Kogarah Residents' Association for Georges River Council

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

28/05/2026

01/10/2025

We have released the draft flood study for Blakehurst and Kogarah Bay Wards to help our community better understand how stormwater behaves during heavy rainfall. 🌊

View our project page to:
✅ Access the draft flood study and online maps
✅ Read our FAQ
✅ Provide feedback and speak with our team

📅 Feedback is open until Monday 3 November 2025. More info: https://yoursay.georgesriver.nsw.gov.au/draft-blakehurst-and-kogarah-bay-wards-flood-study

17/09/2025

Published by The Sydney Morning Herald on Sep. 13, 2025:

Family and friends are warmly invited to attend John's funeral, Thursday, 18 September 2025, at 12 noon in the West Chapel, Rookwood Memorial Park, Memorial Ave, Rookwood. Livestream will be available.
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John McCarthy was an environmental lawyer deeply devoted to protecting native wildlife habitats and the foreshore beauty of the Georges River and its bays.

John passed away after bravely facing cancer. His family has arranged the service for today, Thursday, 18 September 2025, at 12:00 noon. For those unable to attend in person, a live stream will be available as noted in the funeral notice.

John was inspired by the 1983 film Local Hero to pursue environmental law with the aim of defending coastal habitats and communities against exploitation. Early in his career, he was honoured as Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year for his success in preventing foreshore overdevelopment at Nambucca Heads.

A near-fatal car accident paused his legal career, but it did not diminish his contributions to local groups and the Georges River region. Over the past 12 years, I’ve known John as a tireless community ally. He volunteered with the Kyle Bay Residents Association to advocate foreshore preservation and helped raise awareness across the former Kogarah Municipality about the New City Plan’s rezoning with the United Kogarah City Residents Association. He continued to work with new local action groups to curb overdevelopment and, most recently, to protect koala habitats threatened by land clearing in NSW.

A Blakehurst resident, John also contributed to local governance, believing that protecting the public interest and wildlife required principled leadership. He served as an officer of the Kogarah Residents’ Association and stood with me as the party’s candidates in the 2021 local government election for Georges River Council. John was carrying forward his family’s legacy; his father, Gerald McCarthy, a respected solicitor, served as a Councillor on the former Rockdale Council.

John’s unwavering commitment to the environment and community leaves a lasting impact. He will be deeply missed by family, friends, and all who respected his work for a healthier, more sustainable world. May his legacy continue to inspire conservation and civic stewardship.

With gratitude, Leesha Payor

17/09/2025

‘The NSW Labor government will embark on the biggest rewrite of the state’s planning laws in nearly five decades after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations to shore up support from the Coalition.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/single-front-door-the-biggest-overhaul-of-nsw-planning-laws-in-50-years-revealed-20250917-p5mvoo.html?utm_content=feed&utm_term=metros_social_eds&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sydney_morning_herald&utm_source=Facebook =1758071477

11/09/2025

Extract: Construction of a new train line linking Parramatta to Kogarah is among secret plans being worked on by senior transport officials to expand Sydney’s passenger rail network over the next two decades.

They also outline the benefits of new “cross-regional corridors” focused on providing rail connections to Parramatta without passengers having to be routed through the Sydney CBD.

That could involve a “new line” from Kogarah in the city’s south to Parramatta and Westmead, which was cited among the major items to be “scoped in full by business cases”.

The documents also outline plans to extend the “inner-urban network” from Hurstville to Cronulla, which would allow for a “single, all-stops, high-frequency stopping pattern”.

While commuters from Cronulla “would no longer have access” to express services, the documents say that “this will be offset” by more frequent services and new digital systems “further reducing journey time impacts”.

Transport for NSW said in a statement that “this draft plan” had not been approved by the NSW government and none of the new lines on the map had yet been costed.

However, Premier Chris Minns recently sought to lower expectations that another set of metro rail lines will be built in Sydney in coming years, citing their massive expense and drag on the state budget.

A new train line linking Parramatta to Kogarah is among secret plans being worked on by senior transport officials as they look to expand Sydney’s rail network.

10/09/2025

Stage one of the project is for 200 apartments plus a concept plan for 1,000 apartments.

29/06/2025

SYDNEY YIMBY ON COMPASS

'Yimby is about making sure my children will have a home in the future' ABC Compass

This week's ABC Compass features (Yes-In-My-Backyard), the community pro-development advocacy group, whose catch cry is 'build more houses'.

Arguing that supply, supply, supply is the solution to Sydney's housing crisis the group has successfully lobbied for major rezoning changes.This includes enabling development in heritage conservation areas.The Premier is a Yimby supporter amongst others.

Working with Faith Housing Australia, Unions NSW and three prominent unions, advocacy group Business Sydney and the Committee for Sydney, Sydney Yimby is part of the 'Housing Now' alliance.

In this week's program, a number of committee members are profiled - Cofounder Justin Simon, now Chair of the group and his partner and fellow committee member Emily Lockwood, whose personal experience with homelessness is a poignant part of the story; cofounder and Deputy Chair, Melissa Neighbour, a town planner, and former Deputy Chair Erin Riley, a comms and engagement consultant who previously worked with CPB Contractors and Urbis.

Initially established in Melbourne, the group was launched a short time later in Sydney in the lead up to the NSW government's announcement of the major planning reforms in 2023.

Surprisingly, cofounder and well known content creator Sharath Mahendran who is now an engineering intern at WSP is not interviewed. Similarly Peter Tulip, the Chief Economist at the Centre for Independent Studies who was previously with the Reserve Bank and is a prominent advocate for the group.

With the movement established in San Francisco more than a decade ago in response to the cost and shortage of housing, the organisation was financially supported by key figures in the tech sector. Since then more than 150 groups have reportedly been established across the US, with growing political representation and legislation.

However more recently there has been significant pushback in the case of California, after revelations that some of the key figures associated with the movement are behind a proposal to create a new city in the rural valley of Solano County, more than 70 km from San Fransisco.

Titled California Forever, ironically the plans are to house 400,000 people in low level neighbourhoods on what is now farmland. Interestingly Gabriel Metcalfe, the previous CEO for the Committee for Sydney is the Head of Planning for California Forever.

To view the program on ABC iview:
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/compass

📷 ABC Compass (episode 14)