For 50 years we’ve let Woollahra off the hook. It’s time the suburb learnt to share

October 7, 2026 — 7:30pm

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The NSW government’s plan to open Woollahra train station and surround it with almost 10,000 new homes has struck fear into many well-heeled hearts in Sydney’s east. If Chris Minns has his way, my fellow eastern suburbs residents and I will have to share this most beautiful part of this most beautiful city with 20,000 new neighbours.

If this happens, it will be a very good thing. In a city that has nearly doubled in size over the last 50 years, Woollahra’s population has shrunk. By any metric – equity, efficiency or just plain common sense – it is absurd that we have allowed the most attractive parts of Sydney to opt out of growth. With a new train station placing thousands of people just minutes from the city, there is almost no place in the country richer in the things people need to thrive.

But because it is such a great place to live, those who enjoy it already are desperately trying to find ways not to have to share it.

Woollahra Council has plastered its playgrounds with corflutes complaining that there will be no new school built as part of the plan – but Woollahra’s schools are emptying rapidly. Because few families can afford to live here, enrolments at the six primary schools nearest the station have fallen by 25 per........

© The Sydney Morning Herald