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Dear Community Groups
Please find below urgent information regarding the Planning and Environment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill which is currently before parliament. It may be presented to the Upper House as soon as this Wednesday. All Victorians will be affected. Please consider emailing your concerns to the Upper House MPs.
As a matter of urgency community Groups are asked to request their members write to certain Victorian Upper House MPs and a parliamentary committee, the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, asking for the Bill to be reviewed by Parliament.
The Bill makes major changes to how our streets and local communities are planned yet neither local councils nor the community has had any say in the changes. The Bill will have profound impacts upon the community’s role in planning and is broadening the powers of the Minister at the expense of councils. The Bill is being rushed through Parliament, probably this week.
Below are some suggested points for the emails to MPs. It is important that your own words are used as much as possible. Otherwise we find MPs don’t put weight on the number of emails actually sent. Further detail and ideas are included below should you wish to know more.
If you have ever objected to a planning permit, you could reference any positive outcomes achieved, e.g retention of a tree or new information about a heritage place that prevented it from demolition or changes that improved environmental outcomes.
Thank you for contributing to the pressure on MPs to ensure this Bill is properly considered by Parliament and not rushed through.
You can copy and paste these email addresses including the commas, straight into your message
Dear [name of MP]
I am contacting you regarding the Planning and Environment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025.
Due to the over-reaching power that this Bill will confer on the Minister for Planning and the lack of consultation with councils, I am urging you to ensure the Bill receives proper scrutiny in the Parliament, ideally through an Inquiry. It is important that time is taken to ensure the Bill enable competing interests to be balanced appropriately and housing supply not compromised by poor planning decisions.
I am particularly concerned about ensuring:
- the Minister remains accountable to Parliament for her decisions
- the community does not lose any more rights to participate in decisions on planning matters and permit applications that affect them
- that local councils genuinely participate in decisions about the detail of the Bill
Yours sincerely
Include your name and address
DOT POINTS FOR AN EMAIL TO MPs – choose from the selection.
Your email does not need to be comprehensive.
What do you ask for:
- Parliamentary scrutiny of the Planning and Environment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025 by a Parliamentary Inquiry
- Reinstate protections in the Act that hold the Minister for Planning accountable to Parliament
- Require controls on the Minister’s power to exclude land owners from changes to planning rules and development that affects their land
Why are you asking?
The Bill erodes community trust in planning decisions by reducing community rights, eroding transparency and removing Parliamentary oversight of planning rule changes.
The Bill leaves the most important details to the Minister to determine with no requirement to work with local councils.
The Bill removes or substantially reduces community rights including the right to know about:
- planning rules changes that affect their home and land
- plans for 3–6 storey developments that affect the liveability of their own home, including sunlight to solar panels
Arguments to Support Your Asks
- The Bill fundamentally changes the democratic rights of Victorians. It entrenches the power for a Minister for Planning to unilaterally change planning rules.
- Excluding the community’s right to know and object risks community knowledge—critical to good planning decisions—not being provided. Costly mistakes will be made.
- The Bill extinguishes the power Parliament currently has—in section 38—to review and disallow planning rules the Minister may make without consultation. This is the only safeguard Parliament and Victorians have against a Minister’s broad planning powers being misused.
- The Bill gives the Minister for Planning the power to silence the community whenever she chooses on matters that directly affect them.
The Bill before Parliament
- has been drafted by Government without consultation with local councils, the very planners who are responsible for making planning laws work
- has had no community consultation
Examples of how rights are being affected
- No right to go to VCAT for 6 storey development next door that does not comply with building code. Councils must approve the application within 30 days.
- Development in heritage areas could occur without councils having time to obtain the heritage advice needed to protect heritage.
- The Minister can prevent anyone other than adjoining owners knowing about high-impact planning changes.
Please let us know of your local community action via email: editor@planningdemocracy.com
Monica
Editor, Planning Democracy Newsletter
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