Keep Bays West in public hands, build public homes

Housing is a human right and there is a dire need for more secure, beautiful public housing in New South Wales.

Socialist Alliance says all new housing in the Bays West precinct development should be public. 

The site, which encompasses White Bay, Glebe Island and the White Bay Power Station, is 100% publicly-owned now and should stay in public hands. The port at Glebe Island should also be maintained. 

NSW Labor must not hand it over to developers to build thousands of expensive private apartments, as it is planning. This is privatisation of public space, which we oppose.

There are more than 70,000 households on the growing public housing wait list, making the situation critical. Only 3.5% of all homes in NSW are public, compared to European countries, where public housing makes up 16–29% of housing stock.

Bays West presents NSW with an opportunity to build a significant amount of beautiful, environmentally sustainable public housing.

NSW Labor needs to address people’s needs, just as post-war Labor governments did. Rents should be set at 25% of income, with at least 60% of the site reserved for those on the public housing waiting list.

The remaining 40% could be made available to anyone who wants to live at Bays West. This would create a new category of open-income public housing that is available to all.

Setting rents proportionate to income would mean providing homes to those in dire need, but also to essential workers, including nurses, teachers, retail, construction and transport workers, and others who want to live close to the city.

Rather than subsidise construction firms to build pre-fabricated homes, NSW should set up its own construction company, that way ensuring more jobs.

Labor’s current plan for 40-storey, high-density apartment towers, is not suitable for this low-lying infill site, which is vulnerable to flooding. Such towers are almost always proposed by developers because they guarantee large profits, not liveability.

We support the Maritime Union of Australia’s call for a hybrid housing model that maintains the port and adds housing. Labor wants to close down the working port at Glebe Island and shift operations to Port Kembla, which would lead to job losses and more truck transportation on our roads. 

Bays West could showcase a vision of affordable, secure and accessible housing for all. 

Socialist Alliance is calling for:

• 100% of any new housing to be public, with rents set at 25% of income;
• A new category of open-income public housing;
• Mid-rise public housing of 3–12 storeys;
• A hybrid model that maintains the working port at Glebe Island;
• At least 30% of the site to be green space, including opening up the foreshore as part of an interconnected harbour walk;
• A proportion designated to a mix of public amenities and commercial space, including schools, childcare, health centres and community facilities. 

Isaac Nellist is standing in Balmain in the 2027 NSW elections. 

For more information 0468 526 096

Authorised by N. Spencer, 22-36 Mountain Street, Ultimo NSW 2007

We pay our respects to the First Nations peoples; sovereignty was never ceded.