Developers complain pollies locked out of apartment blocks

Property industry privately polls apartment dwellers for NSW Election issues.

18 March, 2015

Three tiers of government clash over population growth

Planning reform for redevelopment.

19 January, 2015

Property developers and businesses push for more votes on councils

Angry ratepayers don’t just live in houses. Shopkeepers and the high-rise industry in NSW say they want a greater representation at local government elections, even though they usually fail to cast a ballot when they are entitled to.

7 April, 2014

Developers call for new NSW Planning Bill to be demolished

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Angry property developers have called on the New South Wales government to junk its highly controversial new planning system reforms bill, claiming concessions granted to get the laws past the Upper House now make it unworkable. In a scathing attack on the range of concessions granted by the government, […]

29 November, 2013

NSW councils mount fresh attack on new state planning laws

By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell is facing a fresh revolt in the state’s local government sector over controversial changes to planning powers after the peak group for councils warned it could hit Macquarie Street and big developers where it hurts the most – development approvals. Local Government NSW […]

11 September, 2013

Developers battle bid to lift minimum Sydney unit sizes

By Julian Bajkowski There’s a longstanding joke that you couldn’t swing a cat in many of Sydney’s smaller flats and apartments, but debate over just how compact units in new property developments can has escalated into a full scale row over the future of the city’s industrialised inner suburbs of Botany and Mascot. Property development […]

26 August, 2013

Developers attack councils over infrastructure fees

By Paul Hemsley Australia’s property development lobby has resumed hostilities with state and local governments over what they claim are “exorbitant charges” imposed on new building projects through collective schemes that are meant to help fund council services and projects they say would usually just be funded by rates. The charge against governments imposing “hidden […]

8 August, 2013

Forced amalgamations cop another caning

By Julian Bajkowski Powerful property development industry group Urban Taskforce Australia has thrown down the gauntlet to New South Wales  Premier Barry O’Farrell over  local government reforms, saying that Sydney’s 43 existing councils need to be boiled down to just six “regional groupings with Councils of Mayors and Shared Service Centres.” The property lobby is […]

2 July, 2013

Planners call for new fund to clear $500b infrastructure backlog

By Julian Bajkowski Australia’s peak planning body, the Planning Institute of Australia, has thrown its weight behind an ambitious bid to establish a new “Urban Infrastructure Fund” that aims to garner substantial institutional and retail financial investment to kick-start $500 billion in sorely needed projects. A statement issued by the PIA says it will join […]

3 May, 2013

Panel urges O’Farrell to push ‘voluntary’ council amalgamations

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski A push by the Independent Local Government Review Panel to the New South Wales government to encourage “voluntary amalgamations” of councils has sparked widely divergent reactions from stakeholders as peak body Local Government NSW (LGNSW) continues to argue that forced mergers are not, and should not, be state government […]

29 April, 2013

Positions splinter on NSW planning overhaul

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Extensive changes to planning and development laws proposed by the New South Wales government have produced widely divergent positions among key stakeholders in the local government and property development sectors as negotiations with Macquarie Street start in earnest. NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Brad Hazzard announced the proposed […]

18 April, 2013

Developer group wants councils as members

By Julian Bajkowski Property development industry group Urban Taskforce has taken the highly controversial step of throwing open its doors to allow local governments to formally become “associate members” of the lobbying outfit as it seeks to redefine its engagement with policymakers. The move comes as the New South Wales government scopes-out a root-and-branch overhaul […]

27 February, 2013

Reforming councils without amalgamation

By Chris Johnson* With council elections in NSW complete and submissions to a government review of the viability of local government submitted in September, now is the time to rethink the third tier of government. Many councils seem to want to remain as they are, but research shows that up to half of NSW councils […]

2 January, 2013

Urban Taskforce backs NSW council reform calls

By Paul Hemsley The head of property development lobby group Urban Taskforce Australia, Chris Johnson, has weighed in behind the O’Farrell government’s push for more planning powers and panels and councils in New South Wales. Mr Johnson has come out in support of the Independent Local Government Review Panel’s (ILGRP) call for improvements in local […]

27 November, 2012