One of the roles of the Growth Areas Authority (GAA) is to identify land for future employment to locate jobs closer to where people live.
The GAA is identifying business clusters where firms can work more successfully if located together, and creating synergies through greater economic activity close to transport and activity centres.
One new employment area is in Bundoora, where global companies have been attracted to MAB's transformation of the 104 hectare University Hill site.
The site is attracting major retail, manufacturing and business employers, and has a target of 3,000 new jobs.
The Authority is also addressing a shortfall of zoned employment land in Melbourne's north. Working with the City of Hume and two major developers, the GAA is accelerating the planning and release of 700 hectares of new employment land providing up to 17,000 new jobs in the area. The Merrifield site rezoning was gazetted in February 2008 after a streamlined planning process.
The growth area framework plans are also identifying well-located land sufficient to meet the expected needs of business and large-scale industry for the next 25 years.
The GAA is helping to identify industry land requirements for Casey-Cardinia, Hume and Wyndham.