The high-rise housing battleground with wide political consequences

Residents of a leafy Melbourne street are getting a glimpse of what the future could hold for their neighbourhood, and it's a dramatic departure from the low-rise streetscape they know.

In Armadale, in the Liberal-held electorate of Malvern, plans have been lodged with council for a six-storey development on Mercer Road, about 900 metres away from the train station.

The developer intends to demolish five single-storey units and build a six-storey block of apartments. If approved, there would be 29 two-three bedroom apartments and two levels of underground parking.

Dave Corrigan lives in an apartment across the road and described the plan as outrageous.

"[It's] enough to almost make me consider moving, to be honest," he told 7.30.

"I could probably understand on a main road and High Street … but in the middle of Mercer Road, that's just ridiculous."

Under Labor's new "deemed to comply" planning rules, Mr Corrigan's objections carry limited weight and his right to appeal has been stripped away.

"Deemed to comply" means that if a development meets a series of standards set out by the government, it can be approved without the usual scope for objections or appeals.

The rules took effect in April, with Labor arguing it would reduce red tape, speed up housing approvals and give developers greater certainty.

With the state election approaching, Labor's high-rise housing plans are becoming a political test: as residents push back against towers in their neighbourhoods and the Coalition pledges to scrap the activity centres and return planning powers to councils.

Labor's plan to build up

Under the Victorian Labor government's activity centres plan, designated areas around major train and tram routes are being opened to more intensive housing development, including buildings of up to 20 storeys or higher in some locations.

Armadale, in the City of Stonnington, is among 60 designated activity centres.

Labor says Victoria needs an estimated 2.24 million additional homes by 2051, with at least 70 per cent targeted for established areas. 

The federal government has targeted building 1.2 million new homes nationally by 2030.

State Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny says the existing planning system failed to provide enough housing in areas where people want to live.

"We've acted to say that the status quo is no longer an option," Ms Kilkenny told 7.30.

"We cannot continue to have a planning system that continues to lock out Victorians from living in places where they want to live."

The policy has drawn fierce opposition from residents and councils who argue the changes will alter the character of established suburbs, while limiting their ability to influence what gets built.

Stonnington Mayor Melina Sehr said residents often assumed taller buildings would be concentrated around railway stations and major roads, but that was no longer the case and that councils have been stripped of meaningful influence over decisions that would fundamentally change their communities.

"Council's involvement is minimal because if they tick the government's planning boxes now, residents have no right to object, they have no appeal rights and council has very limited ability to make changes to those proposed developments," Mayor Sehr said.

Box Hill: The future of high-rise Melbourne?

East of Melbourne's CBD, Box Hill offers an example of what a shift towards high-density housing could look like.

Danny Todica lives there with his partner in a two-bedroom apartment in a 30-storey tower. 

The 52-year-old said the convenience of apartment living is hard to beat.

"We have the highway just there, we have the shopping centre just around the corner here, so it's in walking distance of everything and the tram stop is just out there," Mr Todica said.

Phil Ward has lived in Box Hill for 47 years. He once campaigned against high-rise development but in 2016 bought an apartment in the 36-storey Sky One tower he had opposed.

"If you can't beat them, join them," he said.

Mr Ward enjoys the convenience of being able to reach shops and public transport within minutes, but he said the transformation had come at a cost.

He said traffic congestion was now a major concern, while green space was increasingly under pressure from development.

"It only takes a little glitch and all of a sudden gridlock," Mr Ward said. 

Box Hill is a major transport hub with the busy Whitehorse Road cutting through the centre, linking to the Maroondah Highway and the eastern suburbs.

But its congestion problem extends beyond one busy road. A 2025 government report found several major roads in the suburb were nearing capacity.

Now, construction work for Labor's multi-billion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop is bringing lane closures and pedestrian detours to the busy centre.

Box Hill illustrates the challenge facing governments trying to accommodate a growing population and how to provide more homes while maintaining liveability and updating infrastructure.

Ms Kilkenny said new developments in activity centres would attract infrastructure contributions to help fund parks, schools, road upgrades and community facilities as populations grow.

Who gets the final say?

For residents and councils opposed to Labor's plan, the issue is not simply how tall new buildings should be. It is whether local communities still have a meaningful say in what happens around them.

Ms Kilkenny rejected the suggestion that councils had lost their influence.

"Our deemed to comply planning applications will mean that if the development meets those various standards, there is no capacity to object to that and they will be approved," she said.

Mayor Sehr said that left residents with little choice when a proposal met the new state rules.

Dr Stephen Glackin, Senior Research Fellow in urban planning at Swinburne University of Technology said the Labor government is trying to use the existing infrastructure.

"The more we expand, it's just more expensive and it's leaving the people who are on the fringes of the city open to travel poverty. They might have an affordable house, but getting into the jobs is going to be really difficult," he said.

"If there's already train lines there, why not build around them? If there's already plumbing and electricity there, build around them. Sure you're going to have to upgrade some stuff, but it's largely there already."

The Coalition has promised to scrap Labor's activity centres policy if elected, return third-party appeal rights to residents and give councils a greater role in planning their communities.

"We believe that local communities should have a say in how their community grows," Opposition Leader Jess Wilson told 7.30.

Ms Wilson said a Coalition government would shift the focus of high-rise development to Melbourne's CBD and inner city, rather than impose Labor's density targets on established suburban neighbourhoods.

"We all know the need to build more homes right across this state, but what we want to do is make sure that we actually deliver more homes and more choice," she said.

She then attacked Labor's record on regional development.

"We want to see a mix of homes right across this state," Ms Wilson said.

"We''ve seen in Geelong, for example, precincts that have been designated for new homes sit there idle for years under this Labor government because they have not acted."

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