What we learned, Monday 15 May
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:
The financial services minister, Stephen Jones, announced $86.5m in funding for the national anti-scams centre, which Labor pledged to create before the last election.
Shine Lawyers announced it reached a $132.7m settlement with the commonwealth to end a class action against the Department of Defence over the spread of PFAS chemicals.
PwC Australia has announced the former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski will lead a review of the global consultancy firm’s governance, accountability and culture.
The PM and immigration minister Andrew Giles criticised opposition leader Peter Dutton for his stance on immigration.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, today began a “budget roadshow” to sell the cost-of-living measures outlined in last week’s economic statement.
The Victorian government is set to drop the operator of its problem-plagued Myki system for the state’s train, tram and bus networks, with American company Conduent awarded the ticketing contract.
States and territories should be given financial penalties for failing to meet housing targets, according to a new report by the Business Council of Australia.
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NSW premier says to ‘have faith’ in 'cutting-edge design' as Sydney housing affordability turns new residents away
NSW premier, Chris Minns, has said that the future of Sydney lies in focusing on higher density housing in urban areas.
Speaking at the Sydney Morning Herald’s Sydney 2050 Summit earlier today, he said that housing affordability and the growing rental crisis were making it more difficult for Sydney to attract new residents, particularly young people.
Forget about owning a home, it has now become impossible to even rent a home.
The implications for the economy are devastating, not to mention the cultural impacts for an entire generation of young people who are saying ‘this city is not for me’.”
Sydney can’t grow by adding another street to the western fringe of Sydney every week … [because] you have to stretch social infrastructure over a bigger and bigger plane.
I think the best way to ensure we protect open space is to have buildings that go up.
[Anti-developer sentiment] is not the reaction to how we build cities around the world. You don’t see the mayor of New York saying: ‘Manhattan is full, we have enough buildings, we’re done.
Have faith that if we get the planning processes in place, and we get world-class developers, and planners … that Sydney in its totality, that we can build beautiful cities, using cutting-edge design tools.
I think we can still do that.
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