Yarra Ranges Council is calling on the State Government to further engage Councils on its upcoming Planning Amendment Bill, to help achieve more housing in Victoria.
The State Government has introduced the Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025 to Parliament, proposing significant changes to the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
Yarra Ranges Mayor, Cr Richard Higgins, said that Councils were asking the State Government to work more with local governments to ensure community needs would be met.
"We wholeheartedly support the State Government's goal of having more homes for Victorians and want to work with the Government to make this goal a reality," Cr Higgins said.
"While we support having more homes, we don't support cutting corners that will create massive problems for future generations.
"Winding back public notice provisions, for example, will eliminate a crucial quality control measure for developments; local knowledge can identify important issues.
"Meanwhile, the bill's provisions for affordable housings miss great opportunities to have a mandatory contribution mechanism for developers. Without it, the bill ignores one of our greatest challenges: the need for actually affordable housing locally."
Cr Higgins said that Yarra Ranges and the Municipal Association of Victoria, a group representing the state's Councils, were ready and willing to help improve the bill.
"Simply put, the bill has a great ambition, but we think it doesn't yet reflect the needs of our communities," he said.
"Councils have a great working relationship with the State Government, and we hope we can partner with them on this bill to make meaningful, positive local changes.
"Without our communities represented and the bill amended, we're concerned that there won't be proper quality control and future generations will suffer as a result.
"Working together, we can help ensure there are more homes for Victorians, better affordability, and peace-of-mind as next generations grow into their communities."
