The Victorian Government has axed a key funding mechanism for new community infrastructure across Melbourne’s fast-growing outer suburbs.
The 2025/26 Budget, released today, strips all funding from the Growing Suburbs Fund. For the past decade, this fund has been used to
support the construction and maintenance of local parks, playgrounds, community centres, skate parks, accessible public toilets, and more.
Without mentioning the fund specifically, Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes told Parliament the government was “winding back non-priority programs [so it can] invest in what matters most”.
An Outer Melbourne Councils spokesperson said the outer suburbs matter.
“There’s another Melbourne beyond the tram tracks that’s being forgotten,” the spokesperson said.
“The loss of the Growing Suburbs Fund will mean councils must spend less on critical community infrastructure.”
“Following the Werribee byelection, it’s astounding the government has opted not to renew this critical funding stream.”
One bright spot in the budget was funding for a series of outer suburban roads projects.
Funding has been allocated for the projects in Warrandyte South, Clyde North, Calder Park, Cranbourne, Wantirna South, Croydon North,
Beaconsfield, Hallam, Beveridge and Wyndham Vale.
The announcement of free public transport for all Victorian kids also promises to deliver a cost saving for families in the outer suburbs –
but only if they have the option for putting their kids on public transport.
Unfortunately, families in Melbourne’s outer suburbs will remain car-dependent and miss out on benefiting from these potential savings,
without a significant investment in the bus network and service upgrades.
“Free public transport means less than nothing if you don’t have a local bus or train service,” the spokesperson said.
Outer suburban communities are heavily reliant on buses. Until there’s a systematic and sustained investment in bus services and new bus
routes, heavy car dependency and ongoing road congestion will remain a burden on our outer suburbs.
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