What is on the horizon for planning, environment and climate change in Victoria?

Introduction

In the wake of the Labor party conceding defeat, the new Liberal National Government (Government) will begin to introduce its election policies. There are three key policy plans in the environmental space:

• Planning
• Water
• Energy and Resources

This legal update provides a summary of the key aspects of each of these plans.

In general terms, the Government's policies for Planning include commitments to reducing delays, improving affordability, increased transparency, and (the ever-desirable but inevitably conflicting) certainty and flexibility. There is also a major focus on decisions being made at local level.

The Government's policies on Water and Energy and Resources, while stated in very broad terms, are underpinned by a new focus on the recycling of water and the development of renewable energy technology and projects to 're-balance' the Victorian electricity portfolio. 'Re-balance' appears to be the Government's way of saying that