Victoria Election 2026: Land Tax, Rental Rules & Roads

Election season is getting louder, the potholes are still there — and someone has already been fined at the new airport pick-up zone

Week 41 | 4–10 October 2026

This week, the APOA community archive covered 11 groups and 8,009 messages.

There was no shortage of material.

A week after land tax dominated the conversation, rental rules were being taken directly to MPs. Victoria’s potholes became one of the most talked-about stories of the week. Melbourne Airport changed the way drivers pick up passengers — and one APOA member already had a fine to show for it.

And, just to keep things interesting, Melbourne kept shaking.

Week 41 in one sentence:

Policies are changing, roads are being repaired, the ground is moving, and property owners are keeping score.

⚖️ With the election approaching, property owners are asking MPs directly

One change was particularly noticeable this week.

Instead of simply discussing policies among themselves, members are increasingly taking specific questions directly to politicians.

During a discussion about Victoria’s rental minimum standards on 8 October, one member asked whether the Coalition would change or repeal some of the requirements if it formed government.

Another replied:

“Ask Matthew Guy’s staff member Maggie to put the question to Matthew.”

Related responses and videos soon circulated through the groups.

Matthew Guy’s connection with APOA is not new.

On 16 June, he raised the Australian Property Owners Alliance in the Victorian Parliament, describing its members as predominantly mum-and-dad small investors from Melbourne’s Chinese community, many holding only one or two investment properties. He specifically raised concerns about the cost of mandatory two-yearly gas and electrical checks, including for newer homes. 维多利亚州议会

Last week, the question was land tax.

This week, it was minimum standards and compliance costs.

As the election approaches, property owners are clearly putting more detailed questions to both sides of politics.

APOA does not tell members how to vote.

But election season is a good time to ask questions — and to listen carefully to the answers.

🚧 Victoria’s most viral pothole: the tradies who got tired of waiting

Road conditions were another major talking point this week.

At one point an APOA member joked:

“I’m almost tempted to go and fill some of these potholes myself.”

As it turned out, someone already had.

Workers from Inside & Out Demolition on the Mornington Peninsula became frustrated with a large pothole on Baxter-Tooradin Road and decided to repair it themselves.

Media reports said the job used about 100 kilograms of asphalt, cost roughly $500 in materials, and took around half an hour.

The video went viral. 新闻澳大利亚

It is worth adding one important point: repairing a public road without authorisation is not something motorists should copy. Road works involve safety, traffic control and legal responsibilities.

But the story struck a nerve because the Victorian government had recently announced another $352 million to double its pothole repair target from 250,000 to 500,000 potholes. ABC新闻

The calculators naturally came out.

“How much does that work out to per pothole?”

“How many do they need to repair every day?”

Simply dividing the total road budget by the number of potholes is misleading — the funding also covers resurfacing, equipment, labour, traffic management and wider road maintenance.

But one striking number is real.

ABC calculated that meeting the government’s target would require crews, at peak pace, to repair more than 3,000 potholes a day. ABC新闻

So the image of the week was hard to resist:

Government crews are preparing to tackle hundreds of thousands of potholes. A few tradies got tired of waiting and fixed one for $500 first.

Road maintenance has also become a genuine election issue. More than 3,000 people attended a road-safety and pothole rally outside Victoria’s Parliament on 4 October. ABC新闻

🚗 The pothole discussion was barely over when airport pick-up produced another surprise

Melbourne Airport changed the way passengers are picked up and dropped off at Terminals 1, 2 and 3 on 6 October.

Drivers now leave the Tullamarine Freeway at Exit 19, Naarm Way, and use the new T123 Transport Hub.

The ordinary pick-up area is free, but vehicles have a five-minute standing limit. Melbourne Airport recommends using its free 60-minute waiting zone if the passenger is not yet ready. 墨尔本机场

Only a few days after the change, an APOA member had already learned the new system the expensive way.

She arrived shortly after 11am, stepped away from the car to use the bathroom and have a quick look around, and returned around twenty minutes later.

There was a fine on the vehicle.

The group immediately started comparing experiences.

