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Planning & building

Victoria’s planning and building systems should promote safe, healthy, and vibrant communities for all Victorians. Councils have a vital role in this. Councils are responsible for developing local planning policy, assessing the vast majority of planning permit applications, and have key responsibilities in enforcing both the planning and building systems.

Latest advocacy: The Planning Reform Campaign

Our campaign webpage Building Victoria's Housing Future, the Right Way hosts detail and resources, including social media collateral supporting our campaign to fix the Victorian Government’s Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025.

We also prepared the Local Government Position Paper (PDF - 2.6MB) on the Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025. This position aligns with MAV’s proactive submission on planning system reform submitted to government in April: Reforming Victoria’s Planning System (PDF - 1.9MB)

Our position includes detail on the legislative changes we need to see to make the Bill work for communities, based on key messages that the reform of the Planning & Environment Act is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape Victoria's future, and we need to ensure we get it right because:

  • Big change needs public trust
  • Planning reform alone won't deliver
  • The missed opportunity on affordable housing
  • Homes ready for the extremes to come
  • Partnership delivers better outcomes.

Councils support more homes. We don't support reforms that sacrifice both delivery and quality.

While the MAV has welcomed the Victorian Government’s commitment to modernise the Planning and Environment Act 1987, Victorians deserve a planning system that that meets today’s needs and our future challenges. The government’s Bill does not achieve these.

The campaign and our submissions emphasise the readiness of the sector to facilitate change to support thriving, resilient, and inclusive communities and has support from metropolitan, rural, and regional local councils.

We know that the key challenges currently impacting the effectiveness and efficiency of the Victorian planning system is a lack of collaboration and co-design between local and state government, and we propose a planning reform model that integrates system designers in state government with system administrators in local government.

Current priorities

We lead in capacity-building reform projects, and we represent councils in numerous State-led reviews and reforms in the planning and building spaces.

Our advocacy priorities in planning and building include:

  • Ensuring an effective Victorian planning system, which has local decision making at the centre
  • Acknowledging the need for planning and building systems to contribute to climate change mitigation as well as promote resilience and adaptation
  • Reforming Victoria’s building regulatory system to ensure Victorian families are protected from defective building work.
  • Working with councils, the Victorian Government, and non-government stakeholders to meet Victoria’s current and future housing needs.

We proudly host the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment.

Submissions and briefs

On behalf of the local government sector, we prepare submissions on a range of planning and building related topics.

Our public submissions are available on the MAV submissions page.

Resources

Engage with us

James McLean
Planning & Sustainable Development Lead
Contact: jmclean@mav.asn.au

Rohan Leppert
Senior Policy Advisor - Planning & Sustainable Development

Emlyn Breese
Co‐ordinator Research and Policy (please contact for building policy)
Contact: ebreese@mav.asn.au

Email: planning@mav.asn.au