Greater Canberra

10/05/2026

Media Release: Federal upzoning incentives should reward the ACT

We welcome this weekend’s Federal Budget announcement of a $2 billion local infrastructure fund to unlock more homes across the country. As one of Australia’s fastest-growing cities over the last couple of decades, Canberra must get its fair share of this huge federal investment.

As a member organisation of the Abundant Housing Network Australia, we called for the establishment of a federal infrastructure fund in AHNA’s 2025 election policy statement, the Brick Book (https://abundanthousing.org.au/docs/2504-Brick_Book.pdf).

The Commonwealth has made clear that this funding is tied to upzoning in well-located areas and fixing planning system bottlenecks. States and territories are on notice that they won’t get funding for infrastructure if they’re not allowing homes in the places that already have the infrastructure and create the highest social returns on investment.

Our current pipeline of planning reforms sets us up well to benefit from this fund. This announcement underscores the importance of getting our Missing Middle Housing Reforms done right, and being ambitious rather than timid in planning for housing around Light Rail Stage 2B and the Southern Gateway.

We look forward to seeing the details of the local infrastructure funding plan, and we call on the Commonwealth to work with the ACT Government to ensure Canberra gets the funding it deserves. The ACT should be rewarded for pursuing large-scale, universal zoning reforms, not short-changed due to the progress we are already making towards enabling housing supply.

While we expect a significant portion of the fund to go to works enabling greenfields development, including necessary suburban road infrastructure, the Commonwealth must also ensure this funding is available for infrastructure supporting urban infill, including active and public transport investments.

We also welcome the announcement of a number of other housing productivity measures, including free access to Australian Standards that are mandatory for construction. Cutting these unnecessary costs will make Missing Middle housing projects more viable, particularly for smaller-scale developers and contractors.

In the nation’s capital, the Commonwealth has a special role to play in housing policy as both a landowner and a regulator. We are pleased that recently the National Capital Authority has been putting forward significant proposals to deliver more housing in NCA Designated Areas. The NCA should work as closely as possible with the ACT Government to ensure that planning reforms and infrastructure delivery are coordinated across both territory and federal jurisdiction. We also call on the Commonwealth to finalise the negotiations on the CSIRO Ginninderra site as soon as possible.

The Abundant Housing Network Australia, a national coalition of pro-housing advocates in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, has also released a statement in response to this announcement: https://yimby.melbourne/news/national-upzoning-incentive-fund

https://greatercanberra.org/blog/media-release-federal-upzoning-incentives-should-reward-the-act

04/05/2026

Outdated, costly parking requirements are a barrier to making cities more liveable, sustainable and affordable.

Join our partners at the Parking Reform Network tomorrow from 9-10am, for an online panel discussion on parking reform in Australia:

Australia is starting to wake up to parking reform. Across the country, most places still have high parking mandates and a parking fee phobia. Outdated parking…

01/05/2026

Reminder: our Greater Canberra Coffee Catch Up is on tomorrow ☕

Come say hello, meet some like-minded Canberrans, and have a casual yap about Canberra over coffee.

10am–11:30am tomorrow
Saturday 2 May 2026
East Row, Civic

Everyone welcome :)

30/04/2026

MEDIA RELEASE: Assembly backs Missing Middle reform

Today, every member of the Legislative Assembly’s Environment and Planning Committee endorsed the Missing Middle Housing Reforms, recognising the need for bold, comprehensive and universal zoning reform to deliver a more liveable, sustainable and affordable Canberra. These reforms will legalise townhouses, terraces, low rise apartments and other forms of medium density housing throughout Canberra.

We call on the Government to finalise its response and present the final version of the Missing Middle plan amendments as soon as possible. These reforms followed commitments taken by multiple parties to the 2024 election, and were developed through an extensive process of consultation over several years, with excellent engagement from across the community. We can’t afford to delay or water down these changes. The Government must finalise this amendment as quickly as possible.

The challenge is now to ensure that Missing Middle homes become a reality, otherwise Canberra will get the appearance of reform without the homes. A rulebook that says yes in principle but no in practice will not help renters, young families, downsizers or anyone else looking for more housing options.

We agree with the Committee’s observation that “it is not clear why the limits on block consolidation are set, or how they relate to the desired outcome”, and support their recommendation to review these limits. We agree with other stakeholders that these arbitrary limits will hold back high-quality outcomes, and should be removed. We also support Caitlin Tough MLA’s recommendation for reform of solar fence provisions, as informed by the evidence of practitioners and the Australian Institute of Architects.

We also welcome the Committee’s various recommendations towards continuous monitoring, evaluation and improvement of the reforms. The Missing Middle Housing Reforms will be the largest reforms to Canberra’s planning system this century, and we won’t get everything right immediately. We will continue to work with the Government and the community to make sure these reforms actually deliver the city Canberrans deserve.

