a priority of mine, and I am pleased that this is one of my first actions as the Member for Pittwater. This is a strong demonstration that the Coalition will continue to stand up for our communities, and the people of NSW, and act when the Labor Government fails to do so.”

To help tackle beach erosion, the proposed legislation will continue to allow mineral exploration or mining in NSW waters for beach nourishment where a clear public benefit can be demonstrated.

At the last election, NSW Labor ran a blatant Mediscare style campaign on the privatisation of Sydney Water.

The shameless campaign had no basis in fact, as the Coalition was not going to privatise water assets, and strongly supported keeping them in public ownership.

Labor’s political campaign has now resulted in a legislative stunt, which is not only unnecessary but also does not adequately protect end-to-end water supply either within Sydney or outside of Sydney.

Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman called out the Labor Bill as an improper use of the NSW Constitution, and the culmination of a shameless scare campaign orchestrated by Labor and the unions in order to trick voters and win an election campaign.

“We will be moving amendments to the Bill, but our preference is to have protections in their own Act of Parliament, in accordance with proper constitutional principles,” Mr Speakman said. “If Labor’s objective for the Bill is to protect water assets from privatisation, then this Bill falls severely short. It’s hurried policy simply designed to suit the Labor Government’s political purposes.”

“Our amendments would properly protect the State Owned Corporations responsible for the supply and delivery of water from privatisation.”

Shadow Attorney General Alister Henskens said the limited scope of this legislation could be interpreted as a secret agenda by the Labor Government to privatise excluded water assets.

“The Warragamba Dam is owned by WaterNSW rather than Sydney Water or Hunter Water and this Bill raises the question of whether there is a secret agenda to privatise the many water assets in our state that lie outside of the scope of Sydney Water and Hunter Water,” said Mr Henskens. “WaterNSW’s own website shows that it supplies two-thirds of water used in NSW, and it is not covered by this Bill.”

Shadow Minister for Water Steph Cooke said the Bill falls desperately short in protecting the water rights of people across State.

“This Bill discriminates against the 1.85 million people who obtain their water from water utilities other than Sydney Water and Hunter Water,” Ms Cooke said. “By focusing just on Sydney and Hunter and failing to acknowledge the rest of the NSW, this Bill raises serious questions about to the future security of WaterNSW and the 89 local water utilities across regional, rural and remote NSW.”

“If Labor were truly serious about protecting end-to-end water supply in New South Wales, they will support our proposed amendments and not exclude one third of our State’s population, simply because of the location of their water meter.”

NSW’s growing homelessness crisis can be solved with urgent government action on housing and support, says Homelessness NSW.

CEO Trina Jones said: “The rising cost of living, low wages and a dire shortage of affordable rental homes is fuelling a homelessness crisis across NSW.

“Ensuring that everyone has a safe place to call home should be among the first priorities of any government. The solutions are easy to implement and relatively affordable.   

“The state government must act by urgently building more social housing and better supporting homelessness services which are under pressure with soaring demand from people in need.”

Mission Australia today reports demand for homelessness services is up 26 per cent and a PropTrack analysis shows the plunging proportion of affordable rental housing.

Homelessness NSW is calling on the state government to:

1. Increase net stock of social housing from 4.7% to 10% 
2. Properly fund homelessness services to meet rising demand 
3. Improve coordination on housing across government

Key facts

• 68,500 people were supported by Specialist Homelessness Services in NSW in 2022
• NSW currently builds an average 34,000 residential dwellings per year.
• Approximately 700 – or just 2% are social housing. At the current rate of social housing investment, it will take over 80 years to meet the current demand of the waiting list

The State Library of NSW has just announced the winners of the $350,000 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, with Debra Dank’s debut We Come With This Place taking out a record four of the 14 prizes. 
NSW Premier, The Hon. Chris Minns MP said: “Our Government is pleased to celebrate our most talented writers and I’m thrilled that this year’s awards in particular highlight the incredible achievements of Gudanji/Wakaja woman, author Dr Debra Dank. On behalf of the NSW Government, I congratulate all winners and shortlisted authors of the 2023 Awards whose works inspire, educate and delight readers and writers alike.”
State Librarian John Vallance added: “We’re delighted that our new Government is continuing the long-standing tradition of support for our writers and those who read their work. The best way for us all to judge the strength of this year’s writing is to buy the shortlist and get reading.” 
According to Senior Judge, Jane McCredie: “This year’s awards celebrate the courage, diversity and sheer brilliance of contemporary Australian writing. Our judges assessed a record 856 entries exploring a huge range of styles and subject matter.It’s exciting to see so many debut works recognised this year, and we look forward to hearing more from these writers in the future.” 
The winners are:

Book of the Year ($10,000) 

We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing) 

Indigenous Writers’ Prize ($30,000)  

We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing) 

Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction ($40,000)  
We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing) 

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000 — sponsored by UTS) 
We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing) 

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000) 

Women I Know by Katerina Gibson (Scribner an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia) 

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000) 
The Singer and Other Poems by Kim Cheng Boey (Cordite Books) 

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)  
The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s First Peoples by Corey Tutt and Blak Douglas (Hardie Grant Explore)  

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature ($30,000) 
The Upwelling by Lystra Rose (Hachette Australia)  
 

Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting ($30,000) 
Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg (Griffin Theatre Company/ Currency Press) 
 

Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting ($30,000) 

Blaze by Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero (Causeway Films) 

Multicultural NSW Award ($30,000) 
The Eulogy by Jackie Bailey (Hardie Grant Books) 

 
NSW Premier’s Translation Prize ($30,000 — biennial award) 

People from Bloomington by Budi Darma, translated by Tiffany Tsao (Penguin Classics)  

University of Sydney People’s Choice Award ($5000 — sponsored by University of Sydney)  

Every Version of You by Grace Chan (Affirm Press) 

Special Award ($10,000)

Bankstown Poetry Slam

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has called on Premier Chris Minns to immediately make clear what his proposed public sector wage rise will cost the people of NSW.

“Before the election Mr Minns said that he would negotiate wage deals with each sector individually, meaning the people of NSW were in the dark about the potential cost and impact of his deal to win union support; today we’re still in the dark,” Mr Speakman said.

“Within the first couple of months of the new Labor government, we’re seeing nurses and ambulance workers walk off the job because the Premier hasn’t kept his word. The people of NSW shouldn’t suffer because of the Premier’s broken promise.”

“The Premier needs to come clean and answer the following questions:

1. When will the government remove the wages cap?

2. When will he sit down with the unions to discuss their demands?

3. What is the figure of the pay rise he says is being developed, how much will it cost, and what programs and projects will need to be cut to pay for it?”

“Prior to the election, the Parliamentary Budget Office found that costs would increase by $2.6 billion over three years if public sector wages rose by 1% above the cap. Reports today suggest that unions are demanding a 6.5% increase in the next year, putting major pressure on the Budget.

“We know that removing the cap removes Budget certainty, we know that we’re looking at billions in uncosted additional spending, and we know that the PBO has said Labor’s plans to offset additional costs through productivity gains have proven difficult in practice,” Mr Speakman said.

“This means the people of NSW will continue to face cuts to cost-of-living programs, such as the Active Kids vouchers, and cuts to key infrastructure projects so that Labor can meet the unions’ demands.”

“We have a government that is completely silent on this unfolding crisis with a Premier who can’t tell us his government’s priorities, all while the health and wellbeing of the people of NSW are put at risk. It’s time for the Premier to honour his word and sort this mess out,” Mr Speakman concluded.