Henskens, who sees himself as a leadership threat to Speakman, hosts his own podcast called Macquarie Street Matters. In one episode last year, with opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow as his guest, Henskens was defending the state’s Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. His comments were not intended to be satire.
“Our planning system has been in place since 1979,” Henskens told his listeners. “If that was the cause of the current issues with supply and affordability, then they would have presented themselves back in 1979, not much more recently.” (Note to Henskens: Sydney’s population in 1979 was 3.2 million. It is now 5 million. The median house price in Sydney in 1979 was about $57,000. Last year it was $1.4 million.)
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Regardless of the flip-flopping from the opposition on housing, the Minns Labor government will start 2025 on the back foot. It signed on to the National Housing Accord, committing to building 75,000 homes a year for the next five years. The latest housing approval data shows just how far NSW is from reaching that ambitious target.
The total number of houses and units approved in NSW in the 12 months to November 2024 was 42,109. That is almost 33,000 short in one year alone. The Urban Taskforce has ominously described the falling approvals as “a chronic trend in the wrong direction”. Compare this with 2015, when the number of dwellings approved was 70,884, and NSW seems destined for failure.
Minns also faces big hurdles when it comes to infrastructure to support his housing plans. An example is on Sydney’s lower north shore. A comprehensive high school at Crows Nest opened just 10 years ago but is full and sending students to Mosman High. At the same time, Crows Nest has been earmarked for 3255 new homes.
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To his credit, the premier has never shied away from acknowledging the enormity of the challenge. Minns has been open about the likelihood of NSW missing its housing targets. Now it is up to the opposition to show it has the willpower to stick to its new year’s resolution and work with – not against – its political foes.
Alexandra Smith is state political editor.