17.07.2024Submission to the National Urban Policy

View the Committee’s submission to the National Urban Policy.

The Committee has been given the opportunity to provide feedback the Australian Government’s Draft  National Urban Policy (NUP). The document comes at a crucial time for Melbourne as the city is experiencing rapid population growth with expectations that we’ll reach 9 million by mid-century. With the current low-density development model, the growth is contributing to congestion, insufficient housing stock and unequal access to public transport, jobs, amenities and services.

The Committee’s Benchmarking Melbourne 2024 report identifies that Melbourne is sprawling faster than its peer cities, making its urban footprint the fourth largest among that group. This highlights the need for a strategic approach to urban planning and development to ensure sustainable growth for Melbourne.

The Draft NUP addresses a broad range of important issues and themes that are crucial for fostering liveable, equitable, productive, sustainable and resilient towns and cities. The Committee proposes that the draft NUP could be enhanced by considering four crucial issues such as, role accountability, population policy, settlement strategy and implementation.

The Committee has put forward ten recommendations to ensure that Melbourne’s urban landscape is set up to succeed and benefit Melburnians. The Committee recommends the NUP:

• Clearly articulate the policy areas where the Australian Government will shape our urban environments, while also identifying the roles of State, Territory and local governments, the private sector and the community
• State that the Australian Government will create a long-term population policy
• State that the Australian Government will create a settlement strategy for Australia
• Ensure that each ‘action’ in the NUP is achievable and has the necessary detail to guide its implementation
• Emphasise the need for Australia’s capital cities to have integrated transport plans, which incorporate land use and economic development planning
• Help shape the creation of governance models in each capital city that can support the delivery of an integrated transport plan
• Ensure that prospective major infrastructure projects have appropriate business cases verified by Infrastructure Australia and/or Infrastructure Victoria and are aligned with long-term urban plans
• Include criteria in the NUP that evaluate the productivity outcomes of policy implementation and investments, which may support a more compact city development model
• Support the development of an economic vision for each Australian capital city
• Foster environments that support the development of innovation precincts

The new National Urban Policy should clearly outline what needs to be done at a federal, state, and local level.

Congratulations to the Australian Government for reactivating NUP and for allowing the Committee to give feedback to ensure the policy will benefit Melbourne and other cities.

For more information Brett Van Duppen at bvanduppen@melbourne.org.au.