We’re still 17 months away from the next state election, but you get the feeling opposition leader Mark Speakman would be ready for battle if it was called for this Saturday.
It was obvious during an interview with the South West Voice earlier this week that Mr Speakman and the Liberals will offer voters a clear choice, both across the state and here in Campbelltown and South Western Sydney.
“I’m confident we’re going to have great candidates in South Western Sydney, including seats like Camden, Leppington and Campbelltown,’’ he says.
“We’ll take the fight up to Labor, because, clearly, Labor takes this area for granted. They’ve ruled out new metros, while local roads are congested.
“This is a government that takes South Western Sydney for granted, and we won’t,’’ Mr Speakman said.
The opposition leader also says Chris Minns has got it wrong on housing, while the Liberals have policies that will work.
“It is a crisis, and it does have to be a top priority for the government,’’ he said.
“We are trying to be bipartisan when it comes to planning law reform, and we accept the need for greater density around major transport hubs.
“You can have all the rezonings in the world, but unless you do something about the financial feasibility for builders and developers, you won’t solve the housing crisis.
“Chris Minns has done nothing to address that, and he’s made things worse – under his government we’re seeing the highest state government taxes and charges on new homes in the country, and they are a record level.
“Typically, they represent between 25 and 40 percent of the cost of a new home.
“What we would do differently is ease state government taxes and charges on new homes,’’ he says.
“One of them is a new $12,000 tax Chris Minns has imposed on all new homes, the Housing and Productivity Contribution.
“He should waive that for the period of the national housing accord to 2029, and if it continues after that it should be collected at the occupation certificate stage.
“The other thing we would do is re-introduce first home buyer choice – inexplicably Chris Minns abolished our legislation which gave first homebuyers in a certain band the choice between a small annual property tax or large upfront stamp duty.
“He’s also abolished stamp duty concessions for house downsizers. Solving the housing supply crisis is not just about building new homes it’s also about using existing homes more effectively.
“One way is to release large homes occupied by singles, or couples without children – there are 750,000 of those in NSW.
“We will give them an incentive to downsize by reducing the transaction costs, so you’d be freeing up a lot of larger homes for families.
“We will also offer incentives to councils to meet and beat their housing targets.’’
The Voice asked Mr Speakman if he would commit to building or start planning for a rail link of some kind from Campbelltown/Camden to Western Sydney International airport, which opens late next year.
“A huge difference between Chris Minns and me is that he has ruled out doing any new metros anywhere in NSW,’’ Mr Speakman said.
“We will build new metros, and well before the next election identify where those will be.
“Obviously, South Western Sydney is a public transport desert at the moment.
“When the new airport opens next year, it’ll be quicker for many people in South Western Sydney to still go to Kingsford Smith airport than go to Bradfield and the aerotropolis.
“That has to be solved. The government though has ruled out doing any new metros, ruled out a metro from Bradfield to Leppington, ruled out metro form Bradfield to Macarthur – obviously they are two candidates for metros, at or near the top of the list we will be announcing before the next election.’’
Mr Speakman was Attorney-General during the last NSW Coalition Government, and met with then Campbelltown Liberal Mayor George Greiss regarding the proposed Community Justice Precinct.
Such a precinct, which would include a Family Court, would transform the town centre, and bring hundreds of new jobs.
We asked the leader of the opposition if he would commit a Liberal Government to delivering the Community Justice Precinct and getting the deal done with the Feds?
“I can’t commit to getting a deal done with the Feds, because when I left office, it looked like the Feds weren’t interested, both Liberals and Labor.
“Planning for the precinct in Campbelltown was well advanced when we left office [2023], we had business cases ready to go,’’ he says.
‘East of the railway station in Campbelltown is an ideal location for such a precinct, it already has a large courthouse which can be expanded, council has large land holdings there, and as South Western Sydney grows, particularly between Campbelltown and the aerotropolis, we are going to need to have more local courthouses to keep up with the demand.
“It’s worth doing a precinct without the Federal Government involvement.’’