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Mr Minns addressed a public forum on Tuesday of Housing Now, an alliance of business groups, housing advocates, unions, and even faith groups, pushing for urgent housing reform.

In his address, Mr Minns spruiked the government’s proposed reforms, including recently announced planning reforms, and lamented current provisions around “proportionality”.

“The current Bill requires those who put in an application to consider all of the likely impacts of development, to quote ‘the fullest extent possible’, not just the appropriate extent,” he said.

“It’s this simple clause that’s causing so much of the delay and filibustering we see at the housing system because those who are opposed to new developments in their community can drive a truck through that principle.

“At the most absurd end, it means that building a house undergoes the same fundamental assessment rules as building a new coalmine, but more commonly, it drives the endless proliferation of consultant reports.

“To be frank, a cottage industry in that same part of the housing sector.”

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, who will address the forum later on Tuesday, has given in-principle support to the state government’s proposed planning reforms, which were announced earlier this month.

Asked about bipartisan support for the Labor government’s planning reforms, Mr Minns told the packed crowd at Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium that he was “encouraged” by the NSW Coalition’s support.

“I want to give a big open offer to the NSW Coalition,” he said during a later press conference.

“If we can have bipartisanship on this housing planning Bill, we can make a major difference to housing affordability for the next generation of young Australians.

“We’ve mucked around on this for a long time. It does take two to tango. We don’t have the numbers in the upper house. It requires bipartisanship to get this through.

“But what a great gift for the people of NSW, particularly young families, in the run up to Christmas.

“I think it’s something that we could jointly share – share credit when it comes to housing reform.”

Mr Minns said reform would not end though with the Bill’s passage.

Rosehill and other reforms

As part of its 2026 platform, Housing Now is advocating for 10 measures.

They include 122 new, large precincts, including in Olympic Park and at Glebe Island, as well as changes to zoning laws for places of worship.

“We know the government’s thrown the kitchen sink at this, but there’s still more to throw at it,” Housing Now chair David Borger said.

“We think that there’s a few things that can be done that can actually push us further and faster in terms of housing.”

Months on, the failed sale of Rosehill racecourse – which would have paved the way for 25,000 new homes – loomed large.

“We think that there are a number of potential alternatives to Rosehill – big moves, big sites that can deliver big housing for our community,” Mr Borger said.

He said those included along auto alley in Parramatta, and he also called out “silly planning rules”, including around dual occupancies.

Another proposal was to free up church-owned land for housing.

Faith Housing Australia head of advocacy Amanda Bailey said there were 2500 sites across NSW owned by faith groups.

“Seven hundred and forty seven of those are located within 800m of a train station,” she said.

Ms Bailey said that under current planning rules, land at places for worship was not zoned for residential projects.

“If a faith community, and there are many who are approaching us wanting to add housing, particularly if they’ve got, for example, a spare carpark that’s maybe only used on a Sunday, and they say, we want to add housing … at the moment, they have to go through a very long and expensive planning proposal stage, and that’s preventing a lot of faith groups who are perhaps asset rich but cash poor for getting such great developments off the ground,” she said.