Rural & Regional Victoria
People are fed up with the major parties, and they’re especially fed up in rural and regional Victoria.
For too long, regional communities have been overlooked in decision making.
Labor, the Liberals and One Nation all take millions in donations from big corporations and billionaires, and give them special treatment.
The Greens don’t take big corporate donations and never will. We’re fighting for people, right across the state, and to make big corporations pay their fair share, to fund the things we all need for a better life.
Explore our plan for Rural & Regional Victoria
- Address the housing shortage
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The Greens will double the amount of public housing in Victoria, including in regional Victoria, so people across the state have real options and make more housing available.
We will also make unlimited rent increases illegal and strengthen renters’ rights, for example by allowing renters to stay when their home is sold.
- Make renewables and transmission lines fairer for regional Victorians
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Regional Victoria is playing a key role in helping get Victoria off dirty, expensive coal and gas, but the transition has to be a just one.
Renewable energy projects and transmission lines need genuine local engagement, community benefits programs which flow straight to local communities, and community ownership models.
- Money for disaster clean-up
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The Greens want to see proper funding to help communities recover from fires, floods and extreme weather, paid for by the people who caused the problem – big polluters, like BHP, Woodside and ExxonMobil.
- More frequent and better connected public transport
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People in rural and regional Victoria deserve better public transport options, including buses and trains, within and between towns. The Greens will:
- Run regional trains and coaches more often, by investing $245 million in frequency improvements.
- Upgrade local buses in regional Victoria, as part of our $270 million investment in improving bus services.
- Give Infrastructure Victoria the power to do our transport planning, instead of basing it on politics. Depending on the priorities set by the transport plan, we expect to see increased capacity on regional rail lines to address overcrowding, electrification of the line to Melton and bypass tracks for V/Line, and longer platforms on some V/Line stations to enable longer trains to use them safely, reducing overcrowding.
- Fixing our roads
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Our roads are crumbling, and getting worse.
Labor and the Coalition have privatised road maintenance across Victoria. This creates an incentive to cut corners and drive up costs, and money that goes to private profits isn't going into fixing our roads.
The Greens will bring road maintenance back into public hands.
We will reinvest any savings into actually fixing potholes and our roads, cutting out corporate profit. WA has done it, Victoria can do the same by first establishing an urgent inquiry to provide a clear roadmap for bringing road maintenance back into public hands.
- More childcare
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There are early childhood education deserts across large sections of regional Victoria. The Greens want to see more government-funded early learning and childcare centres, to meet families’ needs.