Introduction > The basis for Melbourne 2030 > What are the underlying key issues?

What are the underlying key issues?

The Government’s vision for Victoria
The Government’s Growing Victoria Together policy, released in 2002, envisages that by 2010 we will be a State where:

• innovation leads to thriving industries that generate high-quality jobs
• protecting the environment for future generations is built into everything we do
• we have caring, safe communities in which opportunities are shared across the board
• all Victorians have lifelong access to health and education services of the highest quality.

This policy links the issues important to Victorians, the priority actions that the Government needs to take next and the measures the Government will use to show progress. It is a basis for involving all Victorians in the ongoing challenge – working together to build and deliver a fair, sustainable and prosperous future.

A new Strategy is an important way of achieving this broad vision.

Growing and linking all of Victoria
In Growing Victoria Together, the Government made a specific commitment to ‘growing and linking all of Victoria’. Fast, reliable and efficient transport and communications infrastructure is essential to link and connect our people, our communities and our businesses. At the same time, we need to rebuild Victoria’s social infrastructure, link our regional centres to Melbourne and revitalise our suburbs.

Much has already been done to fulfil this commitment, for example:

• expanded job opportunities across the State – more than 33.3 per cent of all job growth in the past two years has been in rural and regional Victoria
• establishment of the Regional Infrastructure Development Fund
• allocation of funding for improved rail services – fast train services between Melbourne and Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and the Latrobe Valley; the reopening of country rail passenger lines between Melbourne and Mildura, Leongatha, Bairnsdale and Ararat (planned for 2003–04); the standardisation of Victoria’s regional rail system so that it can be connected to the national network; upgrading of the rail track to Warrnambool
• committed funding for major roads in Melbourne and regional areas – the Scoresby Integrated Transport Corridor and the Albury/Wodonga Bypass on the Hume Highway
• upgrades to major highways – such as the Princes Freeway West (Geelong Road), Calder Highway and Goulburn Valley Highway – and to infrastructure, with the replacement of Murray River bridges including Wahgunyah, Cobram, Echuca and Robinvale
• the start of strategic work in regions and with local councils and communities – regional action plans for Ballarat and Bendigo, and the Great Ocean Road Region Strategy
• completion of strategic work in regions – the Framework for the future report for the Latrobe Valley (with $105 million committed for implementation) and the North West Freight Transport Strategy
• committed funding for social infrastructure – the Camp Street Project in Ballarat.

Melbourne 2030 makes an important contribution to this theme. It emphasises the importance of connections between metropolitan Melbourne and the regional cities of Greater Geelong, Ballarat, Greater Bendigo and Latrobe, and the small towns and settlements in this region of Victoria. In these terms, it looks at maintaining and upgrading transport and telecommunications links, and dealing with planning issues.

Improvements in these linkages will benefit accessibility and communications around the State. Managing the land-use and development issues that occur because of the improved linkages will also benefit the State by making the most efficient use of public and private resources and reducing the long-term call on government resources.

Figure 2. Growing and linking all of Victoria - click for more detail

Planning for population growth
A major driver of change is the anticipated increase in population and households over the next 30 years. Current trends indicate that for metropolitan Melbourne this could be up to one million additional people, or 620,000 new households. Should the decline in our birthrate reverse or levels of international migration increase, the rate of population growth would accelerate so that more people would need to be accommodated in a shorter time frame. There would be consequent increased pressure on land for industry and commerce and on the transport system.

Figure 3. Population growth projections for the Melbourne Statistical Division, 2001–31
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Figure 4. Projected growth of population and households for the Melbourne Statistical Division 2001–31
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Figure 5. Population by age group, Melbourne Statistical Division (trend projection)
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Figure 6. Projected share, by household type, of the 620,000 additional households Victoria 2001–31
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The Government believes it is in Victoria’s best interest to promote steady population growth on an environmentally sustainable basis. In 2002, it sponsored the national Population Summit to broaden public debate on the national policy settings required to address the range of population issues which confront Victoria – most notably:

• the need to tackle the causes of our declining birthrate
• the importance of planning for an ageing population
• the desirability of attracting more skilled migrants
• the uneven distribution of population growth
• the need to reverse the loss of people from many rural areas.

Melbourne 2030 is not a vehicle for promoting population growth. Future development will only proceed at the pace that the economy will support and that population growth demands. However, it is important to plan ahead so that we can cope with an increase in population should the Commonwealth Government change current population policy settings.

In addition, we must understand not only the implications of projected growth, but the nature of population dynamics. For example, while the average number of people in each household is getting smaller, new houses are becoming larger (expanding from an average floor size of 169.2 m2 in 1984 to 226.7 m2 in 2001), with consequent resource implications. To achieve sustainability, programs must be in place to minimise the ‘ecological footprint’ of the city, and to ensure that the inevitable growth in infrastructure matches demand yet does not damage the liveability for which metropolitan Melbourne is widely renowned.

Public infrastructure investment
Growth and change require considerable investment in infrastructure and services of all types. In 2001–02, the Government’s investment in transport infrastructure and services alone was some $3 billion, while more than $12 billion went into essential health, education and community services.

The range of infrastructure needed to ensure a fair, sustainable and prosperous future has expanded beyond the accepted basics of a good resource base, efficient freight and logistics networks, and secure energy and water supplies. It encompasses work undertaken for social/cultural, environmental and economic purposes and for sustainable development. We need highly skilled people, a culture of innovation, an attractive and safe urban environment, and a wide choice of lifestyle, recreation and investment opportunities, as these are critical to Victoria’s global competitiveness and the attractiveness of metropolitan Melbourne and the surrounding region.

Melbourne 2030 provides a strategic framework to coordinate the location and management of new infrastructure and services, minimising cost and environmental impact and maximising economic and social benefit.