The Great Australian Dream has been overtaken by a reality that demands more apartment living, former NSW premier Bob Carr says.
The Labor stalwart told industry leaders on Thursday the only way to push down housing prices was to build more apartments.
He rejected the old dream of everyone owning their own home on their own block of land.
"It's been overtaken by reality," the 76-year-old told a Property Council gathering in Sydney on Thursday.
"We're past that point."
With his own local Labor branch backing more high-rise development in their local activity centres, the man who watched dwelling approvals decline during his decade as state leader conceded public opposition to more density had moved on.
Opponents had to ask where they thought their children were going to live without suitably located, well-designed apartment complexes in their suburb, Mr Carr said.
He championed further development in eastern Sydney, going as far as sending images of run-down areas in Kingsford to Premier Chris Minns and Planning Minister Paul Scully.
"I'm looking out the window of a car, snapping photos on my iPad of single-storey crumbling strip shopping facades that have no heritage value, the least heritage value, and are simply rotting away," he said.
"We've got single-storey development along a major road artery."
While supportive of density, where it is embraced by local communities, opposition housing spokesman Scott Farlow said he won't be taking lessons from Mr Carr on planning.
"Bob Carr was also the premier who said that Sydney was full," Mr Farlow told reporters.
"What we've seen in recent years is more and more people looking for detached housing."
Mr Carr's comments come a day after Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone attacked the Minns government's housing agenda as "the end of the backyard".
As well as prioritising high-rises around transport hubs, the recent reforms withdraw councils's ability to stop duplexes and townhouses from being built in low-density residential areas.
"You won't be able to put a Hills Hoist in the backyard; you certainly won't be able to play backyard cricket," the southwestern Sydney mayor told 2GB.
Premier Chris Minns has dismissed the mayor's comments, telling reporters on Thursday the changes were modest and in place in every other Australian city.
Opposition to virtually every housing type could not continue in the nation's most expensive market, he said.