Was the problem exceeding five minutes?

Was it because the driver had left the vehicle?

What happens when a flight is delayed?

Another member said her husband had waited for around 90 minutes without being fined — but had stayed with the car.

The practical lesson from the discussion was simple:

If the passenger is not ready, use the waiting zone or park properly rather than treating the five-minute area as a waiting bay.

One member’s fine may save quite a few others from making the same mistake.

✈️ A bigger airport — but Melbourne is still asking about the train

The new airport road system inevitably brought back a very old Melbourne question:

When will people actually be able to take a train all the way to the airport?

There has been movement.

The Commonwealth and Victorian governments have announced Stage 2 of Melbourne Airport Rail: around 7.4 kilometres of new railway from Albion towards the airport precinct, including a new Keilor East station.

Major construction is scheduled to begin in 2028, with completion targeted for 2031. 维多利亚州长官网

But there is an important detail.

Stage 2 ends at Keilor East.

The final Stage 3 — including the station at the airport precinct itself — is still being worked through. 维多利亚州长官网

So for ordinary travellers, Melbourne Airport remains primarily a driving, SkyBus, taxi or family-pick-up trip.

New roads.

A new transport hub.

A new set of pick-up rules.

And the same familiar question:

Where is the airport train?

🚆 Meanwhile in Sydney: the airport has trains — and APOA is finally meeting offline

Sydney provides an obvious contrast.

Train stations sit underneath both the Domestic and International airport terminals, with T8 Airport & South Line services operating every day. transportnsw.info

And this week, APOA’s Sydney group finally confirmed its own first offline gathering.

📅 25 October

📍 Royal Botanic Garden, near the Sydney Opera House

The plan is deliberately simple.

Bring some food, bring a picnic mat, sit down and finally meet some of the people whose names appear in the WeChat group every day.

Members are already debating the perfect spot:

A view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge would be nice.

A large shady tree would also be nice.

Preferably both. 😄

Melbourne has already held several community gatherings.

Now Sydney gets its turn.

🌏 Another recurring Melbourne question this week: “Was that an earthquake?”

As if elections, potholes and airport fines were not enough, Melbourne kept shaking.

Across several groups, messages suddenly appeared:

“Earthquake?”

Someone felt it.

Someone else felt nothing.

Another member thought it was just a strong gust of wind.

A few days later:

“Again?”

By then members were sharing reports about a cluster of tremors around Victoria.

News reports tend to talk about magnitude, epicentres and aftershocks.

Property owners tend to have a slightly different first thought:

“Was that an earthquake — or has something in the house just broken?”

Depending on the property, the second possibility can be more frightening.

🏠 Property Owner Story | The inspection report suddenly showed 10 beds

The previous stories were entertaining.

This one was not.

One APOA member received a routine property inspection report and noticed something unexpected:

A five-bedroom house appeared to contain 10 beds.

The lease did not list anything close to that number of occupants.

Questions came quickly.

How many people were actually living there?

Was there unauthorised subletting?

Could the property have crossed into rooming-house territory?

Could insurance be affected?

Why had the property manager not identified the issue earlier?

Should the owner contact Council, Consumer Affairs Victoria, or prepare for VCAT?

The discussion continued late into the night and resumed the next morning.

Members offered many different interpretations, some of them conflicting.

But one practical point stood out:

Before doing anything dramatic, preserve the evidence.

📉 Rental Market | Some homes are sitting empty while another renter wants three more years

A fascinating rental-market discussion unfolded on 9 October.

One member asked:

If so many investors have supposedly left the market, why does it also feel as though there are fewer renters?

Members offered several possible explanations.

Higher living costs may be pushing younger people back into family homes.

Some renters may be downsizing.

Temporary visa holders and students may be sharing more densely.

And population growth does not necessarily translate into the same level of demand across every type of rental property.

Kun said he had been noticing weakness in the middle and higher end of the market for some time.

A neighbouring rental had been empty for three months.

His own investment property had been vacant for three or four months, and some asking rents felt to him as if they had returned to levels from years ago.

