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The Lake Macquarie Housing Forum is set to bring together affordable housing providers, not-for-profit community organisations, development industry experts and government to determine the most effective course of action for Lake Macquarie City Council to improve housing affordability and supply in Lake Macquarie.
The one-day forum will be held on Thursday 3 April 2025 and attendees will gain valuable insights, explore innovative strategies, join meaningful discussions and discuss practical solutions to this whole-of-community challenge – moving the needle on housing affordability and supply in Lake Macquarie.
By taking a collaborative approach and acknowledging there is no single solution to the complex problem of housing affordability and supply – we will have the best chance of identifying meaningful actions to help our community live, work and call Lake Macquarie home for generations.
Date: Thursday 3 April 2025 Venue: Belmont 16s, The Parade, Belmont NSW 2280
8.30am
Arrival and registration
9.00am
MC welcome, Michael Comninos, Director Astrolabe Group
9.10am
Acknowledgement of Country, Bindi Flook, Aboriginal Community Development Officer, Lake Macquarie City Council
9.20am
Lake Macquarie Mayor, Adam Shultz
9.35am
Hon. Paul Scully, Member for Wollongong and Minister for Planning and Public Spaces
Hon. Yasmin Catley, Member for Swansea, Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism and Minister for the Hunter
10.20am
Q&A - Hon. Paul Scully MP and Hon. Yasmin Catley MP
Break - morning tea
Workshop session 1 - Planning system
Amanda Wetzel, Director, Way Planning and Advisory
Keynote speaker and Q&A - Domenic Lo Surdo, President, Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers Association of Australia and Group Executive Chairman, Stamford Capital Australia
Topic: Why development doesn't make economic sense right now and the reasons behind it?
Workshop session 2 - Finance and economics
Domenic Lo Surdo, President, Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers Association of Australia and Group Executive Chairman, Stamford Capital Australia
Keynote speaker and Q&A - Simon Kuestenmacher - Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group
Outlook: A big picture look at housing in your region
Workshop session 3 - Social and affordable housing
Rebecca Pinkstone, CEO, Homes NSW
Break - afternoon tea
Summary
Michael Comninos, Director Astrolabe Group
Amanda Wetzel,Director, Way Planning and Advisory
Closing remarks and next steps
4.20pm
Networking and refreshments
6.00pm
Close
Paul Scully previously served as Shadow Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Shadow Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism and Shadow Minister for Natural Resources.
Paul was first elected to Parliament as the Member for Wollongong at a by-election in November 2016.
His background in politics, economics and innovation allows him to understand the many challenges of planning and urban development in NSW.
His focus is on working with all levels of government, the community and industry to solve housing, jobs and infrastructure challenges in NSW.
Yasmin Catley has been a dedicated representative for the people of Swansea in the New South Wales Parliament since 2015, serving as a member of the Australian Labor Party.
In April 2023, Minister Catley was sworn into NSW Parliament as the Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism. She is also Minister for the Hunter and a staunch advocate for the region.
Throughout her political career, Minister Catley has taken on various Shadow Ministry roles, including Deputy Labor Leader.
Her commitment to the core Labor values of justice, fairness, and equality has driven her lifelong advocacy for social justice, enhanced public services, and improved workers' rights.
Simon presents on demographic and global trends that are shaping Australia today and into the future and his presentations and quirky observations are enjoyed by corporate, government and industry audiences alike.
Simon is a columnist at The New Daily newspaper and a regular contributor to The Australian newspaper; and he is also a media commentator on demographic and data matters.
Simon has amassed 600,000 global followers on social media, reaches over 35 million people every month and ranks as one of the world’s Top 10 influencers in data visualisation. If you can’t get enough of data that explains how the world works, make sure to follow him on Twitter or any of his other social channels.
Co-Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Stamford Capital, Domenic brings over 30 years’ experience in property investment and development, with deep knowledge of property finance, from debt through to equity.
Commencing his career in institutional banking with the ANZ Banking Group, Domenic moved to Gresham Partners to work in Property Funds Management, and developed deep funds management expertise in a range of positions.
At Stamford Capital, Domenic provides guidance and input across all aspects of the business and manages key client and lender relationships.
Rebecca Pinkstone has two decades of experience in the housing sector working in government and community housing. She is the inaugural Chief Executive of Homes NSW, a new division within the Department of Communities and Justice.
Homes NSW is responsible for system stewardship across the affordable, social and homelessness sectors to ensure we deliver more homes and better services for our community. Homes NSW also manages 96,000 public housing properties across NSW, providing a safe and secure home for 260,000 people.
Amanda Wetzel Director, Way Planning and Advisory
Amanda Wetzel is a qualified urban and regional planner with over 15 years' experience. She has held senior leadership roles across government, university, and consulting sectors in the United Kingdom, Middle East, and Australia, specialising in the areas of strategic land use planning and planning policy development.
Amanda has lived and worked in (and on) the Hunter Region for the last 10 years. She established Way Planning and Advisory in 2024 with the aim of bringing her globally-informed view to shape planning policy and practice locally.
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