This is not a choice between the Government’s planning model and urban sprawl. There are many alternative ways Melbourne could accommodate housing growth. Why has one apartment-led planning model been chosen over other credible alternatives?

Increasing housing supply does not automatically create affordable housing. In suburbs with high-value land, market-led development is more likely to deliver higher-priced apartments and townhouses than homes affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

The Government is pushing aside democratically elected local councils and the communities they represent to centralise planning powers in the hands of the Minister.

The Victorian Government argues that planning is the principal barrier to increasing housing supply and improving affordability. What does the independent evidence say?

Taller buildings and reduced setbacks increase overlooking, overshadowing, reduce privacy and change the character and liveability of established neighbourhoods.

Massive housing growth is being directed into established suburbs on the basis that existing infrastructure can support it. But has the Government demonstrated that existing infrastructure has the capacity to accommodate the scale of growth being proposed?

See what piecemeal, market-led redevelopment can look like in practice. This gallery explores the visual impacts of incremental redevelopment on Melbourne’s established suburbs.

Melbourne’s distinctive suburbs did not happen by accident. This page explores how one-size-fits-all planning controls place heritage, neighbourhood character and local identity at risk by treating very different suburbs as though they were the same.

Melbourne’s garden suburbs cannot survive without gardens. This page explores why mature trees depend on deep soil, generous setbacks and meaningful garden space and why tree planting targets alone cannot replace what is being lost.

Thousands of Victorian households have invested in rooftop solar, yet the Mid-Rise Code does not protect existing solar panels from overshadowing in activity centre catchments and other growth areas.

Less vegetation and more hard surfaces will increase temperatures, reducing climate resilience and liveability.

Biodiversity doesn’t only exist in parks and reserves. This page explores why thousands of ordinary suburban gardens together form one of Melbourne’s most important urban wildlife habitats—and what happens when those connections are gradually lost.

Higher-density housing increases demand for transport. Can Melbourne’s existing roads and public transport keep pace?

The Government has oversimplified the debate by framing it as a divisive “Builders versus Blockers” argument, rather than encouraging a serious discussion about how Victoria should grow.

The Victorian Government has described its consultation program as extensive. Many councils, community groups and residents argue that, while consultation occurred, the most significant planning decisions were never genuinely open for community influence.