The 2024-25 Federal Budget has delivered an important victory for Regional Cities Victoria, with funding to help ease the housing shortage in regional Victoria, chair of the group and City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali said.
“(Regional Cities Victoria) welcomes the Federal Government’s $1 billion investment in a program that can help unlock more housing in regional Victoria,” Cr Sali said.
Regional Cities Victoria said the government is making an extra $1 billion available to states and territories to deliver new housing, including connecting essential services such as water, power, sewerage and roads. This investment expands on the $500 million already committed through the Housing Support Program to support enabling infrastructure to unlock more homes.
“In the lead-up to both the state and federal budgets, (Regional Cities Victoria) advocated for greater investment in enabling infrastructure to unlock new housing stock in regional cities,” Cr Sali said.
“The expanded Housing Support Program will help local government make it quicker, easier and more affordable for people to build new homes in Victoria’s regions.
“(Regional Cities Victoria) is committed to strengthening our regional economies, encouraging sustainable growth, and maximising regional liveability. We want to help build a prosperous regional Victoria through investment in infrastructure and services that help grow our cities’ economies and communities.
“Challenges such as a lack of housing supply and workforce shortages need to be addressed in the short term to unlock regional Victoria’s growth potential.”
However, Cr Sali said Regional Cities Victoria remained concerned about the need for more investment in community infrastructure to meet the growing number of people who want to live and work in regional Victoria.
“It’s been two years since the Albanese Government was elected. We’ve had reviews, and we’ve lost some big projects. These announcements of buckets of money were welcome, but it’s time to tip that money into regional Victoria,” Cr Sali said.
“Local infrastructure projects are a vital part of any regional community. They not only improve the liveability of regional cities and towns but also contribute to the local economy and create local jobs.”
While the Rural Councils Victoria has welcomed the federal budget, especially measures to ease the cost of living in rural communities, the group’s chair and councillor at Southern Grampians Shire Council Mary-Ann Brown said too much was focused on the cities.
“RCV welcomes measures to ease cost-of-living pressures for our communities, but the government needs to ensure that many of the initiatives announced flow out to rural areas,” she said.
“It is good to see the Federal Government investing in road infrastructure. However, it is disappointing to see that in Victoria that investment is metropolitan focused.
“Rural and regional roads are in a shocking state and in urgent need of upgrades and in many cases emergency repairs.
“RCV welcomes the continuation of the Roads to Recovery Program, which is set to increase to $1 billion and the increase to $200 million per year for Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program. Local governments, especially small rural councils, need as much money as possible to maintain and repair local roads.”