Jenny Leong asks the Planning Minister about Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning

Ms JENNY LEONG (Newtown) (11:30): My question is directed to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. Given the latest NSW Productivity Commission report's suggestion that housing density and supply need to be increased closer to the city, will the Minister commit to mandatory inclusionary zoning for all new private developments—which Shelter NSW, Sydney Alliance and Vinnies have long advocated for—to ensure a significant percentage of those new dwellings are affordable in perpetuity?

Mr PAUL SCULLY (Wollongong—Minister for Planning and Public Spaces) (11:31): I thank the member for Newtown for her question. She has long held a strong interest in making sure that people can get into homes. I note her comments on the Productivity Commission report released yesterday calling for additional work to be done around density to make sure that people can get into homes. Young people, like the students in the gallery, would love to get into a home near where they live at the moment. I can see students from Kanahooka High School in the gallery. They would love to stay around Kanahooka—a great part of the world. The Minister for Health and the member for Shellharbour love it.

The Government was elected on a mandate to introduce a suite of measures with respect to housing and housing supply. That involved improvements to rental arrangements. It included improvements to social housing by bringing together tenancy and asset management arrangements into Homes NSW, and not selling off $3.6 billion worth of social housing like the previous Government did. We have Landcom working on build‑to‑rent pilots on the South Coast and Northern Rivers to develop a scheme to potentially roll out to the rest of New South Wales. The member asked about inclusionary zoning. We also committed to introducing a target of 30 per cent social, affordable and universal housing on surplus government land. We did that because we need to not only grow the number of homes generally but also make sure that all tenures and all types of housing options, particularly those close to transport and jobs, are available to people.

The Premier has requested that all departments and all Ministers speak to their agencies to identify where some of those surplus land holdings might be where we can increase and improve the amount of housing that the Government can lead in delivery. We have always said—and I have spoken to the member for Newtown about this in the past—that the 30 per cent is not a ceiling. If we can go higher in a sensible arrangement, we will. I note that other cities around the world have targets of around 50 per cent affordable housing on their public land. That is baked into their housing supply system. The previous Government, of course, celebrated when it got to 5 per cent.

Ms Jenny Leong: Point of order: I appreciate that the Minister is talking about targets in relation to public land. My question was specifically about implementing inclusionary zoning on private developments. It would be great if he could get to that part of the question. I seek additional information.

The SPEAKER: An extension of two minutes is granted.

Mr PAUL SCULLY: I appreciate the extension of time. Inclusionary zoning on public land is an important part of the housing mix as we move forward. As I said before, there is no one type of housing or tenure that is going to deal with the problem we have. We have no silver bullet for it. The housing that we are talking about and that we need is not about punishing or class war; it is about making sure young people and families have a roof over their heads. During my time as shadow Minister and more recently as Minister, I have had informal conversations with some of the larger builders in the State about the opportunities there might be to extend social and affordable housing options onto private land. That is quite a change to the way that New South Wales works at the moment, but it is potentially a very positive change.

While I cannot commit to introducing a target in the Chamber during question time, I can commit to the member that we will be having those conversations and we will be working in a constructive manner where there are opportunities to bring private land into the system. As I said, in other parts of the world it is baked into the way it is done. But we need to do this with an active engagement with industry, with other stakeholders and with community housing providers to make sure that it is ready to go. I am keen to do that active engagement and explore sensible, workable options when it comes to public policy. We all need to work together. All communities have to contribute their part to sensible, workable housing options that make sure that we are dealing with the housing crisis at the moment and that we are getting people into homes near jobs and transport in well‑located areas. We are implementing our election commitments at the moment, but I am open to options into the future.