Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has unveiled the first plank of the Coalition’s housing strategy to fast-track development in growth areas as the State heads into an election year.
Her housing strategy for the growth areas includes fast-tracking existing Precinct Structure Plans (PSP).
Speaking at the Future Victoria Summit on Wednesday 25 February, Ms Wilson said her focus is to make it easier and more affordable for young people to own their houses.
She believed that the State’s Precinct Structure Planning (PSP) system is “broken”, defined by “delay, fragmentation, and excessive regulation with some commencement timelines stretching into the late 2030s”.
PSP is a blueprint for developing new suburbs in growth areas, outlining land use, infrastructure, and services needed to support future communities.
Under the Coalition’s proposal, growth-area PSPs would be given clear end dates to accelerate delivery, while revenue collected through the Growth Area Infrastructure Contribution (GAIC) would be redirected back into the communities it comes from, funding earlier construction of roads, schools and community facilities.
“We will fast-track home building in existing identified growth areas,” Ms Wilson said at the Summit.
“Done properly, these can be vibrant new communities where people can raise their families with all the amenities nearby.
“The government’s focus on infill development in existing suburbs has left new growth areas neglected.”
The announcement comes amid slowing home construction across Victoria, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing just 54,332 new homes were completed in the year to September 2025, the lowest annual figure since 2014.
Ms Wilson blamed both planning delays and rising government charges, saying taxes, fees and levies now make up more than 40 per cent of the cost of a new house-and-land package in Melbourne.
The Coalition’s pledge to fast-track growth-area planning comes amid mounting frustration from the Casey Council and the industry over stalled PSP timelines in Casey’s south.
Four key PSPs in the City of Casey growth corridor, including Croskell, Casey Fields South (Employment), Devon Meadows and Clyde South, remain in progress years after the last residential plan was finalised in 2019.
Star News reported in August 2025 that Casey Council and developers are concerned that reduced land supply has impacted housing affordability, as PSP approvals have slowed in recent years.
“To maintain housing affordability in Casey, it’s critical that the Croskell (Employment) and Casey Fields South (Employment) and Devon Meadows PSPs must be finalised in the next 12 months, and that preparation of Clyde South PSP is expedited to ensure delivery by 2028,” City of Casey Manager Growth and Investment Kathryn Seirlis told Star News then.
According to the State Government’s 10-year vision for the greenfield PSPs, Casey Fields South (Employment), Croskell, and Devon Meadows PSPs will be completed by the end of 2028, and Clyde South PSP by 2033.
Greenfield consultant James Thomas, CEO of Core Project, previously talked to Star News and warned that the State Government’s 10-year greenfield rollout risked pushing new homes even further into the future.
He said two of Casey’s key precincts, Devon Meadows and Clyde South, had already been flagged for fast-tracking under earlier Victorian Planning Authority priorities, yet little progress had followed.
“So, from whenever they get the plan approved before the first home goes in, it generally takes about two years, assuming development starts immediately,” he said in late 2024.
“Unfortunately, the pace of Devon Meadows PSP means you are unlikely to see a home there until at least 2027 at the earliest, more likely 2030.”
Alongside the growth-area reforms, the Coalition also flagged plans to expand inner-city residential zones, restore planning control to councils, and unlock housing in regional centres.
Casey has a mandated housing target of 87,000 for the next three decades, with 28,500 in the non-greenfield and 58,500 in the greenfield.
