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Laying the Foundations: Victoria’s 30 year infrastructure Strategy VCOSS submission to Infrastructure Victoria March 2016

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About VCOSS

The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) is

the peak body of the social and community sector in

Victoria. VCOSS members reflect the diversity of the

sector and include large charities, peak

organisations, small community services, advocacy

groups, and individuals interested in social policy. In

addition to supporting the sector, VCOSS represents

the interests of vulnerable and disadvantaged

Victorians in policy debates and advocates for the

development of a sustainable, fair and equitable

society.

Authorised by:

Emma King, Chief Executive Officer

© Copyright 2016

Victorian Council of Social Service

Victorian Council of Social Service

Level 8, 128 Exhibition Street

Melbourne, Victoria, 3000

+61 3 9235 1000

For enquiries:

Llewellyn Reynders

Policy and Programs Manager

llewellyn.reynders@vcoss.org.au

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Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Respond to population growth and change ..................................................................................... 3

Reduce Disadvantage ..................................................................................................................... 5

Enable workforce participation ........................................................................................................ 7

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Introduction

VCOSS welcomes this opportunity to respond to contribute to the development of a thirty year

infrastructure strategy for Victoria. This is a brief overview of some of VCOSS’ interest in this topic.

We are happy to provide more detailed feedback in the future.

Infrastructure can improve people’s quality of life and expand the opportunities available for people

experiencing disadvantage. Well-designed facilities can maximise the effectiveness of community

services, good urban design can enhance community cohesion and support healthy, safe

communities, and strong transport links can provide more opportunities to access employment and

services.

An infrastructure strategy should:

Have clearly articulated objectives including social objectives

Address the increasing spatial socio-economic divide and concentration of disadvantage

Address housing affordability

Consider the necessary social and community infrastructure required in all communities

Consider future mobility patterns and match planning with public transport needs.

VCOSS notes that the Laying the Foundations paper includes many of these aspects and we

welcome the broad ranging objectives and needs identified in the paper.

This submission recommends some additional needs that could be addressed in the strategy. It

focusses on the objectives that will most assist vulnerable and disadvantaged Victorians:

responding to population growth and change

reducing disadvantage and

enabling workforce participation

This submission outlines broad recommendations for a thirty-year infrastructure strategy. We look

forward to working with Infrastructure Victoria and the Victorian Government to achieve better

infrastructure for all Victorians.

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Respond to population growth and

change

Recommendations

Address infrastructure deficits in areas of social and economic disadvantage

Identify the need for community service and post school education and training

infrastructure.

VCOSS welcomes the focus on population growth and change in the development of the

infrastructure strategy.

People living in some parts of Victoria experience greater disadvantage than others as the 2015

Dropping off the Edge report highlighted.1 Disadvantaged communities are characterised by poorer

outcomes in children’s development, lower educational attainment, higher unemployment, and

more criminal convictions. This disadvantage arises from a range of factors including uneven

distribution of employment opportunities, spiraling housing costs in areas with access to

employment and services, transport inequality and government policies that deliver services,

programs and economic benefits unevenly across Victoria.

The infrastructure deficits in areas of disadvantage exacerbate that disadvantage. Addressing

these deficits would go some way to reducing the disadvantage experienced by many

communities. Laying the Foundation highlights infrastructure deficits in high growth areas. The

extended lag between infrastructure development and population growth is one cause of an

increasing spatial divide occurring in Melbourne. Priced out of job- and service-rich inner suburbs

by spiraling housing costs, lower-income are more likely to settle in the outer suburbs. The lack of

infrastructure for employment, services, as well as social and sporting activities in these areas

exacerbates the disadvantage experiences by these more vulnerable communities. Timely

infrastructure development would assist in reducing disadvantage in high growth areas by creating

employment opportunities and supporting the development of services in these new locations. It

should also improve mobility for people to access services and opportunities elsewhere.

“Interface Councils represent only 10 of Melbourne’s 31 municipalities and yet are expected

to accommodate over 60% of Melbourne’s population growth to 2026… The extent of the

current infrastructure lag in the outer suburbs has been estimated at $9.8 billion. Over the

1 Vinson, T., Rawsthorne, M., Beavis, A. & Ericson, M., Dropping of the Edge 2015: Persistent communal disadvantage in Australia, Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia, 2015.

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next 30 years it is estimated that $36 billion will be required to provide all the infrastructure

needed in greenfield sites”.2

The same logic applies to other disadvantaged areas outside the high growth corridors of the

urban fringe. Some towns and cities in regional Victoria are experiencing significant population

change and growth and their infrastructure needs should be considered in the 30 year

infrastructure strategy. Others, particularly smaller towns and rural areas, are suffering from

population decline. Their infrastructure needs are no less deserving, and often the infrastructure

needs of communities change, and different types of service infrastructure is required, such as

greater demands on social infrastructure related to health and ageing. These areas still need

access to schools, hospitals and other services via good transport links.

