Jackson Lines Up Water Future as NSW Housing Delivery Surges

NSW delivered a post-war record of 1711 publicly funded social and affordable homes in the 2024-25 financial year, but Housing and Water Minister Rose Jackson isn’t resting on those laurels. Speaking to The Urban Developer , Jackson said that this year’s figures, due to be released in July, will “smash through 2000 and we may even get through 2500”. Meanwhile, Jackson is “extremely sympathetic” to developers struggling with water infrastructure, but says Sydney Water’s uplift in spending will allow it to catch up. Jackson describes the NSW Budget as “bread and butter”, with a focus on cost of living rather than “new and sexy” policies or funding. But she argues that the government is providing continuity and stability for the industry and the housing market, as reform work of previous years evolves into delivery. “Our big priority is just getting our public home building program really humming and making the most of that momentum,” Jackson said. “We’ve got the planning system working, because that was a challenge. “We put $5 billion in the Budget two years ago to build housing, we’re spending that money, it’s going well.” As a public developer, Jackson faces the same feasibility and cost escalation challenges that private developers do, but is less focused on financial return and more on housing outcomes. “We just want to make sure that we’re delivering as prudently as possible, because we don’t want to waste money,” Jackson said. ▲ Community campaigning has been particularly agitated against the redevelopment of public housing assets at Waterloo. “It’s just still some of these community issues and campaigns that we’re bumping up against, that’s a source of frustration. “I am of the view that the government has a major role to play when housing supply is massively constrained, getting in there and building homes, and that’s just sort of what we’re trying to do.” While she remains open to “changing tack” when industry signals that it’s necessary, Jackson contends that there’s no “wacky new hare-brained schemes” on the horizon. “One of the things that we don’t want is massive regulatory instability; governments changing the rules all the time. “The industry knows [Planning Minister] Paul [Scully] and I have consistently turned up and engaged, we have been responsive to the things that they’ve raised, and we want to keep doing that.” ‘Colonial-era infrastructure’ key hurdle Jackson says she is focused on water infrastructure and that the performance of Sydney Water is improving, with more to come. “Sydney Water has just not been delivering proper water infrastructure for far too long. If you compare the capital profile from about 2015 to 2025, it’s pretty paltry,” Jackson said. “They’re sweating the assets to the very end of life. Parts of the Sydney sewer network predate the London sewer network; it’s early colonial-era infrastructure. ▲ The Tank Stream, Sydney’s first covered water supply, is still in use as a stormwater culvert. “We’ve got this huge backlog, basically. Now we’re dealing with that by giving Sydney Water space to massively uplift their capital over the next little while. From an average of around $700 million a year spend, to about $3 billion, over the next 10 years.” Timelines for responses and connections have improved. In 2024, complex section 73 certificates were taking an average of 165 days to resolve. But in May 2026, Sydney Water beat its 100-day goal for the first time. However, the infrastructure backlog means that Jackson is prioritising infill homes over greenfield, giving the challenges and costs involved. ‘Quitely confident’ funding is right The Federal Budget’s provision for enabling infrastructure was disappointing, Jackson said, and she was sympathetic to regional calls for more Federal and state funding . “Infrastructure is expensive… there is a genuine frustration about some of the Commonwealth’s contributions to infrastructure. “The $2 billion over four years between all of the states, that’d be around $600 million for New South Wales. “And that’s contingent on us finalising arrangements for their 100,000 Homes for First Home Buyers program, which we haven’t.” However, Jackson is “quite confident” that Sydney Water has the right funding level and model for the task at hand. ▲ The North West Treatment Hub is among a 10-year pipeline of more than $30 billion in works for Sydney Water. “For the next five years, I’d say. The only potential change there is around the data centers … we might need to look at that, but over the next five years, I think we’ve got a really good pipeline in place for water infrastructure. “We do actually have all of that funding locked in from IPART already. And that is a combination of developer contributions and customer contributions, and also debt financing and other financial structures that Sydney Water use. “I’m totally appreciative of the fact that [developers] don’t love developer contributions, but it’s been very publicly, transparently managed. ▲ Jackson said that Sydney Water’s funding model was appropriate for the next five years of planned works. “The alternative to having those arrangements is that either existing customers fund that infrastructure, which doesn’t really seem fair, or the taxpayer does… I think people can see that [developers] should make a contribution, not always the whole cost.” IPART is currently accepting submissions on an issue paper relating to developer charges for connecting, extending, or upgrading metropolitan water, wastewater, and recycled water services. That exhibition, running until July 6, will result in a position paper in December, exploring how prices are set. “We’re just trying to make it work,” Jackson said. “We just have to try and get through, project by project. Just keep moving, keep the momentum going.”

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Patrick Lau
Mon 29 Jun 26

Jackson Lines Up Water Future as NSW Housing Delivery Surges

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