However, the universality of the Missing Middle Housing Reforms must be upheld. There should not be one rule for Curtin and one for Charnwood. The Government should not provide special treatment to Canberra’s wealthiest suburbs. Local character rules must not be an excuse to prevent people from having a home. Heritage protections should apply narrowly to heritage registered places themselves, not amorphously extended to entire suburbs.

Developments that provide the specified rate of off-street parking should not be subject to the uncertainty of challenges on the basis that they might contribute to problems with off-street parking. We urge caution on the Committee’s recommendations in this space.

As Peter Cain MLA has emphasised, the Government now needs to focus on other practical barriers to Missing Middle feasibility. We strongly support the Committee’s recommendation to review the Lease Variation Charge to ensure that the LVC balances land value capture with encouraging Missing Middle development. We note that the Government has introduced legislation to streamline the lease variation, subdivision and consolidation processes, and we call on all parties to ensure these straightforward process reforms are implemented quickly.

Canberra needs more homes, and more housing choices. The Missing Middle Housing Reforms are critical to delivering more homes for Canberrans, including public, community and affordable housing. They will give more Canberrans the choice to live closer to jobs, shops, schools, parks and public transport, with a significantly lower environmental and emissions impact than greenfields developments. We look forward to seeing these amendments approved.

https://greatercanberra.org/blog/media-release-assembly-backs-missing-middle-reform

26/04/2026

The housing crisis is not a mystery.

We are not building enough homes where people actually want to live.

The answer is not endless sprawl on the fringe. It is allowing more homes in established suburbs, close to jobs, transport, shops and services.

Cities around the world have shown what happens when you legalise more housing and actually build it: supply rises and rents are lower than they otherwise would be.

Canberra can do the same.

More homes. Lower rents. Better city.

Swipe through. Join us: greatercanberra.org

15/04/2026

Join us for our next Greater Canberra Coffee Catch Up ☕

Come along for a casual coffee and yap about Canberra.

10am–11:30am | Saturday 2 May 2026
East Row, Civic

Everyone welcome :)

04/03/2026

Reminder, last chance to get tickets! https://events.humanitix.com/order-without-design-how-markets-shape-cities-or-alain-bertuad-or-canberra

Cities are the vital engines of the Australian economy, and how we build them matters. From our inner-cities to our urban fringes, what ultimately gets built is at the intersection of government policy and private markets.

Join Alain Bertaud, former Principal Planner at the World Bank and author of Order without Design: how markets shape cities, and Howard Maclean, convenor of Greater Canberra, for an insightful evening exploring how this intersection between policy and markets can be made to work on behalf of all Australians.

By combining urban planning and urban economics, both practitioners and advocates will be better placed to achieve their goals. Only by measuring the outcomes of our policies can we begin to understand what truly works.

This is a vital evening for those passionate about solving the housing crisis, and building more affordable, liveable, and sustainable Australian cities.

26/02/2026

Why Are Cities So Expensive?!

Join us and Alain Bertaud, international author of Order without Design and former Principal Planner for the World Bank, for an evening discussion moderated by the ABC's Tom Crowley on how the intersection between policy and markets can be made to work on behalf of all Australians.

Get your tickets (March 5th) ➡️

Join Alain Bertaud (Order without Design), Howard Maclean & Tom Crowley (ABC) for an evening exploring how to make Australian cities work better for everyone.

09/02/2026

Tomorrow, we'll be at the Assembly for the Environment and Planning Committee's hearing into Missing Middle!

We'll be up from 1:20-1:50pm. Watch us in-person in the Prince Edward Island Room, or stream online ➡️ https://broadcast.parliament.act.gov.au/

The Committee's inquiry is one of the final stages before the Missing Middle Housing Reforms can be finalised.

In our written submission, we strongly support approving these reforms, but we've recommended some further changes that will make Missing Middle projects easier to approve and address some concerns we've identified.

Read our submission on the Assembly website ➡️ https://www.parliament.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/3014882/Submission-025-Greater-Canberra.pdf

03/02/2026

We're thrilled to announce that Alain Bertaud, author of Order without Design and former Principal Planner for the World Bank, will be coming to Canberra on March 5th, in collaboration with our friends at YIMBY Melbourne.

Get your tickets ➡️ https://events.humanitix.com/order-without-design-how-markets-shape-cities-or-alain-bertuad-or-canberra

11/12/2025

Missing Middle Final Push – Sat 13 Dec, 1:00pm @ East Row
The Missing Middle reforms are at the final Assembly inquiry stage before the vote, which means this is the last real chance to influence what gets locked in.
Join us for a session to get support to write your own submission.
Submissions close Fri 19 Dec.
Bring a laptop if you can.
FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/share/16nJXLVQQ8/