‘A fantasy’: Labor attacks Coalition’s 12,000-home Long Bay plan

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Cite

Maddison, M. (2026, October 28). ‘A fantasy’: Labor attacks Coalition’s 12,000-home Long Bay plan. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/a-fantasy-labor-attacks-coalition-s-12-000-home-long-bay-plan-20261028-p6199j.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-28 · by Max Maddison

Quick Summary

The Coalition has proposed converting Long Bay jail into 12,000 homes, a plan that Labor’s Planning Minister Paul Scully calls “a fantasy.” Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane questions why the prison occupies valuable real estate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and suggests selling the land could yield up to $2 billion. However, Scully criticizes the proposal for lacking necessary transport infrastructure and raises concerns about rehousing 1200 inmates and the overall cost. The debate has become personal as both parties release housing plans targeting each other's safe seats.
Written by AI on 2026-10-28, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of October 28, 2026, the Coalition proposed converting the Long Bay jail, located in Sydney's eastern suburbs, into 12,000 new homes, sparking a political debate with Labor. Planning Minister Paul Scully dismissed this plan as unrealistic and costly to taxpayers. The dispute comes amid competing housing strategies for prime Sydney locations: while Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane advocated for the closure of Long Bay prison within 100 days if elected, Labor criticized it as unfeasible without adequate transport infrastructure. Both parties aim to address housing shortages but clash over methods and feasibility, with Labor arguing the proposed development would be three times denser than Green Square without sufficient public transit support.

Written for “Labor Vs Coalition On Housing Policy” on 2026-10-29, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Labor Vs Coalition On Housing Policy
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 24 claims Outlet record 61/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 5367 article(s) · 13 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 13 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Max Maddison
13 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “The reality is the idea of putting 12,000 homes on the site behind us would create an area of around three times the density of Green Square without any of the transport infrastructure.
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🔮 The Minns government is still mulling a proposal to allow volunteer members of a Jewish security group to be armed at public religious events, even after the NSW Police announced a heavily armed, specially trained squad of 250 officers will be deployed with long-arm rifles.
🔮 McDermott announced he would leave parliament after 12 years without detailing his reason, and comes a day after this masthead reported Labor HQ was considering asking male backbenchers to retire to solve the party’s equal representation problem.
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🔮 Sloane’s announcement that a Coalition government would freeze the gun buyback and scrap gun ownership caps for farmers and sporting shooters – a backflip seemingly coming for months — clearly had been influenced by the policy’s deep unpopularity on the right.
🔮 Some MPs are anticipating more resignations will follow.
🔮 Some MPs are anticipating more resignations will follow.
Also by Max Maddison
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 13 articles by Max Maddison →

Topics

Coalition Labor Sydney Vaucluse Woollahra

Subjects

Coalition ORG · 4× Sloane PERSON · 4× Sydney GPE · 4× Labor ORG · 3× Scully PERSON · 3× Woollahra GPE · 3× Vaucluse GPE · 2× Kellie Sloane PERSON · 1× Paul Scully PERSON · 1× Planning ORG · 1×

Narrative

“Sydney needs more homes in places where people want to live and Long Bay represents a significant opportunity to deliver new housing in the eastern suburbs,” he said in a statement. “But this shouldn’t become a choice between Long Bay and greater density around a future Woollahra station.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28
🔮 “The reality is the idea of putting 12,000 homes on the site behind us would create an area of around three times the density of Green Square without any of the transport infrastructure.
2026-10-28 · The Sydney Morning Herald
‘A fantasy’: Labor attacks Coalition’s 12,000-home Long Bay plan · assertive framing

Claims (22 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Coalition’s proposal to convert Long Bay jail into 12,000 homes has erupted into a fight over the future of housing in prime Sydney locations, with Planning Minister Paul Scully labelling it a fantasy. asserted
Scully → convert → it
As Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane questioned why a prison occupied 50 hectares of prime real estate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Scully decried the plan as “nothing more than a multibillion-dollar bill to the taxpayer masquerading as a housing plan”. asserted
Scully → question → plan
The housing battle has turned personal after the Coalition and Labor each released plans for massive redevelopments in safe seats held by the opposing party: Woollahra and Edgecliff in Sloane’s seat of Vaucluse, and the Long Bay plan in Attorney-General Michael Daley’s seat of Maroubra. asserted
Coalition → turn → Maroubra
Hours after this masthead revealed the Liberals’ plan to establish a delivery authority to organise the closure of Long Bay prison within 100 days if elected in March, three Labor ministers stood outside the corrections centre on Wednesday to condemn the proposal as unworkable. asserted
ministers → reveal → proposal
“What we’ve seen from the member for Vaucluse and the Liberal Party is a plan to not have housing in Woollahra. asserted
seen → see → Woollahra
This is a distraction and a fantasy of an idea,” Scully said. asserted
Scully → say → idea
“The reality is the idea of putting 12,000 homes on the site behind us would create an area of around three times the density of Green Square without any of the transport infrastructure. asserted
idea → put → infrastructure
This doesn’t pass the most basic of planning tests. asserted
This → pass → tests
Daley said the proposed uplift in density was unworkable given Anzac Parade – the only road in or out of the peninsula – was already “chock-a-block” in the morning. asserted
Parade → say → morning
Premier Chris Minns has previously said the only way to make the redevelopment stack up is by building a metro station nearby, which the government has no plans to do. asserted
government → say → plans
Scully said there were several unanswered questions about the Coalition proposal, including where the jail’s 1200 inmates would be rehoused, and the overall cost. asserted
inmates → say → proposal
Sloane has suggested selling the land to developers could yield the government up to $2 billion. uncertain
selling → suggest → billion
Opposition planning spokesman Chris Rath accused the government of claiming they were pro-housing while rejecting each of the Coalition’s three planning proposals, including building 10,000 new homes in the inner west and 10,000 new homes in Camellia-Rosehill. asserted
they → accuse → Rosehill
“So they talk a big game on housing, but when it comes to actually delivering, they are 40 per cent behind their National Housing Accord target. asserted
they → talk → target
And it’s very disappointing today to see that they’re against our plan for 12,000 new homes right here at Long Bay,” he said. asserted
he → ’ → Bay
In an interview with ABC Sydney on Wednesday morning, Sloane was unable to say what the proposed cost of the redevelopment would be, nor where Long Bay’s 1200 inmates would be rehoused if the proposal went ahead. asserted
proposal → say → redevelopment
She argued a delivery authority would be established to work through those issues. asserted
authority → argue → issues
Sloane acknowledged the plan would require upgraded transport infrastructure “down the track”, suggesting the extension of the light rail down Anzac Parade was an idea. asserted
extension → acknowledge → Parade
She then attacked Treasurer Daniel Mookhey for refusing to explore “one of the most obvious opportunities for urban renewal, close to the city”. asserted
She → attack → city
David Borger, the spokesman for YIMBY group Housing Now! and former Labor minister, threw his support behind the plan. asserted
Borger → throw → plan
“Sydney needs more homes in places where people want to live and Long Bay represents a significant opportunity to deliver new housing in the eastern suburbs,” he said in a statement. “But this shouldn’t become a choice between Long Bay and greater density around a future Woollahra station. asserted
this → need → station
Sydney needs both.” Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. asserted
Sydney → need → stories
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