Insights Library
INDUSTRY ALERT: Key implications arising from the recent Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024
The Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024 (Bill) seeks to introduce several of the housing reforms outlined in the State Government’s Housing Statement released in late 2023.
The reforms sought to be introduced by the Bill, relevant to planning in Victoria, include the following:
- Planning permit applications
- General amendments and clarifying powers of the Responsible Authority, including further guidance as to persons who are considered to be likely to suffer a material detriment as a result of an application.
- Metropolitan Planning Levies
- Including enabling exemptions from payment of that fee in circumstances where a fee has already been paid for substantially the same application.
- Planning scheme amendments
- Formalising the process for proponent led amendments.
- Affording the Minister the power to continue to consider planning scheme amendments in circumstances where a responsible authority has abandoned it or to consider amendment applications which are less complex and which do not necessitate referral to a planning panel.
- Planning Panels having authority to deem submissions frivolous, vexatious or wholly irrelevant or where multiple submissions are received which agitate the same issues, consider them as one submission.
- Compensation claims
- Requiring that interest be payable on amounts of compensation awarded by VCAT or the Supreme Court of Victoria for financial loss claims under the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
- VCAT proceedings
- The Bill seeks to authorise the Tribunal to join multiple objectors as a single grouped party if the statement of grounds raises similar issues, or appointing one objector representative of a group of objectors, which represents efficiencies in hearing matters.
- Affording VCAT the ability to hear and determine matters ‘on the papers’, confine issues in dispute, impose time limits on submissions and dismiss aspects of objector cases which are not meritorious.
We are continuing to review the Bill and will provide further and more fulsome updates as they are to hand. The changes proposed by the Bill are likely to be significant. Please reach out to the Best Hooper Planning Team to discuss how these changes might affect you or your current and future applications.
