Debate: That the private market can solve Australia’s housing crisis

Date: Wednesday, 16th October 2024

Time: 5:45pm—7:00pm

Location: Chau Chak Wing Museum

Has Australia’s housing debate turned toxic? On the one side, politicians, industry groups and free marketeers insist that relaxing planning rules will deliver more homes, lowering prices and rents. Others contend that unfair tax settings have pitted property investors against first home buyers, condemning younger generations and middle income workers to a precarious private rental market. Where do you stand on the causes of, and solutions to Australia’s housing crisis? We’ll be inviting you to open your minds for this debate where the winning team is decided by the strength of their persuasion in this Intelligence Squared inspired event.

Speakers

The Hon Doug Cameron, Former Senator

Sharath Mahendran, Urban Planner and creator of YouTube channel Building Beautifully

Emily Sims, Uralla Shire Council

Stephanie Barker, Executive Director Strategy and Engagement, Willowtree Planning

Luke Cass, editor, Honi Soit Newspaper 2023

Emeritus Professor Peter Phibbs, Henry Halloran Research Trust, the University of Sydney
Commentary

Commentary

Michael Koziol, Sydney editor, The Sydney Morning Herald

Chaired by

Professor Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney

The Hon. Doug Cameron is a former trade unionist and Senator for New South Wales with the Australian Labor Party. He served as National Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union before entering politics in 2009. Under the Rudd Government he served as Parliamentary Secretary for Housing and Homelessness, and as Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness in opposition. Cameron is a passionate advocate for public housing, and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise from this time in public office.

Sharath Mahendran is a civil engineering student best known for his Sydney-based YouTube channel “Building Beautifully”. Having amassed over 45,000 subscribers, his channel has quickly become Sydney’s go-to channel for content on transport and planning. Sharath's YouTube series, "The Housing Struggle", has delved into Australia's culture of NIMBYism that he feels has stifled supply for decades and contributed to astronomical house prices. He is a prominent champion for dense transit-oriented developments as a solution to Australia's housing crisis. He has spoken at parliamentary inquiries, conferences, and was recently a speaker at TEDx Sydney Youth 2024.

Emily Sims is an urban planner with a passion for the economics of land. She has researched and written widely on issues relating to urban planning and the housing market, through her previous roles including at Prosper Australia. She currently works as a strategic planner in regional NSW.

Stephanie Barker is lead of Willowtree Communications and is responsible for government relations, community engagement, social planning and strategic communications.
Stephanie brings over 25 years’ experience gained in private and public sectors and has a deep understanding of strategic planning opportunities and challenges and the important role of engagement in the delivery of outcomes. She has been recognised for both her technical ability in strategic planning and collaborative approach by the Planning Institute of Australia, being named NSW Planner of the Year (2019) for her work on metropolitan planning for Greater Sydney.
Stephanie’s consultative approach has been instrumental in building consensus on a range of high-profile projects in the last ten years, including housing targets in Greater Sydney (2016-2023), infrastructure prioritisation, place-based design approaches and economic development. She has led monitoring and reporting across a range of key social, economic and environmental indicators, delivering greater transparency to inform critical planning decisions.

Luke Cass is currently studying Arts and Law at the University of Sydney. He was an Editor of the University of Sydney’s student newspaper Honi Soit in 2023, reporting on housing and social welfare.  

Peter Phibbs was the Founding Director of the Henry Halloran ResearchTrust at the University of Sydney and is now an emeritus Professor at the same University. His current interest is to improve the level of debate about housing affordability in Australia. His main research interests are in the area of affordable housing and the relationship between planning and housing supply. He recently reflected that he spent the first half of his career building evidence to assist the development of housing policy and the second half of his career researching why politicians do not seem all that interested in evidence or in making housing more affordable. 

Michael Koziol is Sydney Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, based in the Sydney newsroom. He was previously deputy editor of The Sun-Herald and a federal political reporter in Canberra.

Nicole Gurran is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney, where she directs the Henry Halloran Research Trust. Over two decades her research and publications have focused on housing affordability, urban planning, and climate change. She is committed to informing public policy and debate through her research, media commentary, and advice to governments, and most recently served as Co-Commissioner on the People’s Commission into the Housing Crisis.

Festival of Public Urbanism 2024

Great cities are defined by the quality of their public realm. From parks to civic architecture, well designed public infrastructure supports and enables the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of urban life. But are these public assets, along with public processes of urban governance and planning, under attack? Over the past fifty years key legacies of the modern urban project – such as publicly funded housing and urban infrastructure; or comprehensive planning for new development – have been eroded by waves of political and economic reform. Faith in market based ‘solutions’ has reduced public planning processes to ‘red tape’ and replaced public investment in rental housing with subsidies for private investors and households. At the same time, digital transformation under ‘platformisation’ has seen private corporations able to evade domestic regulations, disrupting every facet of urban life and governance.

The Festival of Public Urbanism will debate these topics and more. Join us to engage with academics, activists, politicians, industry leaders through our program of panel discussions, walking tours, and podcasts across Sydney and Australia.

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