Development should not be forced upon suburban North Shore areas without train stations, says Willoughby MP Tim James, as his party spruiks its alternative NSW housing policy.

What happened: Earlier this month, NSW Opposition leader Kellie Sloane made her first major announcement on housing and development. 

The policy: Low and Mid Rise housing is part of the Minns government’s larger planning reforms to increase housing in New South Wales. It permits housing up to six storeys within 800 metres of town centres and transport hubs. 

Opposition: The Minns government policy overrides input from local councils. Some councils, such as Mosman, have pushed against this, and attempted to negotiate with the state government to have a say in where the increased housing goes. 

What they said: Willoughby MP Tim James told the Lorikeet that under his party’s approach, “a local government area can effectively opt out of the top-down, blanket, one-size-fits-all, approach of the LMR policy, so long as they can demonstrate that they will meet their housing targets”.

If Mosman is an example to go by, the end result is packing housing in a small dense area — such as along Military Road — in order to prevent development throughout the rest of the LGA. 

When asked whether he disagreed with LMR housing policy, James said “there's a place for it, but it shouldn't be overwhelming, upsetting, significantly changing residential suburban areas that are not on heavy rail lines or metro lines”.

Why build? New South Wales is party to the National Housing Accord, which is an agreement between all levels of government and industry bodies to build 1.2 million new, well-located homes by 2029. 

A 2025 report from the Grattan Institute identified restrictive planning controls as a “key driver” of Australia's housing shortage and of rising housing costs.

Full story below.

In the wake of criminal charges against him being dropped, Ku-ring-gai councillor Cedric Spencer has told the Lorikeet he will satisfy the court’s requirements by seeing his GP, a cardiologist, a neurologist and a psychologist. 

What happened: In August 2025, Cedric Spencer — a lawyer and councillor — was charged at Hornsby Police Station with using “a carriage service namely mobile phone in such a way that reasonable persons would regard that use as being menacing, harassing or offensive”. 

The acts allegedly included a threat to kill another Ku-ring-gai councillor.

Spencer entered a plea of not guilty. 

Decision made: Last Monday, Spencer had the charges against him dropped, and was discharged into the care of a doctor.

The conditions of the ruling stipulate he must receive both medical and psychological treatment. 

He said mental health issues would not affect his performance as a councillor, and that depression and stress were “pretty common” among local councillors. 

In a public Facebook post, Spencer wrote “it is finally over” and that he planned to “move forward and continue serving our community”. 

What now: When asked whether it was appropriate for Spencer to remain a councillor, a spokesperson for the Office of Local Government said it is seeking advice on the implications of the ruling.

Read the full story below.

A follow-up on last weeks sewage incident…

A game of pass-the-parcel between differing government and private agencies for responsibility of a North Sydney sewage leak has finally ended.

What happened: On Tuesday, the Lorikeet reported on raw sewage running through Broughton Street, Kirribilli. Locals claimed the issue had been ongoing for four weeks. 

They had attempted to contact every agency that could be responsible: North Sydney Council, Sydney Water and St George Community Housing (SGCH), who manage Greenway, the social housing estate from which sewage was flowing.

Finally, they sent a letter to Rose Jackson — the NSW Minister responsible for both water and housing — pleading for action. 

On Thursday, August 20, the streets were finally free of sewage. So why did it take so long to fix? 

Who’s fault: We reached out to Rose Jackson for comment on the sewage, who directed our request to Sydney Water. Sydney Water said the issue was not its responsibility. 

The company chalked the issue up to the collapse of a 70-year-old sewer pipe within Greenway, and claimed SGCH had established “temporary measures” to manage overflow.

When asked for its side of the story, a spokesperson for SGCH said it had been working on a fix since July 31. 

“The discharge was intermittent and so it was difficult to locate the source”, it said. Once the issue was uncovered, the housing manager needed permission from North Sydney Council to close Broughton Street and carry out repair works.

Rose Jackson was briefly questioned about the incident in Parliament on Wednesday. The Water Minister said she understood issues “bouncing around between departments” was frustrating for residents. 

“No one wants raw sewerage on their street”. 

Read the full story below.

After the Global Financial Crisis wiped out Australia's big video game studios, a different kind of local gaming industry emerged.

Smaller, independent developers backed by state government funding have been producing games played all over the world.

The National Account's Archie Milligan has the rundown: