Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has called a plan to rezone and develop underused state land as “really disappointing” despite the New South Wales premier Chris Minns’ insistence that the government housing scheme did not amount to privatisation.
Moore said the state government should instead be focused on genuine investment in social and affordable housing, while thinking carefully before making any decisions to sell off land.
“Once public land is sold, it’s gone,” she said.
“All levels of government are custodians and they really should have a conscience and responsibility about the future too.”
Minns announced this week he was writing to all government departments to request they identify surplus and under-utilised land that could then be rezoned for housing, with a minimum 30% social and affordable homes being built on the sites.
Moore said she was disappointed in a plan that would see the government permanently relinquish valuable land to developers. “Deciding to sell public land is really serious.”
The longtime mayor remained hopeful the new government was serious about investing in social and affordable housing and would discuss the matter, alongside others including transport and waste.
The premier has this week repeatedly denied the plan to develop government land into private and public housing constituted privatisation.
“I don’t think this meets even the loosest definition of privatisation,” he said. “Privatisation, the definition of it, is that it’s the selling of a company or service or an industry.”
The Community Housing Industry Association welcomed news of the audit as an indicator the government was taking the housing crisis seriously but warned the proportion of social and affordable housing needed to be high.
“That is the key to confronting a housing crisis which is having its most severe impacts on our state’s most vulnerable people,” said the association’s head of policy, Caitlin McDowell.
The state opposition leader, Mark Speakman, has called on the government to release the list of publicly owned land and assets that could be up for sale.
He has accused Minns of backtracking on his election commitment to stop privatisation. “It’s clear that Labor will say one thing before the election to get elected and now do the opposite in government,” he said.
The opposition’s housing spokesperson, Scott Farlow, flagged concerns the sale of land could see communities disadvantaged in the future.
“The public also needs to know that the sale of any so-called surplus land won’t compromise the ability of, for example, schools and hospitals to expand to meet the future needs of growing communities,” he said.
The state government has been exploring options to boost housing supply in the city, including the possibility of converting empty office spaces to into much-needed social housing as commercial building owners grapple with a surge in vacancies.
The NSW housing minister, Rose Jackson, said it was a “good opportunity” for the state as it struggles with a soaring social housing waitlist.
