Victorian State Budget – Opportunity to deliver for both tourist and residential parks
Caravan & Residential Parks Victoria has responded to the 2026/27 Victorian State Budget, highlighting that while a number of funding initiatives have been announced, the focus must now shift to ensuring these investments deliver real outcomes for both tourist and residential parks.
The state budget identifies how the Victorian Government plans to allocate funding across key areas including infrastructure, housing, tourism, emergency management and regional development over the next four financial years.
Several announcements create opportunities for our industry, particularly across regional Victoria. These include additional funding for bushfire relief, investment in planning and building system capacity, faster environmental assessments for housing, regional tourism activation projects and workforce attraction initiatives.
We believe there are opportunities to advance our advocacy for tourist and residential park members.
Speaking with the media today, CRPVic Chief Executive Officer Scott Parker highlighted that broad funding allocations alone will not make enough difference to visitor numbers and affordable residential park housing and that direct engagement with the industry was essential to deliver well targeted programs and reform. If industry was not engaged properly from here, there is a real risk that investment will not translate into quality outcomes for members on the ground.
The additional funding for bushfire relief has been welcomed as an important investment in community resilience. However, CRPVic has also reinforced the need for tourist parks to be formally recognised and integrated into emergency planning frameworks, reflecting the role they already perform across the state and which was recognised in the Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2022 Floods.
The budget’s focus on improving planning system performance, including significant investment into planning and building capability, signals a government intent to streamline development pathways. This is particularly relevant for both tourist park expansion and residential land lease community development.
However, CRPVic has been clear that broad system investment must now be matched with sector-specific planning reform. Over the past 18 months, more than $100 million in tourism investment has been lost due to planning uncertainty, with projects delayed or abandoned as a result of inconsistent and unclear approval pathways.
Residential land lease communities also present a significant opportunity to contribute to housing supply. While the sector continues to grow in other states, it remains underdeveloped in Victoria due to planning and regulatory barriers.
CRPVic’s just released residential land lease development policy recommendations outline a clear, no-cost pathway to unlock this potential, including establishing a defined planning pathway for residential parks and incorporating them into the Urban Development Program. These reforms would enable the sector to deliver housing at scale, something not achievable under current settings.
Based on CRPVic modelling, implementation of these reforms could deliver more than 183,000 new land lease homes by 2051, while also freeing up an equivalent number of existing homes. This represents a total housing supply impact of more than 367,000 homes, easing pressure across the broader market.
Our two new policy platforms covering both tourist parks and residential land lease communities, provide practical, implementation-ready recommendations to unlock investment, support regional growth and deliver new housing supply. As the peak body representing more than 370 tourist and residential parks across Victoria, CRPVic will continue to advocate for a coordinated approach that ensures state budget investments translate into regional jobs, increased visitation and expanded housing supply.
Members are encouraged to become familiar with both policy platforms including attending our Tourist Park Industry webinar on Thursday.
