Sydney’s natural beauty holding city back: NSW Treasurer

He said successive governments had got away with leaving the site dormant for decades because, “even with those blemishes, Sydney is still a world-class city”.

“But our harbour is so beautiful, it is so iconic, that I believe it’s actually holding us back,” Mr Perrottet told the conference of planning industry figures on Monday morning, adding that other great cities around the world were not able to lean on their natural beauty.

“Melbourne’s grandest hotels are on the banks of a brown creek. London’s river Thames and the Seine in Paris have a similar ambience. The great city of New York is built on a swamp, yet without a harbour to fall back on, enormous efforts have gone into making their cities the great places to live, work and visit.”

The Treasurer named built heritage, as well as tax and regulation, as three examples of mediocrity holding the city back, promoting a recent recommendation by former prime minister Paul Keating and former Sydney lord mayor Lucy Turnbull to revitalise the underused heritage precinct of Macquarie Street into a cultural precinct.

Mr Perrottet said the existing area had “no vision”, acted as a “road block” to crowds using The Domain, and there was hardly anywhere to eat or drink.

“You almost think we don’t want people to appreciate these ... treasures right in our midst,” he said.

The prioritisation of open public and green spaces, and a focus on good design, have been among the keystones of the government’s planning agenda over the past 12 months, while a greater discussion has evolved around reinterpreting heritage and historic sites for greater public use.

The Treasurer also used his speech to promote the government’s push to reform stamp duty to a system of annual property tax, as well as its moves to strip red tape from the hospitality sector as part of the city’s outdoor dining revolution.

He said that, despite NSW’s comparative global success in controlling the spread and various economic and social effects of COVID-19, one of the most important lessons of the pandemic was that Sydney’s tolerance for mediocrity was “too high”.

“When it’s a matter of survival, though, mediocrity is not an option. Emerging from the pandemic, this is the mindset we must retain, so that our recovery is fast and strong and, over the long term, our state can fulfill its true potential, and this means more than just getting back to normal,” Mr Perrottet said.