‘Insane’ community consultation rules holding back needed Sydney infrastructure, premier says

NSW Premier Chris Minns wants to cut community consultation and environmental red tape from infrastructure projects such as new hospitals or train station upgrades, saying that “unnecessary box ticking” was holding back election promises and overdue building works.

While announcing lift upgrades at two train stations in western Sydney on Monday, Minns argued it was “insane” the works would require environmental reviews and community consultation before proceeding when “everyone knows we need this”.

“That applies to a lot of our big public works projects. And my view is there’s way too much red tape,” he said.

“It’s just insane that we’re in this situation where so much basic work needs to be clogged up with unnecessary regulation just because the rule book says, well, you need to go through steps a and b to get to c.”

While Minns’ comments were made unprompted, they came after the Herald this week launched its Stranded Sydney series, examining how successive governments have allowed population on the urban fringe to grow for decades while failing to provide adequate infrastructure.

While the premier said he believed community consultation was necessary on a “contentious proposal” such as the government’s now-abandoned plans to redevelop Rosehill Racecourse for housing, in cases where projects are “self-evidently” needed “we can probably skip community consultation because we know the answer will be.

“If you’re building a hospital, if you’re putting lifts in, does anyone seriously believe that it’s so egregious to the local environment that it should be stopped, or anyone from the local community would be opposed to it?” he said.

Minns cited School Infrastructure, the government’s school-building arm, as an example of a “huge success” because the agency can in some cases assess its own proposals.

Minns said it meant “that we can get building quicker … we’re often turning the soil on a project and cutting a ribbon inside … a single calendar year”.

Last month, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption found the former chief executive of School Infrastructure, Anthony Manning, and two other former employees corrupt after a marathon inquiry examining claims Manning awarded friends and associates lucrative contracts without disclosing conflicts of interest.

But the premier said changes that he was referring to were made “as a result of the removal of that team and the introduction of the new team.

“I think by any measure, those schools are coming in on time, on budget, and unnecessary rules were removed in order to fast track building,” he said.

Though he did not cite any specific projects which had been affected by delays, he said builders in NSW were frustrated at having to “jump through so many hoops” on projects including “election promises or long-overdue infrastructure”.

The comments come in the context of the government’s broader overhaul of planning laws as it tries to speed up housing supply in the state.

But he was immediately criticised by the Greens, with the party’s planning spokeswoman, Sue Higginson, saying the government had “already put a hammer to the NSW Planning system with streamlined approvals and special application pathways for the biggest and wealthiest development firms in the state.

“This latest knee-jerk announcement from the premier, goes beyond the pale by showing complete disdain for the community and the environment,” she said.

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