State Priorities for 2025-26
Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) is a leadership group dedicated to building a sustainable regional Australia by providing strategic advice, coordination, and advocacy to state and federal governments. We are pleased to submit our ideas and priorities for the 2025–26 Budget.
Comprising the Mayors and CEOs of the ten largest cities in regional Victoria – Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Horsham, Latrobe, Mildura, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, and Wodonga – RCV is focused on achieving real change in regional Victoria through policy development and implementation. We represent the more than 800,000 Australians that live in these municipalities.
Victoria’s regional cities underpin region-scale economies, liveability, and support the state’s economic growth. People living across regional Australia also rely on regional cities as ‘hubs’ for access to education, health, financial, transport and social services, as well as retail, sport and recreation, and cultural amenities.
Every single day, an extra 35 people call one of our regional cities home. Local governments are at the forefront of responding to this net population growth – in a tight fiscal environment coupled with cost-shifting and revenue caps – while maintaining the liveability for which regional Victoria is renowned.
Regional Cities Victoria’s vision is to develop and advocate for policies that invest equitably and sustainably in our regional cities to support a growing and prosperous Australia.
