Wagga City Council resists open construction meetings as builders battle red tape

The organisation has hosted two building and construction industry breakfasts so far this year, which the council's director of regional activation, John Sidgwick, said were successful and feedback had been positive.

However, some of the city's biggest developers have revealed they aren't happy with the way the meetings are being run and believe they should be open to public scrutiny.

When asked about public oversight of the meetings, a council spokesperson said there would be none and the media would not be able to attend.

The council has said the closed nature of the meetings was necessary to preserve the candid conversations being had.

However, some attendees have said this raises questions for transparency and accountability.

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Wagga Housing Industry Association chairman Tony Balding said he thinks the meetings should be a forum where the general public can learn about challenges in the industry.

"I think it should be open to the public ... there are a lot of issues that need to be discussed openly," Mr Balding said.

Mick Neason from Austwide Homes - who has developed hundreds of properties in the Wagga area and thousands in his career - said while he called for the regular meetings, he and his business partner Phil Andrea believed they were being conducted in bad faith.

"I work with a local council all over the place, and Wagga is one of, if not the toughest ... Albury welcomes you with red carpet, Wagga welcomes you with red tape," Mr Neason said.

"We used to have regular meetings with council about five years ago, where we could bring issues to them for discussion ... then they shut them down.

"I reckon they don't want to be accountable - it's a simple as that."

Mr Neason and Mr Andrea, from Fetesi, described the meetings as a "waste of time" and said they will not be attending in future.

The developers said that decision was in part due to the council's refusal to further discuss an $8000 fine they were issued without warning for leaving mud on Lake Albert Road.

The fine was issued in April 2023, outside an empty block the pair are developing into a $12 million shopping complex. Members of the construction community were outraged, saying it was not reasonable to expect a perfectly clean road at the end of a wet day of work.

Mr Neason said it was an insult, given they had been forced on other occasions to deal with environmental problems that had been created directly by the council.

"People still bring it up with me nearly every day," he said

Mr Andrea said he thought the council was holding the agenda of the meeting too tightly and weren't allowing complaints like these to be openly discussed. He said it appeared there were people there who shouldn't be.

"I did notice there were a lot of people there who weren't builders, weren't developers, there - no idea what they were doing," he said.

"They should get the blokes building the town up, the blokes creating all the work - that's what I reckon.

"If all the builders shut down for three months, imagine the damage that would be done."

Combined Development Group managing director Graham Walker, Damasa director Manuel Donebus and Wayne Carter from Wayne Carter Homes also expressed similar views.

All believed the meetings should be open to public scrutiny to aid the broader community's understanding of why there is a housing shortage in Wagga and to hold the council to account.

The developers are responsible for a substantial portion of Wagga's new property developments over the last two decades and have built thousands of homes between them.

Mr Donebus expressed the most optimism about the meetings, saying while they had been limited to "high level" conversations so far, he was hopeful they would develop into a more open forum.

"I think there's a lot of scepticism out there because of the way things have been handled in the past. We need to give them the opportunity to show their true colours," he said.

"We've only had two meetings, and we really want that engagement, and we don't want to risk losing it, if we're just too negative on them.

"Whether there's enough meaningful discussion - I think that's something the jury's still out on."

In response to questions about accountability to the public and industry, Mr Sidgwick said the breakfast forums would remain closed to the public.

"To maintain the openness and candour of the breakfast forums between council staff and industry members, they are closed to media," he said.

"However, journalists are free to contact all who attend these forums and seek comment from them directly.

"A further forum is to be scheduled in December and council will consult all previous attendees for potential topics for discussion and adopt a more 'round table format' to the forum."

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