The Victorian government has launched a major recruitment drive for town planners in a bid to fast track developments across the state to ease the housing crisis.
Premier Jacinta Allan announced on Tuesday the government wanted to employ an additional 90 staff in the Department of Transport and Planning.
The extra town planners are a key part of the government’s housing reforms, which seek to ensure 800,000 new homes are built in Victoria over the next decade.
The reforms are contained within the state’s new housing statement, which also includes unlocking government land for development and changes to rental rights.
“A key part of the reform agenda is looking at how we can make good decisions faster to get more homes built right across Victoria,” Ms Allan told reporters.
“To achieve that we need to employ more planners and that’s why we’re launching today a recruitment campaign for 90 planners additional… in the Department of Transport and Planning across both strategic planning and statutory planning functions.”
Ms Allan said the new recruits will benefit from having “security and stability” in their career because of the government’s long-term planning reforms.
“There’s a big pipeline of work ahead, and this is what comes with having the housing statement,” she said.
“We’ve said very clearly that we want to build 800,000 homes over the next decade.
“We have to do this in order to support more Victorians to have access to a home they can afford.
“As part of that pipeline of housing projects, it means that for particularly young planners they can see a pipeline of work ahead of them that gives them security and stability in their career.”
The housing statement, which was released last month, has been slammed by the Greens who believe it will “only make the housing crisis worse”.
The Greens have threatened to withhold parliamentary support for reform measures such as the 7.5 per cent short-stay levy unless the government goes further on protections for renters.
“The government’s approach won’t do anything to stop renters facing unlimited rent increases and will only cause the state’s housing list to continue to grow,” Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said on Tuesday.
“The Greens have invited the government to work with us to solve the state’s worsening housing crisis but we’ve also made it clear we won’t accept anymore tinkering around the edges while tens of thousands of Victorians continue to face housing stress and homelessness.
(SKY NEWS)