VCOSS notes that Laying the Foundation highlights the needs for health and school infrastructure

in response to population growth and change. These are important but are not the only services

infrastructure needed in communities. Community services support people when they need help to

overcome challenges and help prevent isolation, disadvantage and poverty. Community services

help create the foundation of a strong, cohesive and inclusive community, where everyone is

supported to overcome barriers and fulfil their potential. By having a community infrastructure

pipeline for new and growing communities, these communities can be supported to thrive, and

avoid risks of becoming locations of entrenched disadvantage. Often purpose-built infrastructure

can maximise value to a community, by co-locating embedded services that wrap around

individuals and provide an integrated service response.

Case study: Neighbourhood Justice Centre

The Neighbourhood Justice Centre was established in 2007 and is Australia’s only

community justice centre. It is located in Collingwood, Melbourne, and serves the City of

Yarra. The Centre is committed to resolving disputes by addressing the underlying causes

of harmful behaviour and tackling social disadvantage. The Neighbourhood Justice Centre

was purpose-built and gas brought together a multi-jurisdictional court with a wide array of

support services and community initiatives, Such pieces of community infrastructure provide

ongoing employment and have wider benefits of reducing crime, increasing community

safety and reducing cases in the criminal justice system.

Laying the Foundation identified school infrastructure as an unmet need. Increasingly, employment

is concentrated in skilled occupations, so access to vocational education and training is becoming

more important to gaining employment. The infrastructure needs of post school education and

training should not be ignored in a thirty-year strategy.

2 Interface Councils, Creating Liveable Communities in the Interface

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Reduce Disadvantage

Recommendations

Include the creation of both social and affordable housing as means of improving

housing affordability

Improve the quality of housing stock, including reducing its life-cycle costs

Improve the accessibility of the built environment to accommodate the needs of an

ageing population and people with disability

VCOSS welcomes the focus on reducing disadvantage in the Laying the Foundations paper. Too

often infrastructure development has focused on narrow economic benefits and ignored the

potential to develop a fairer Victoria.

VCOSS is concerned at the spatial divide, particularly in Melbourne, where people experiencing

disadvantage are pushed increasingly to the edges of the city in search of affordable housing, in

contrast to previous decades where poverty was associated with the inner city. The changing

economic structure of the city, with well-paid, secure employment increasingly concentrated in the

centre of the city, has led to transformation of inner suburbs which has resulted in them becoming

unaffordable for many and push out often vulnerable communities to less accessible locations.

Victoria, and Melbourne in particular, has seen drastic rises in housing costs over the last two

decades: a substantial obstacle to accommodation security for those with few resources. Not only

have housing costs increased for both purchasers and renters, but the available housing at the

more affordable end of the market has been increasingly located in inaccessible locations.

In the private rental market, a shortage of low-cost rental properties means there is little incentive

for landlords to attend to maintenance of housing stock. Concern has become more pronounced

regarding exploitative practices in the private rental market, including the practice of short-term

letting in overcrowded properties. At the same time, there is little expansion in the availability of

social housing properties, meaning there is no ‘safety valve’ for low-income renters to ensure they

can secure affordable accommodation.

The development of the infrastructure strategy needs to enhance housing affordability in more

accessible locations and by creating opportunities, support the development of services assisting

people experiencing disadvantage, and improving mobility.

VCOSS notes that Laying the Foundations focuses on housing affordability as a significant driver

of disadvantage and identifies social housing as a means to improve housing affordability. This is

welcome but does not go far enough.

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The infrastructure strategy should encourage growth in both social and affordable housing. This

could include:

Inclusionary zoning: Mandating a proportion of social and affordable housing in multi-unit

development. Inclusionary zoning is used wisely in international jurisdictions with success3

Density bonuses: By allowing additional units to be incorporated in a development

including social and affordable housing, any additional costs associated with its production

can be offset

Reducing unnecessary planning restrictions: by reducing planning restrictions

associated with construction of social and affordable housing, such as reduced parking

requirements, or allowing more rapid development approvals, cost reductions can be

achieved.

These elements could form part of a whole-of-government affordable housing strategy.

It is not only the availability of housing that affects people experiencing disadvantage, it is also its

standard. The design and features of dwellings affect their running costs and adaptability for

changes in people’s capability over their lifetime.

VCOSS encourages the use of the planning system and building code to incorporate life cycle

energy use, understanding that savings in building materials to construct low-cost housing may

ultimately be borne by the resident through higher energy costs. By incorporating more stringent

energy efficiency requirements into new buildings, as well as reducing urban forms that trap heat,

low income Victorians can potentially reduce risks associated with extreme weather and climate

change, as well as reduce the running costs of their home.

Population ageing also has consequences for the built environment. Older people may require

different housing options, especially for older people retiring without owning their own home. In

addition, older people who do own their own home may wish to have both the option to stay in their

family home, or to change their living arrangements but remain in their community. Housing that is

easily modified to accommodate changing capabilities, such as the ability to install ramps, rails and

to be able to move through the home without stairs helps people remain in their homes for longer

while maintaining their independence. The prevalence of easily adaptable housing could be

improved by making it mandatory for residential housing in the Building Code.

