Safer Community Fund to come under eye of auditor

The national audit office will investigate the government’s community safety grants program.

15 April, 2021

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

NSW releases metropolitan plan for Sydney

The Metropolitan Plan incorporates a funded $50.2 billion Metropolitan Transport Plan and to ensure the sustainable growth of Sydney.   According to the NSW Government the plan sets the housing and employment targets to sustainably manage ther growth and it will work with councils to meet these targets. In line with figures released in October 2008, […]

23 December, 2010

Flood crisis worsens

By Angela Dorizas Communities across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have suffered from severe flooding, with 45 local government areas declared natural disaster zones. The flood crisis has so far claimed the lives of four people from the Queensland towns of Oxford Downs and Rockhampton, and Parkes in NSW. In Wagga Wagga, […]

10 December, 2010

Kemps Creek no longer a toxic dumping ground

The NSW Government has reversed its decision to have contaminated material from a Hunters Hill site used to process uranium ore dumped at a landfill site in Kemps Creek.   Earlier this month, Penrith City Council “robustly voiced” its opposition to the planned proposal.   At the time Acting Deputy Mayor, Ross Fowler said Council […]

26 October, 2010

Independent regulator to set council rates

By Angela Dorizas The New South Wales Government has announced that it will retain rate pegging, with charges to be set by the independent pricing regulator. Rates will be set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), with a cap of $20,000 a lot for council charges on new development (Section 94 contributions). The changes […]

5 June, 2010

LGSA fuming over planning review

By Rob O’Brien A decision by Premier Kristina Keneally to review planning laws introduced during the financial crisis has left local government fuming. Ms Keneally yesterday announced a review of the legislation that has allowed for quicker approvals of school projects and public housing developments funded under the Federal Government’s economic stimulus package. The Local […]

9 February, 2010

NSW councils miss out on infrastructure funding

By Staff Writer Sydney councils have shunned the State Government’s $200 million infrastructure fund, developers claim. The NSW Government scheme provides interest-free loans to local governments to fact-track local infrastructure projects. The Urban Taskforce’s chief executive Aaron Gadiel said councils had only claimed $38 million from the $200 million fund. “Only six of Sydney’s 41 councils […]

27 January, 2010

NSW ministers sworn in

By Angela Dorizas New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has unveiled her new cabinet, sworn in today by NSW Governor Marie Bashir. The cabinet reshuffle has seen the return of a number of former ministers to the frontbench. Frank Sartor has returned to cabinet as Minster for the Climate Change and the Environment. Former police […]

8 December, 2009

Keneally ousts Rees as NSW Premier

By Rob O’Brien The former planning minister Kristina Keneally has become the first female Premier of New South Wales rolling Nathan Rees in a spill by 47 votes to 21. The US-born Keneally will form an all-female leadership with Carmel Tebbutt – the first in Australian government history – but takes over a party divided […]

4 December, 2009