Spinifex is an opinion column. If you would like to contribute, contact us to ask for a detailed brief.
With a state election approaching and a recent change in government leadership, much is in flux in Victoria. One thing is certain though, planning decisions made during this next term of government will leave a long term legacy for the state – positive or negative.
The places we plan, the infrastructure we fund, and the housing targets we set now, won’t be judged by the planners or ministers who signed off on them. They’ll be judged by whether people can afford to live near their family, whether they can easily get to work by public transport, and whether their house is flooded during heavy rains.
Good planning isn’t just about what we build and where, but how it affects the kind of lives people will lead in the future.
Victoria’s population is set to grow significantly over the coming decades. We’ll need to reshape established suburbs, grow regional cities, deliver major transport infrastructure and adapt to a climate that is already changing around us. Rather than viewing these as separate challenges competing for government attention, we can ask just one question: how do we grow well?
In recent years planning has been a big focus of public policy, and the appetite for reform in Victoria has been real. The Planning Institute of Australia has long supported reforms to the Victorian planning system that make it more effective and better equipped to support the delivery of housing and great communities, while also making it simpler.
A better planning system means people have more housing choice as well as good access to jobs and local schools, shops and services. It means Victorians have alternative ways to get to the places they need to go, without having to rely on a car. A good planning system makes room for growth while maintaining – and enhancing the things that make our neighbourhoods distinct, liveable, and well-designed.
That’s why the next phase of planning reform can’t just be about rezoning land and making faster decisions. It has to be about enabling more homes in the right locations, backed by the infrastructure, amenity and services people need.
Victoria currently has plenty of opportunity for new housing in the planning system. The harder task now is turning that opportunity into delivery. Thousands of approved homes remain unbuilt, held up by fragmented land ownership, missing infrastructure, financing constraints and declining feasibility. These are delivery problems, not planning problems, and solving them means governments looking beyond approvals to the whole housing system.
Essential infrastructure sits at the centre of that task. Communities accept growth more readily when they can see the transport, schools, parks and community facilities that will support it. Industry needs the same certainty about where and when infrastructure will be provided to support investment confidence. That’s why long term infrastructure planning needs to be at the centre of plans for housing. PIA is calling for the next Victorian government to deliver a ten-year coordinated infrastructure delivery plan that gives communities, councils, state agencies and investors’ confidence about when infrastructure will be delivered on the ground. This applies to both greenfield growth areas and urban renewal in established suburbs.
Density done well in our established suburbs can also stall because no single organisation has the mandate to bring fragmented land, infrastructure and public interests together. We are also calling for a greater role for Development Victoria in unlocking and de-risking well-located land for housing in partnership with the private sector, demonstrating that higher density can strengthen a neighbourhood, rather than undermine it. Development Victoria is the government’s delivery agency: it should be supported and encouraged to fulfil its intended role.
This conversation can’t stop at Melbourne’s edge. Regional Victoria has real potential to support more housing choice, jobs and economic growth, but realising it depends on long-term planning that connects infrastructure, environment, agriculture and settlement. Strong regional planning is about giving regional communities the confidence to shape change on their own terms, which is why we want to see regional strategies developed to support regional housing, jobs and economies, founded on care and planning for Country with traditional custodians.
Perhaps the biggest shift in planning over the past decade is the recognition that housing, social equity and climate resilience are no longer separate conversations. Where we build homes determines who can reach a job, a school or a hospital. It shapes whether households spend hours commuting or can walk to public transport. It determines whether families face rising insurance premiums and greater exposure to flood, fire and extreme heat.
Recent reporting on the toll repeated disasters is taking on households, from mounting insurance and rebuilding costs to the disruption of everyday life, is a reminder of what’s at stake.
Good planning is one of the most effective forms of climate action available to governments. Homes that are planned in the right places, away from intolerable risks of fires, floods and other climate events, are safe and most resilient. Equally, we need homes designed to perform in a changing climate, which are cheaper to heat and cool, to lower ongoing costs for households and governments alike. A well located home is one with access to good public transport, safe walking and cycling links, is in a neighbourhood with tree canopy, and is outside of intolerable hazard areas based on risk assessments. That’s why Victoria needs a pathway to net zero homes and a statewide climate adaptation plan to guide growth and protect communities as the climate changes.
But none of this is possible without skilled and qualified planners. The planning system requires professional planners to weigh up trade offs, including how to deliver more housing without increasing the exposure to risks of life and property damage, enabling emerging technologies like data centres without adverse impacts, and to do it transparently under increasing scrutiny and complexity. If we want better outcomes in the public interest, then investment in the profession tasked with delivering them is required: building capability, adopting digital planning systems that show what’s being approved and built, and keeping design quality at the centre of the conversation as our neighbourhood’s change.
This election is a chance to elevate the conversation about growth, and to focus on the kind of Victoria we want to leave behind. The next government will make decisions that shape where homes are built, how communities are connected, and how well people are protected from a changing climate. Those choices will outlast any election cycle. If Victoria gets them right, we can accommodate growth while creating more affordable, connected, resilient and prosperous places to live. The real measure of any reform will be the neighbourhoods and communities the next generation inherits.
Read PIA’s full Vic election platform here.
