The NSW Government has raised questions about the cost, transport requirements and correctional system impacts of a Coalition proposal to redevelop the Long Bay Correctional Complex into a major new housing precinct.
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane announced on 28 October that a Coalition government would establish a Long Bay Delivery Authority within its first 100 days, with the aim of delivering more than 12,000 homes on the Long Bay site in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Under the Coalition proposal, 30 per cent of the homes would be designated as social and affordable housing. The authority would oversee master planning and infrastructure, investigate transport options and coordinate the relocation of correctional facilities to other metropolitan and regional locations, including Goulburn.
Transport and Cost Details Still to Be Developed
The Coalition has not yet committed to a specific new public transport project for the precinct.
Its proposal says the Long Bay Delivery Authority would investigate transport and infrastructure options as part of the master-planning process. Detailed project costs and delivery timeframes have also not yet been released.
The NSW Government has argued that significant additional infrastructure would be required to support a development of this scale and has questioned how the relocation of existing correctional facilities would be funded.
Government ministers have estimated that replacing Long Bay’s correctional capacity could cost more than $1 billion, although a detailed independent costing of the Coalition proposal has not yet been published.
Long Bay Provides Specialist Correctional Services
Long Bay Correctional Complex currently contains facilities including Long Bay Hospital and the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre.
The complex provides specialist medical, psychiatric, disability and rehabilitation services for people in custody. The NSW Inspector of Custodial Services has described its inmate population as including people with serious mental illness, disability, age-related needs and significant medical conditions.
The NSW Government says the wider complex provides about 1,200 correctional beds and employs more than 1,000 staff.
The Coalition proposal would require those correctional functions to be relocated or absorbed elsewhere in the system. It says the proposed delivery authority would work with Corrective Services NSW on the transition rather than immediately closing the facility.
The debate comes as NSW is expanding prison capacity elsewhere. The government announced in September that it would reopen the 515-bed Dawn de Loas Correctional Centre and add more than 360 beds at Parklea, creating close to 1,000 additional places. As of September, 6,398 people were on remand, representing about 46 per cent of the adult prison population.
Government Points to Woollahra and Edgecliff Rezoning
The government has contrasted the Long Bay proposal with its separate Edgecliff-Woollahra state-led rezoning, which is currently on public exhibition.
That draft plan could enable approximately 9,400 new homes, along with up to 1,000 jobs, around 3.5 hectares of new and upgraded open space and up to nine kilometres of walking and cycling connections.
It also includes higher-density development around Edgecliff and a proposed new Woollahra railway station.
The draft rezoning includes an affordable housing contribution starting at 3 per cent, increasing to as much as 15 per cent on selected sites.
Public consultation on the proposal closes at 5pm on Friday, 30 October 2026, with finalisation expected in 2027.
Two Different Approaches to Eastern Sydney Housing
The competing proposals highlight different approaches to increasing housing supply in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The NSW Government is pursuing additional density around existing and planned transport infrastructure at Edgecliff and Woollahra, while the Coalition is proposing a larger redevelopment of government-owned land at Long Bay, with detailed transport, infrastructure and correctional relocation plans to be developed through a new authority if it wins government.
At this stage, both proposals still involve significant future planning. The Woollahra-Edgecliff rezoning remains a draft under consultation, while the Long Bay redevelopment is an election commitment and has not yet undergone a detailed planning or independent costing process.
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