People forced to sell their properties to the NSW government to make way for transport infrastructure projects faced bad faith negotiations and repeated lowball compensation offers, a parliamentary inquiry has found.
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The upper house transport committee report on land acquisitions for major infrastructure projects found the "current culture of acquiring authorities", specifically in relation to Sydney Metro, made the process more difficult for residents and small businesses.
Greens MP and committee chair Abigail Boyd says the acquisition process led to divorce, depression and addiction for some.
"Compulsory acquisition may just be a business transaction for this government but for the people impacted by this it's something really emotional and significant," she said on Wednesday.
Labor's roads spokesman John Graham says there were concerns in the past about acquisitions by the since absorbed Roads and Maritime Services but the culture surrounding Sydney Metro acquisitions was worse.
The committee found Sydney Metro had not negotiated in good faith with residents in the western Sydney suburb of Orchard Hills.
"There is a need here to change the culture and the impact it's having, particularly on residents whose homes are being acquired," Mr Graham said.
Partial upfront payments and independent valuations for properties that could be genuinely negotiated could improve the process for residents, he added.
Ms Boyd said people whose properties were acquired often did not get enough money to buy another in their area.
The compensation for giving up homes to make way for transport projects that benefit everyone else was lousy, she said.
Non-disclosure agreements preventing people talking about how much their property would be acquired for also caused division amongst neighbours and should be scrapped the committee recommended.
"There is no good reason for them," Ms Boyd said.
Subsequent reviews could also address the undervaluing of properties and provide retrospective compensation, she added.
The cost of potential retrospective compensation has not been estimated although Ms Boyd concedes it could be huge.
The committee also found the government lost tens of millions of dollars buying a property in the industrial western Sydney suburb of Camellia for the Parramatta light rail project.
Transport for NSW acquired the property for $53 million in 2016 and spent more than double that on remediating the site, the report noted.
The government's response to the report is due on November 10.
Australian Associated Press