Then, in the same conversation, AustralianAnnie said:

“I increased the rent by 10 per cent and the renter immediately asked for another three-year lease.”

That rather neatly captured the current market.

Is Melbourne’s rental market strong or weak?

Increasingly, the answer may be:

Which property are we talking about?

⭐ This Week’s Practical Focus | Victoria’s rental minimum standards are becoming very real

Back to the issue many Victorian rental providers actually need to deal with.

This week, members were no longer simply asking what new rules might be coming.

Some had received emails from agents.

Some had already had assessments completed.

Some were looking at lists of identified issues and wondering what needed to be done first.

From 13 October 2026, further Victorian rental reforms take effect.

These include requirements to retain records showing a property complied with rental minimum standards before being offered or occupied, and mandatory gas and electrical safety checks every two years for all rental agreements. 消费者维州

From 1 March 2027, new energy-efficiency standards will begin to phase in, covering areas such as heating, cooling, hot water, showerheads, ceiling insulation and draughtproofing. 消费者维州

For owners, the practical question is no longer:

“What did the government announce?”

It is:

“What does my property actually need?”

🛠 Three smaller money-saving ideas from the groups

Selling a property? Virtual staging is becoming an alternative to physically filling a home with rented furniture. The listing photos can show a furnished room even though the property is empty at the inspection. It may suit lower-value properties where full physical staging is difficult to justify.

Installing a large ducted air-conditioning system? Do not automatically assume the entire home must first be upgraded to three-phase power. Have a qualified electrician assess the existing supply and the actual equipment requirements.

Considering an electricity plan offering three free hours? Look at the whole tariff, not just the word “free”. If the other 21 hours cost more and your household cannot shift enough major electricity use into the free period, the total bill may not fall.

🎥 Kun’s Video | Mortgage rates once reached 17%. So why does today still feel expensive?

Kun posted a video this week asking:

“Australian mortgage rates once reached 17 per cent. What happened to those homeowners?”

It produced an instant wave of memories from members who bought homes in the 1980s and 1990s.

Yes, rates were extremely high.

But then people started remembering the prices.

A house that cost a little over $200,000 changes the calculation considerably.

That led to the more useful conclusion:

Interest rates alone do not tell you how difficult it is to buy or hold a home.

A much higher interest rate applied to a much smaller loan can create a very different burden from a lower rate applied to a million-dollar mortgage.

So next time someone says:

“We survived 17 per cent rates.”

There is a useful follow-up question:

“How much did the house cost?”

❤️ Our favourite calculation this week

Week 41 was busy.

Rental rules are becoming more detailed.

The roads still have potholes.

Airport pick-up now requires a new set of instructions.

Melbourne occasionally shakes.

Meanwhile, APOA’s music and dance groups are still looking for a regular rehearsal base, photography and hiking groups continue to grow, and Sydney is preparing for its first community picnic.

Most of us originally met because of rentals, repairs, land tax and property problems.

Somewhere along the way, people also started singing together, hiking together, taking photographs and organising picnics.

Property ownership keeps producing more calculations.

Friendships, fortunately, keep increasing too.

So far, nobody has found a tax for that. 😄

🙋 Volunteer With APOA

As the Community Wall, newsletters, policy resources, videos, photography and local events continue to grow, APOA welcomes members who can occasionally help.

You do not need to be available every day.

Writing, editing, taking photos, organising information or helping at an event all count.

Communities are built one small contribution at a time.

📚 More Community Discussions

🇨🇳 Chinese Community Wall https://apoa.org.au/zh/community-wall/

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📢 Newsletter Note

This newsletter is compiled from discussions across the APOA property community from 4 to 10 October 2026, with AI-assisted editing.

Discussion of rental minimum standards, safety checks, occupancy, rooming houses, insurance, rent and other property matters records community experiences and general information only. It is not legal, tax, financial or investment advice. For specific circumstances, consult Consumer Affairs Victoria, the relevant local council and qualified professionals.

References to governments, political parties, MPs and the Victorian election are included to record public policy developments and issues discussed by the community. APOA does not endorse or oppose any political party, candidate or voting choice.