The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has issued a call for a collaborative and comprehensive overhaul of Victoria’s 37-year-old planning system, warning that piecemeal reforms risk repeating past failures and sidelining local government.
In its April 2025 submission Reforming Victoria’s Planning System, MAV outlines 16 key recommendations and reaffirms councils’ critical role as the system’s frontline administrators – handling the bulk of planning permit applications and being the public’s most visible planning contact.
The submission calls for a “reset” of how state and local governments work together, urging the Victorian Government to commit to a full rewrite of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, guided by shared objectives: transparency, integrity, sustainability, and community trust.
Crucially, MAV warns that state reforms to date – including fast-tracked development pathways and rezoning changes – have often bypassed councils, creating implementation burdens without consultation or support.
“Local planners are bearing the brunt of rushed reforms while being shut out of their design,” the submission states.
“Planning integrity, community trust and effective delivery all suffer when councils are excluded.”
Among the submission’s proposals are:
- A statutory body jointly led by state and local government to oversee ongoing planning reform
- A net zero emissions objective embedded into the Act, alongside updated affordable housing mechanisms and more equitable infrastructure contribution models
- Restoring regional planning through revived growth plans co-designed with councils
Notably absent from the state’s recent reforms, MAV argues, is meaningful engagement on structural changes to the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP), despite these changes drastically expanding planning schemes’ complexity.
For example, the average planning scheme grew from 127 pages pre-1996 to over 500 pages today.
The submission also stresses that over-reliance on ministerial discretion and reduced third-party input undermines social licence for planning decisions – a critical risk as Victoria grapples with housing, climate, and infrastructure challenges.
“We cannot achieve transformative change without public trust,” MAV warns.
“That trust rests on local voice, transparent process, and partnership between state and local government.”
