Queenscliff and Port Fairy are to receive “millions of dollars in grants to help them prevent losing their charm as ''sea-changers'' move in.”  BUT places like Williamstown which are only a short journey for Melbourne residents to visit and accessible by public transport and ferries are being slowly destroyed by developer led planning....

See  this article in The Age for information on regional support by the state government.

The Age

by Paul Austin
June 15, 2010 - 3:00AM

“VICTORIA'S main regional cities will grow faster but sensitive coastal areas will be better protected from over-development under a population plan to be unveiled by Premier John Brumby today.

Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and the Latrobe Valley will be earmarked for population booms over the next 15 years in a bid to ease some of the ''growing pains'' evident on Melbourne's clogged roads and overcrowded trains.

But the heritage coastal towns of Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula and Port Fairy on the south-west coast, as well as Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland, will get millions of dollars in grants to help them prevent losing their charm as ''sea-changers'' move in........”

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/push-for-regional-growth-20100614-ya73.html