Sydney Summit 2026 as it happened: Industry leaders, politicians gather to discuss future of city

The State of the City report by the Committee for Sydney and BDO, presented at today’s summit, identified Parramatta, Liverpool and Bankstown as among the city’s most overcrowded centres.

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane reiterated that she was “pro-housing”, including in her own eastern suburbs electorate of Vaucluse, but cautioned against throwing “slings and arrows” at the east, when there were 4500 people per square kilometre in Woollahra, compared to 3300 in Parramatta.

The Herald’s incoming editor, Jordan Baker, asked both Scully and Sloane whether the state government should move to acquire defence sites this week identified by a federal audit as suitable for sale, including Victoria Barracks and the HMAS Penguin.

Scully confirmed Homes NSW had made inquiries about “potential options” for Victoria Barracks, but ruled out aggressive redevelopment, such as “going in and bulldozing it and replacing it with huge apartment towers”. Sloane raised concerns about “the federal government offloading assets onto state governments without a clear plan”, while both politicians said any development of the site would need to occur after close community consultation, including with veterans, stressing a need to be sensitive of the property’s historical significance.

Former Coalition prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said political leaders must present ideas for projects they can deliver – rather than “thought bubbles”. He also said Australia should not end up like the United States, where its public infrastructure was “almost universally, in complete disarray.”

Multiple politicians – current and former – have weighed in on tax reform and the possibility of the government reducing capital gains tax exemptions for investor properties.

The State of the City report by the Committee for Sydney and BDO, presented at today’s summit, identified Parramatta, Liverpool and Bankstown as among the city’s most overcrowded centres.

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane reiterated that she was “pro-housing”, including in her own eastern suburbs electorate, but cautioned against throwing “slings and arrows” at the east, when there were 4500 people per square kilometre in Woollahra, compared with 3300 in Parramatta.

The Herald’s incoming editor, Jordan Baker, asked both Scully and Sloane whether the state government should move to acquire defence sites this week identified by a federal audit as suitable for sale, including Victoria Barracks and HMAS Penguin.

Scully confirmed Homes NSW had made inquiries about “potential options” for Victoria Barracks, but ruled out aggressive redevelopment, such as “going in and bulldozing it and replacing it with huge apartment towers”. Sloane raised concerns about “the federal government offloading assets onto state governments without a clear plan”, while both politicians said any development of the site would need to occur after close community consultation, including with veterans, stressing a need to be sensitive of the property’s historical significance.

Sloane pointed to overseas examples where major cities have successfully retained and repurposed military sites without erasing their historical value.

“Some of that includes discreet housing that doesn’t overshadow or overwhelm the heritage,” she said.

Her comments follow remarks from NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully, who said the NSW government was open to acquiring sites such as Victoria Barracks after the federal government announced the sale of several prominent Defence properties.

Sloane cautioned against rushing into acquisitions without robust consultation.

“You don’t really want the federal government offloading assets onto state governments without a clear plan,” she said. “Just saying, ‘Let’s offload this asset’ and then talk about community consultation afterwards is something, I have to say, I’m not crazy about.”

She pointed out that in Woollahra, there are 4500 inhabitants per square kilometre. That same figure in Parramatta is 3300 and 1800 in Blacktown.

“Can we just have a sensible discussion and say we want to build, we want to do it well, we want to be ambitious for areas near transport infrastructure?”

When asked by the Herald’s incoming editor Jordan Baker about how the opposition would approach development given its seats are often the ones where people are most against new housing, she said: “I’m pro-housing, and I will not shirk from that just because I think an independent grassroots movement is going to come up and have some YIMBY campaigning against me.”