Kogarah MP delivers scathing attack on inner-city Nimbys

THERE are too few people living in inner-city suburbs such as Balmain, a Labor leadership prospect says.

New Kogarah MP Chris Minns has delivered a scathing attack on those who oppose inner-city development saying “there are too few people living in Balmain and that it is ridiculous that vast tracts of Newtown and Glebe have maximum height limits of two storeys.”

Mr Minns, tipped as the next Labor leader, writes in The Daily Telegraph today that the Greens not only oppose all development in the inner city but when that pushes people to the outer suburbs, they oppose motorways out there as well.

PREMIUM COMMENT: GREENS JUST CAN’T CONNEX THE DOTS

media_camera Labor MP Chris Minns (right) with Nationals MP Ben Franklin outside Parliament House.

He said he was moved to write by a public forum in his electorate where Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi had denounced the M5 duplication — part of the WestConnex project — as a waste of public money.

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“The truth is the Greens are perpetuating a con. They frustrate development proposals in their own backyard while demanding the rest of Sydney take the overflow and then plot to overturn the roads needed to transport this population,” Mr Minns wrote.

“The only way public transport, walking and bikes can take the place of roads is if the Greens stop opposing responsible development on their own patch in the inner city.

media_camera ... large populations, and Sydney should do the same, says Mr Minns. media_camera Cities such as Barcelona and New York (right) have embraced ...

“The Greens opposed the Central Park development on the old CUB Brewery site. They said the new redevelopment of Harold Park would ‘destroy’ Glebe, and they are viciously attacking a proposal for housing at Marrickville RSL (even though it’s located next to a train station) to name just a few.”

Buildings in Glebe and Newtown are limited to about three storeys in most areas, with heights up to four or five storeys allowed on main roads.

Mr Minns said the Greens’ stances were protecting the investments of wealthy Sydneysiders: “They (the Greens) are strangling the youth out of downtown Sydney and protecting if for the few investment bankers and doctors who are able to buy into it.

media_camera Minns is critical of the Greens for opposing projects such as the Central Park development.

“If we are truly to be an international city then the bottom line is we must have the urban density of an international city. People love Barcelona, New York and San Francisco but these are some of the most densely populated tracts on earth, Sydney must do the same.

PREMIUM COMMENT: GREENS JUST CAN’T CONNEX THE DOTS

“If Sydney doesn’t grow up and accept that a major increase in urban density is necessary to survive and thrive, then we will continue to spend billions of dollars on roads moving millions of Sydneysiders from west to east and back again.

media_camera The Greens are also opposing development on the former site of Marrickville RSL. Picture: Britta Campion

“Every time an inner-city council says ‘no’ to going up, they are saying ‘yes’ to going out and add to Sydney’s sprawl problem.

“One of the major arguments against an increase in density in the inner city is that it will lose its unique character but a look at the density of Greenwich Village (the hipster and artist capital of the world) reveals that there is 70,000 people per square mile while Glebe has just 16,000.”

The comments set Mr Minns apart from his leader Luke Foley, who has expressed scepticism about aspects of WestConnex.