1 week Ago By Annika Smethurst
Jacinta Allan’s first year as Premier was characterised by backflips –the wash-up from the cancelled Commonwealth Games, a second safe injecting room, health mergers and raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14. Despite signalling a desire to build on former premier Daniel Andrews’ “strong reform agenda”, so far, Allan has been in a race against the electoral clock to come up with any era-defining policies. Camberwell is one area that’s been earmarked as an activity centre to add thousands more homes.
Credit: Wayne Taylor Until now. Labor has begun unveiling a bold housing vision for Victoria, beginning with the announcement of more than 50 activity centres where the government plans to boost housing density close to transport connections. Meaningful policy reform requires three ingredients: a problem, a solution, and – most importantly – the political will to do it.
In this case, the problem is clear. Melbourne is a growing city, but remains one of the least densely settled in the world. Its outer fringes are groaning under the weight of suburban sprawl, driving up infrastructure costs for taxpayers and pushing families – and young children – to congregate on the city’s fringes.
Premier Jacinta Allan at Sunday’s housing announcement. Credit: Kieran Rooney More broadly, this has led to a housing shortage in established suburbs, which is driving up prices and leading to a collapse in the fertility rate. The Allan government’s solution is to encourage multi-storey developments – up to 20 storeys high – to boost population density in 50 activity centres including Oakleigh, Hampton, Armadale, West Footscray and Mitcham.
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