Regional Cities New South Wales (RCNSW), Media Release, 24 November 2025

Regional Cities NSW (RCNSW) has led a delegation to Sydney to progress joint solutions to the most pressing issues facing regional cities across the state.

With talks centred on housing, infrastructure, regional aviation and water security, the delegation sought to strengthen its partnership with the Minns Government to ensure regional cities continue to grow and prosper.

RCNSW Chair Cr Steve Krieg said the meetings were an important opportunity to ensure regional cities remained at the centre of state policy and investment decisions.

“Our cities are the engines of regional NSW. We are driving critical economic growth as well as a source of affordable housing and centres for health and education services,” Cr Krieg said.

“We’ve met with ministers who hold portfolios critical to the growth and prosperity of our regional cities across New South Wales.

“These meetings reinforced the need for genuine partnership with government, particularly on housing supply, regional transport connectivity and water infrastructure funding,” he said.

Over a busy two days of meetings at the New South Wales Parliament earlier this month, delegates met with government decision makers including:

• Minister for Transport John Graham; 
• Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully; 
• Minister for Agriculture and for Regional NSW, Tara Moriarty; 
• Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig; 
• Minister for Housing and Homelessness and for Water, Rose Jackson; and 
• Minister for Small Business and for Recovery, Janelle Saffin.

The delegation asked the State Government to allocate funding in its 2026 budget for initiatives including:

• partnering with local government to identify and ready unused land for new homes;
• establishing a cap on regional airfares to ensure our airways remain fair and communities stay connected; and
• investing in water infrastructure and water safety measures to make sure communities can continue to thrive.

Cr Kreig said regional cities faced persistent housing shortages due to infrastructure, regulatory and disaster recovery pressures. 

“Progress has been made, but data for October from the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales shows residential vacancies across the state are still at crisis levels,” Cr Krieg said.

“Aviation is essential for our businesses, tourism and emergency services. Our airports face high maintenance and compliance costs despite lower passenger numbers. Mobility around the regions has slowed as airfares have risen over the past six years.

“Accessible regional flights are critical not only to the prosperity of our regional cities, but to their survival. 

“Water security is a major issue for our regional cities: some are in drought, while others have had too much rain.

“Climate variability, population growth and increasing demand for water from industry are putting our regional water networks under unprecedented strain. 

“We need to ensure communities across regional New South Wales have on-going access to safe, clean, affordable water and can manage the impact of drought and flooding.

“Regional cities are not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for fair investment to match our role in growing New South Wales and to help our cities to be the best they can be,” he said.

The Regional Cities NSW delegation comprised representatives from Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Goulburn-Mulwaree, Griffith, Lismore, Orange, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Tamworth and Tweed Heads.