These features are also important for people with disability, who may have more capacity to

sustain independent housing with increased support from the National Disability Insurance

Scheme (NDIS). Population ageing also has implication for urban mobility patterns, as people no

longer working have very different patterns of movement through the city, and requires improved

infrastructure, such as accessible public transport, to accommodate it.

3 N Gurran, V Milligan, D Baker, LB Bugg & S Christensen, New directions in planning for affordable housing: Australian and international evidence and implications, AHURI, June 2008

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Enable workforce participation

Recommendations

Including employment access and job creation in assessing infrastructure, especially for

disadvantaged job-seekers

Collaborate with regional and local area partnerships in determining infrastructure

priorities

Invest in job-creating social projects and infrastructure

Higher workforce participation is an important contributor to ameliorating disadvantage. VCOSS

welcomes the focus on workforce participation in Laying the Foundation.

The focus on transport to central Melbourne and non-central city employment centres is an

important aspect to enhancing workforce participation. However, the thirty-year infrastructure

strategy should contain additional actions to improve workforce participation.

In 2014, VCOSS released Tackling Unemployment, which laid out four interlinked strategies to

help Victorians get back to work:

Build vulnerable people’s skills and capabilities: If people are supported to participate fully in all

levels of education, become job-ready and connect with suitable employers, they will have a

much better chance of finding and maintaining secure work.

Create the jobs vulnerable people need, where they need them: economic development

strategies should prioritise employment-intensive growth. This should yield jobs that can be

filled by vulnerable Victorians that are secure and sustainable, and are in locations where jobs

are scarce but accessible.

Develop inclusive and flexible workplaces: The Government should encourage employers to

hire a more diverse workforce and adopt inclusive workplace practices and targets.

Improve labour mobility and availability: This would include improvements to transport

infrastructure, affordable housing and childcare.

Governments have considerable leverage through their spending (including on infrastructure),

regulatory decisions and service provisions to influence economic development. But too often,

economic policy decisions are focused solely on the overall level of economic growth, without

considering the quality of that growth, particularly, whether it will generate jobs, and which

segments of the community are likely to benefit from that growth.

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A thirty-year infrastructure strategy, which focusses on enabling workforce participation, needs to

consider whether jobs created through the strategy are accessible to people who are unemployed.

One way to create accessible jobs is to pursue local development strategies that harness talents

and natural features within communities to generate a viable commercial base, and work

collaboratively with the community so that people working and living there reap the benefits. While

Victoria has numerous ‘regional development’ groupings, these are most often advisory

committees. Tackling Unemployment suggested enhancing these groupings by helping establish

or boost local collaborative alliances, so that local communities can work together to create job

opportunities. Complementary strategies, such as ensuring local training opportunities are linked

with local employment needs, ‘buy local’ campaigns, and consulting with local communities on the

most productive infrastructure investments, can further increase the benefits. These groupings

could also be used to advise on local infrastructure needs that linked to their local economic

development strategies.

Case study: Loddon Mallee Region Investment Prospectus

Loddon Mallee Regional Development Australia Committee has a five year strategic plan. In

its 2016 investment prospectus it identified four priority streams: growing business, building

economic infrastructure, developing social infrastructure and investing in tourism. The

prospectus identifies investment ready projects that have been endorsed by the 10 local

councils in the region, and a range of other community stakeholders.

Case study: Access Denied

Access Denied was a joint advocacy campaign between Whittlesea Council and the

community in the lead up to the 2014 State Government and called on both political parties

to commit to extending the rail line from South Morang to Mernda and building access

ramps on the Hume Freeway at O’Herns Road in Epping North.

These initiatives are an example of local community needs being identified and prioritised. A thirty

year infrastructure strategy needs to consider how local consultative processes are promoted and

incorporated into the infrastructure planning process.

Government investment in one-off large infrastructure projects stimulates economic growth and

employment during recessions. Infrastructure spending can also facilitate other economic activity

(such as more efficient transport reducing congestion costs and allowing more to be spent on other

goods and services, or ports enabling the import and export of goods).

However, one-off large infrastructure projects are not the only way to boost employment and

inclusive economic growth. Capital investment in services (especially in high population growth

areas) helps meet the needs of growing communities, as well as generating ongoing employment

opportunities in those areas, which in the case of Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer fringe

suburbs, are often vulnerable areas. Examples include schools, hospitals and community services

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facilities. This spending produces a multiplier effect, increasing income and consumption to a

greater level than the initial amount spent. For example, if building a hospital, construction workers

and building suppliers will be employed as well as those who work in the hospital once built.

Indirectly, the new hospital will stimulate employment for launderers, food suppliers, medical

equipment suppliers and other service providers.

“The community sector is also a significant and growing economic sector, contributing

about $13 billion to the Victorian economy every year, employing about 97,000 people, and

being supported by about 135,000 volunteers. For many Victorians, the community sector

will be their employment future, where they will work in a rapidly growing sector, pursuing a

professional career, working for a diverse range of organisations.”4

In some regional communities the health and community services sector provide the majority of

employment, so any infrastructure investments in these areas provide immediate and long term

benefits to rural communities.

4 VCOSS State Budget Submission 2016-2017, Putting people back in the picture

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