Media Release

1 March 2020

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The NSW Labor Opposition is calling for Ryde MP Victor Dominello to resign from his position as a Minister, following reports that his own Liberal Government will approve a controversial mega-tower in Macquarie Park in his Ryde electorate.

Mr Dominello staked his whole 2019 election campaign on opposing the development, as part of a so-called “development freeze” in Ryde.

Now the election is over, reports indicate that 1270 units including a 42-storey high rise is set to be approved by the Berejiklian Government this week.

Labor Leader in the Legislative Council and Shadow Minister for Planning and Better Living, Adam Searle MLC today said: “Victor Dominello staked his whole election campaign last year on opposing this development – and now the election is safely behind them his own Liberal Government has decided to approve it.”

“Mr Dominello’s position is now untenable. How can remain in a government which does the very thing he promised his community would not happen.

“Victor Dominello promised a development freeze, but the Berejiklian Government appears only too happy to betray the Ryde community and approve more high rise for the area over the wishes of the local community.”

“If Victor Dominello has any principles he will now resign from the Government. You can’t say one thing before the election and do the opposite afterwards.

“If he fails to do this, the community will be justified in thinking he duped them last March.

Before last year’s election, Ms Berejiklian said Ryde was bearing the stress of disproportionate development under her own Government’s planning policies and announced a ban on further developments in the area. She then used the Greater Sydney Commission to undertake an “assurance review” of planning rules in Ryde with a particular focus on the Macquarie Park area.

The review was not released by the GSC in the usual way, but its findings were announced by Mr Dominello personally through social media just weeks before the election. The review found that there has been rapid and high development in the Ryde area but that the delivery of infrastructure has not kept pace with that growth.

A final report, released in June 2019 found that Ryde had grown at twice the rate of other  local government areas but without the infrastructure.

“If the Liberals are going to approve development, as they have across Sydney at an unprecedented rate for the last nine years, they must provide the infrastructure communities need for a decent life at the same time,” Mr Searle said.

“The need for local health services is outstripping what is being provided, local schools are overcrowded, Ryde bus routes are being privatised and there are now questions over the future of Ryde TAFE with the Berejiklian Government failing to rule out TAFE privatisation and further course cuts.”