Moyne Shire Council boss critiques state government housing plan

CEO Brett Davis told the state parliament's select committee on the 2026 Commonwealth Games bid worker housing was critically underfunded in rural areas and he had concerns about the billion-dollar regional housing program announced when the games were cancelled.

Mr Davis welcomed the overall investment, but questioned whether the government's plan would get the money where it was needed most.

"The cancellation of the games has certainly provided more funding opportunities to apply for Moyne Shire... Moyne Shire applauds that the fund aims to provide new housing options for regional communities where key workers are struggling to find affordable places to live," he said.

"While the fund is part of a larger package that includes a new $1 billion Regional Housing Fund to deliver more than 1300 new homes across regional Victoria, we would argue, as a rural council that due attention needs to be afforded to rural councils.

"Rural communities deserve targeted investments to ensure they get the homes they need."

Mr Davis said those investments included "enabling infrastructure" like utilities, drainage and roads; streamlining housing approvals; new housing specifically allocated to rural areas and a "greater share of the short-stay levy".

He said Moyne was one of many councils struggling with a lack of housing that threatened their economic growth.

"For our key workers and their industry sectors, housing is a critical issue particularly the lack of available long-term rental properties. Housing is a major barrier in both the attraction and retention of staff," he said.

"Rental vacancy in the region is almost non-existent with some settlements along the region's coast having no vacant properties or only poor sub-standard long-term rentals."

Mr Davis said the problem had hit coastal towns like Port Fairy and Peterborough, but inland "service" towns like Koroit and Mortlake were also feeling the pinch.

"Labour supply and housing diversity go together," he said.

"Regional settlements that urgently need labour cannot fill job vacancies without diverse housing to accommodate workers."

Mr Davis said one way to fund the more targeted housing support for rural councils was to allocate a bigger share of the revenue from the proposed short-stay levy. The government has proposed spending 25 per cent of the revenue in country areas even though the regions will produce 50 per cent of the money raised from the levy.

"Twenty-five per cent is not enough and it should be reinvested in the communities deriving the income, this reinvestment should focus on delivering including infrastructure, key worker and other housing and council capacity support," he said.

Speaking more broadly about the Commonwealth Games failure, Mr Davis said the apparent last-minute cost blowout used to justify cancelling the event was "a significant blow to Victoria's reputation".

"In terms of reputation, it is of concern to most councils at how the cost of the games was estimated to be $2.6 billion, but it was later revealed that the cost could exceed $7 billion," he said.

"This raises concerns about the potential failures in governance, probity and procurement processes in the Victorian Government's bid, contract, and termination of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

"If a local government was in this position, undoubtedly there would be some need for monitors to be installed."

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