MAV welcomes groundbreaking affordable housing amendments to Planning Bill

The MAV is pleased our sector-wide advocacy has resulted in changes to the Bill that directly implement recommendations in our LG Position: Planning Amendment Bill 2025:

• The creation of a new head of power to require affordable housing contributions as part of new development, with any funds collected in lieu of a physical contribution to be spent on new affordable housing in the same municipality. This is a groundbreaking improvement to Victoria’s planning system and something councils have been seeking for decades.
• The retention of the power of either House of Parliament to disallow planning scheme amendments: an important democratic check and balance on the Government of the day.
• Retaining “ecological processes” in the objectives of the Act. Ecological processes like the natural flow of water over land are essential considerations for flood-resilient land use and development planning.

We welcome the commitment from the Minister that public notice will remain a general requirement for new residential development proposed under ‘codes’ (such as the townhouse and low-rise code).

We also welcome the Minister’s commitment to include the MAV and councils in drafting regulations to implement the Bill.

The MAV will prepare a full brief on the amendments and commitments in the Bill for the local government sector in the coming weeks.

This is far from the end of the journey and our advocacy. As the Bill is implemented across the course of the next two years, we will continue our proactive work in highlighting the expertise of our councils and their communities.

Quotes attributable to the President, Cr Jennifer Anderson:

“We thank the Upper House for listening to councils after the State Government had excluded them from consultation on the Bill. Members of Parliament across the political spectrum drew extensively from local government submissions when debating the Bill.”

“We especially thank the crossbench members who moved amendments to the Bill and those who supported them from the Government and Opposition benches.”

“While we are disappointed that more amendments were not carried, those that were agreed are very significant. These amendments will produce better planning decisions.”

“The new affordable housing head of power is groundbreaking. It paves the way for inclusionary zoning, which councils have been consistently seeking for decades.”

“There is still a lot of work to do. Most of the detail has been left to the regulations. We are not going to rest – we will keep pushing for a more efficient planning system that communities can trust.”

“I want to thank all councils for supporting the MAV to develop the Local Government Position paper and for joining our campaign for better planning in Victoria. None of this would have been possible without the expertise and advocacy of the local government sector.”

Sean Rogasch
MAV Media and Communications Specialist
0497 808 421