Email your Upper House MPs about the Better Decisions Made Faster Bill

What is this page?
This page, prepared by Planning Democracy, helps you send a personal email to key members of the Victorian Legislative Council about the Planning and Environment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Bill 2025.

How it works:
• Enter your postcode and we will identify your Legislative Council (Upper House) region.
• We then address your email to the members for that region, as well as key crossbench members who are important to this Bill.
• You can see who will receive your email before it is sent.

The Bill significantly expands the powers of the Minister for Planning and reduces the role of Parliament, local councils and the community in planning decisions. Many councils and community groups are calling for the Bill to be properly scrutinised by a Parliamentary Inquiry before it is passed.
Among other concerns home owners may not have the right to be notified, view plans, object or appeal to VCAT against a 3 to 6 storey building next to their property.

The form below gives you a starting point for your email. Please personalise it with your own experiences and concerns so that MPs can better understand the real impacts on local people and neighbourhoods.

The email form

Start by entering your postcode and contact details, then click "Look up my region". We'll show you which MPs your email will be sent to.

Postcode Subject Your message (please personalise – speak from your own experience and concerns)

Dear Member of the Legislative Council,

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 Parliament, ideally through a Parliamentary Inquiry. It is important that time is taken to ensure competing interests are balanced appropriately and that housing supply is not compromised by poor planning decisions.

In particular, I am asking that you support:
- Parliamentary scrutiny of this Bill through a formal Inquiry
- Reinstating protections that hold the Minister for Planning accountable to Parliament
- Controls on the Minister's power to exclude landowners from changes to planning rules and development that affect their land

My concern is that this Bill erodes community trust in planning decisions by reducing community rights, weakening transparency and removing Parliamentary oversight of planning rule changes. It leaves the most critical details to be determined solely by the Minister, with no requirement to work meaningfully with local councils.

I am particularly concerned about ensuring:
- the Minister remains accountable to Parliament for her decisions
- the community does not lose further rights to participate in planning decisions and permit applications that affect them
- local councils genuinely participate in decisions about the detail and implementation of the Bill

The Bill removes or substantially reduces community rights, including the right to know about:
- planning rule changes that affect their home and land
- proposals for 3–6 storey developments that affect liveability, including sunlight to solar panels, privacy and amenity

This Bill fundamentally alters the democratic rights of Victorians. By excluding the community's right to know and object, important local knowledge that supports good planning decisions will be lost, increasing the risk of costly and irreversible mistakes.

Of particular concern is that the Bill removes Parliament's existing power (under section 38) to review and disallow planning rules made without consultation. This is currently the only safeguard against misuse of the Minister's expanded planning powers.

The Bill has been drafted by Government without consultation with local councils – the very planners responsible for making planning laws work – and without any meaningful community consultation.

Examples of how rights may be affected include:
- No right to appeal at VCAT against a non-compliant 6-storey development next door, with councils required to approve applications within 30 days
- Development in heritage areas proceeding without councils having adequate time to obtain expert heritage advice
- The Minister preventing anyone other than adjoining owners from knowing about high-impact planning changes

I therefore ask that you support referring this Bill to a Parliamentary Inquiry and support amendments that protect democratic oversight, community participation and good planning outcomes.

Yours sincerely,

Your name and street address will be added to the end of the email so MPs know it is a genuine local message.

Your full name Street, Suburb, Postcode Your email (for Reply-To and test/dry run) Email yourself a copy (for your records) Test only (send to "Your email" only, not to MPs)

Tips for personalising your message

Briefly say where you live (e.g. suburb, local government area).
Explain how changes to planning rules could affect your street, home, local centre or community.
Mention any specific concerns (heritage, overshadowing, loss of trees, traffic, local services, etc.).
Keep your message respectful, clear and in your own words – MPs respond best to genuine local stories.

This tool is provided by Planning Democracy to assist community members to contact their elected representatives. Your details are used only to send your email and to copy it to you if requested.