Submissions to planning scheme amendments that are considered by a planning authority to be frivolous, vexatious or wholly irrelevant to the amendment will no longer be able to be referred to a Panel.
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The Victorian Government released Victoria’s Housing Statement in September 2023, in which it announced it would build a modern, fit-for-purpose planning system.
Since then, the Department of Transport and Planning has been working on a legislative reform program to ensure Victoria’s planning system can meet the needs of councils, landowners, businesses and governments now and into the future.
We are reviewing and updating the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (PE Act) to establish and clarify timeframes for decisions. The reforms look at the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in our planning system, including councils, the Minister for Planning, and the Department of Transport and Planning.
Consumer and Planning Legislation (Housing Statement Reform) Act 2025
The Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Act 2025 has been passed by Parliament and received Royal Assent on 18 March 2025.
The amendments will progress the delivery of Victoria’s Housing Statement by implementing the recommendations of the Red Tape Commissioner’s 2021 report Turning Best Practice into Common Practice – Planning and Building Approvals Process Review Report to Government.
The Housing Statement Reform Act includes amendments to the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (PE Act) and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (VCAT Act) in relation to planning matters. It includes amendments to:
- planning scheme amendment and planning permit processes
- compensation claims for land reservations
- planning panels
- certain proceedings before VCAT
- Ministerial call-ins
- Metropolitan Planning Levy exemptions.
Amendments in relation to planning panels
Some of the amendments in the Housing Statement Reform Act in relation to Planning Panels came into operation on 15 October 2025.
Planning Panels can direct experts engaged in providing an opinion in a hearing about a matter addressed in a relevant submission considered by the panel to hold a conference and/or prepare a joint expert report. Matters discussed in such conferences or reports cannot, unless otherwise agreed, be referred to in any hearing to which it relates.
In instances where multiple, almost identical submissions are made to a planning scheme amendment, one submitter will be able to nominate to be the lead submitter, or if no decision to nominate is made, the Panel can nominate a submitter as the lead submitter.
Panels will be provided with the ability to consider matters based solely on written materials if it is satisfied that it will not need to consider a major issue of policy.
Amendments in relation to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
Some of the amendments in the Housing Statement Reform Act in relation to certain proceedings before VCAT came into operation on 15 October 2025.
VCAT may now treat two or more objectors as a group if their statements rely on similar grounds or raise similar issues. VCAT has been given additional power to actively case manage matters, including:
- conducting all or part of a proceeding entirely on the basis of documents.
- imposing time limits on parties making submissions, or the examination of witnesses, at a hearing.
- identifying at an early stage the issues involved in the proceeding; and
- encouraging parties to co-operate and/or settle proceedings.
The VCAT Act has been amended to:
- allow VCAT to order one party to a proceeding to serve notice on another regarding the time and place of hearing.
- allow VCAT to provide a summary of its reasoning for its decision to affirm or vary a decision under a planning enactment.
Other planning amendments
The default commencement date for the remaining amendments is 25 November 2025. We are currently working through implementation activities including any amendments required to the Planning and Environment Regulations 2015 (PE Regulations).
The remaining reforms include changes to:
- planning scheme amendments
- planning permits
- Ministerial call-ins and panels
- the Metropolitan Planning Levy
- planning compensation claims.
Planning scheme amendments
The ability for a person to request a council to prepare a planning scheme amendment will be formalised and the council will be required to advise the person and the Minister of their decision on the request. The council will need to provide reasons for not progressing a planning scheme amendment request.
The Minister will be allowed to elect to continue a planning scheme amendment (or part of a planning scheme amendment), if the amendment has been abandoned by the planning authority. The Minister becomes the planning authority for the remainder of the process.
A new low-impact pathway commensurate with the risk profile of less complex amendments is created. These amendments will go through public exhibition but not require planning panel hearings to resolve submissions. Classes of amendments suitable for this pathway may also be prescribed in the PE Regulations for a streamlined authorisation process.
Planning permits
Responsible authorities will have an opportunity to undertake an initial check within five business days of receipt of a permit application to determine if the required supporting information and application fee has been provided. If after a request for the information has been made the information is not provided, the application will be considered void and of no effect.
The amendments will enable clarification of the matters a responsible authority must consider when determining whether the grant of a permit may cause material detriment to others to assist responsible authorities in identifying who notice should be given to when giving notice of an application.
The default planning permit expiry times for the use and development of land will be extended from two years to three years to commence a use or development and five years to complete a development.
Ministerial call-ins and panels
The Minister is provided with the discretion to refer a planning permit application that has been called-in by the Minister to a planning panel by replacing in section 97E the term “must” for “may”.
Metropolitan Planning Levy (MPL)
The Minister will be able to exempt applicants from having to pay the MPL in certain circumstances, including where an MPL payment has already been made for substantially the same application.
Certain classes of applications and certain circumstances will also be able to be prescribed as not being leviable planning permit applications.
Planning compensation claims
New requirements for planning compensation claims include:
- a claim must be made in the prescribed form, and
- a claim must be accompanied by supporting evidence as specified by the Minister by Order in the Government Gazette.
The amendments also introduced a head of power to prescribe a rate of interest to be applied when there are disputes about compensation payable due to the reservation of land for public purposes. The prescribed rate of interest would be applied to the difference between the amount of the claim made by the landowner and the amount of compensation offered by the state.
Page last updated: 16/10/25