No affordable homes were built under the Victorian voluntary scheme
Not a single affordable home was built under the Central City Public Benefit Uplift scheme, which applied to the Melbourne CBD and Southbank, since it was introduced a decade ago, according to the Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, a new policy paper.
The association is now pushing for mandatory affordable housing contributions to be required in the Suburban Rail Loop precincts developments after recognising there is a similar “voluntary uplift” framework in its plans.
The scheme allows developers to voluntarily choose to provide affordable housing or other public benefits, such as office space, in return for building at higher densities.
Chief executive Sarah Toohey said the Loop would add tens of thousands of new homes around station precincts, but there was no guarantee there would be a single affordable home.
The organisation argues that, in comparison, mandatory affordable housing schemes in the City of Sydney are expected to deliver 3484 affordable homes by 2036.
Table: Comparison of Sydney and Melbourne affordable housing contributions
| Affordable housing contribution scheme | Mandatory/voluntary | Affordable housing delivery outcomes and projections |
| City of Sydney | Mandatory | 1534 homes since 1996, with a further 1950 projected by 2036 |
| Central city planning provisions public benefit uplift (Melbourne CBD and Southbank) | Voluntary | 0 homes since 2016, out of almost 31,000 new homes approved in that time. |
Market Forces research leads ditching of HESTA investments
Research revealed by Market Forces has led Amnesty International Australia and the Centre for Non-Violence to end their relationship with healthcare and community sector super fund HESTA over its investments in the fossil fuel industry. Amnesty removed the super fund from its enterprise agreement as the default super provider, citing concerns about its investment, giving its first notice back in June 2022.
A third social change organisation, Jesuit Social Services, is still in dialogue with the super fund, telling it to increase pressure on oil and gas companies Woodside and Santos, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund, to end their oil and gas expansion plans.
The three organisations said they had talked to the super fund in recent years, requesting greater climate ambition as its support for oil and gas is “directly undermining the vulnerable community members they serve.”
Environmental advocacy project Market Forces said in 2024 Climate Wreckers analysis that the super fund’s disclosure showed that its largest investment option – balanced growth, has more than $2.5 billion invested in a global list of companies expanding in the fossil fuel industry.
It’s superannuation funds campaign lead Brett Morgan said the organisations were “fed up” with the fund’s “weak engagement” with the two fossil fuel giants and had “failed to deliver results.”
Woollahra station upgrades announced, but what’s the cost?
Not everyone is thrilled with the announcement that half built Woollahra station project will be finally completed. Along with that will go rezoning to allow up to 10,000 new homes. The NSW government says infrastructure such as water, schools, green space and transport to support the homes already exists, and the Eastern Suburbs lines are currently running 43 per cent of their capacity during peak periods.
But some observers are not fully on board. Advocacy organisation Future Sydney pointed out on social media that renderings were missing the multiple apartments around the station, which would block the view. It is also calling for inclusionary zoning that would mandate 25 per cent affordable housing rather than “luxury-esque” apartments.
Architect Sophie Solomon also shared a similar image, saying 1000 new homes in Burwood Central was already very dense, Woollahra would be 10 times more than that.
Jobs
The Environmental Defenders Office has appointed Joanna Shulman as its new chief executive.
Shulman is an experienced lawyer and administrator with a career focus on equity and justice. Prior to her new gig, she was the inaugural chief executive officer at the Moriarty Foundation, an organisation dedicated to improving life outcomes for indigenous children.
Shulman had also been a non-executive director at Ability Options, a disability employment not-for-profit, a social impact advisor at Telstra, as well as a Human Rights and Discrimination Law lecturer at UNSW. During this time, she was also the chief executive of the Redfern Legal Centre for almost 12 years.
What we are reading
It seems like some local councils are taking a page out of Trump’s book by removing key words such as “climate emergency” from key documents and scrapping programs.
The Age found that councils such as inner-city Yarra, Merri-bek, Darebin and Bayside councils, as well as coastal and country councils, have erupted in dispute over the language of climate change and how public money should be spent addressing it – thanks to a new wave of conservative councillors pushing for a “back to basics” agenda.
Dr Mark Chou, a local government expert from the Australian National University, said this agenda was not a return to a neutral position but an ideological “return to councils being primarily there to serve property and property owners”.
He noted the timing of local council elections in Victoria played out at the same time as the recent US elections and believed some of the rhetoric was “obviously imported from overseas.”
And come to our local government summit to ask our expert speakers what they think.