Tough calls on golf courses touted as a fix for Melbourne housing crisis

Developers argue disused and struggling golf courses in Melbourne’s south-east could be a ready-made solution to the housing crisis, as they and Labor’s own members grow impatient with the state over planning delays.

While Labor has vowed to address the crisis in a forthcoming housing and planning package, and has slammed Green-leaning local councils for blocking development, the Andrews government’s own record in approving housing is coming under scrutiny.

Save Kingswood Group president Kevin Poulter at the former Kingswood Golf Course in Dingley Village.Credit: Simon Schluter

In one case, AustralianSuper – the nation’s biggest super fund – has waited years for a rezoning decision after it bought the Kingswood Golf Course in Dingley Village in 2014 and sought approval for 800 homes, a move opposed by more than 8000 residents, the local Kingston council and federal Attorney-General and local MP Mark Dreyfus.

The state took the decision off the council and in early 2022 a special advisory committee made recommendations to the then minister, Richard Wynne. That report was never released but government and property industry sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, insist it recommended support for the rezoning.

Eighteen months and two planning ministers later, that report remains on current minister Sonya Kilkenny’s desk, with no explanation for the lack of a decision.

The super fund has now gone public to call for a decision, saying: “AustralianSuper has actively participated in the rezoning and planning process for the site and would welcome a government decision on this application.”

Keysborough Golf Club is another club in the south-east looking to sell to developers once rezoning is approved.Credit: Joe Armao

The call comes as younger ALP members urge the government to recognise that the housing crisis is changing the politics of planning – that concern about amenity is giving way to anxiety about housing affordability and availability.

“Labor governments need to realise that if they don’t do something drastic about housing supply, voters will come after them as they did with the Coalition over climate change,” said Julijana Todorovic, spokeswoman for Labor for Housing, an ALP ginger group pressing for more and more affordable housing. “This could be our (Labor’s) climate change.”

Meanwhile, Dingley Village residents opposed to housing on the golf course insist their stance is justified. “We don’t know of anyone in the entire Dingley Village that wants to see this development go ahead,” said Kevin Poulter, president of the Save Kingswood Group.

He said AustralianSuper’s plan would be a “massive” overdevelopment and would destroy the local “village character”.

The push for a government decision on the rezoning of Kingswood comes as multiple cash-strapped golf clubs through Melbourne’s south and south-east seek council and government approval to rezone for housing.

Development of the former Eastern course at Doncaster, where Mirvac has built hundreds of homes, is often held up as exemplar.

While some of Melbourne’s richest sand belt courses are thriving, many poorer clubs are merging, relocating or closing. Developers insist the south-east area has a surplus of courses.

A report commissioned by the government in 2021 found that almost half of Victoria’s 374 courses were in financial stress; 23 courses abutting or just outside the city’s urban growth boundary were being eyed by developers.

The Keysborough golf club is pushing for approval from Greater Dandenong Council to relocate and develop its existing site. It has had an agreement to sell its 76-hectare course to developer Intrapac since 2015.

As The Age reported last week, the club’s plan to relocate to nearby Bangholme has stirred controversy, particularly about its offer of a $30 million “sweetener” to the council in the form of a parcel of land and community sports centre.

Asked about its view of the Keysborough development proposal this week, the government said it had “no plans” to review the Urban Growth Boundary.

Crucial to government decision-making around the future of the golf courses is whether they are located in the green wedge – land set aside by the Hamer government in the 1970s as Melbourne’s “lungs”.

The Kingswood course is within the city’s urban growth boundary and, therefore, more likely to be developed than Keysborough, which is in the green wedge.

Intrapac has been a major developer in the south-east around the green wedge for decades.

In 2018, the company also bought part of the struggling Rossdale course in Aspendale, which has been approved for development. But it is awaiting rezoning approval before purchasing the rest of the site.

The company’s chief executive officer, Max Shifman, said residential construction on under-utilised golf courses would help the government address the housing crisis.

He pointed to the Eastern Golf Club as a model of what can be achieved with government support.

“These are exactly the kind of projects which need to be supported at times like this,” said Shifman, who is also national president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia.

“The state is simply taking too long deciding approvals for the development of sites like Kingswood. It has taken years and still there is no decision.”

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny did not respond to a series of questions for this story, including about when a decision would be made on Kingswood. Instead, the government provided a one line response explaining that the Kingswood application was “currently under consideration”.

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