The state’s competing priorities to go green but also encourage the building of 80,000 new homes a year for the next decade has caused the ambiguity,giving a get out clause to anyone wanting to build on land under 300sq metres.
Victoria’s gas connection ban will apply to granny flats,but now new homes without planning permits.Adobe Stock
The gas ban is among a raft of new laws coming into effect on January 1,including an early shutdown of native logging,higher taxes on vacant residential land and increased powers for Victoria Police to charge for supporting major events.
Under Victoria’s Gas Substitution Road Map,a government plan to reduce the usage of natural gas,any new home which must apply for a planning permit will not be allowed to connect to the gas network.
However,the government has confirmed that this does not cover thousands of properties that the state has targeted with relaxed regulations as part of its Housing Statement,announced in September.
The statement included a rule change that meant approximately 34,400 small residential lots no longer needed a planning permit to build a new home. Dwellings that meet this description will not be covered by the gas ban.
Premier Jacinta Allan at the announcement of the granny flat scheme.Simon Schluter
Another reform allows the building of second small homes,sometimes known as granny flats,on up to 702,450 eligible blocks over 300sq m without a planning permit.
But any homes built under that rules will be covered by the gas ban and required to go all electric,even if they are on properties with existing connections.
A review process in 2024 will consider whether Victoria should expand the gas ban further,including to some commercial buildings. It will also assess the costs and benefits of requiring homes to replace gas appliances that reach the end of their useful life with electric products.
A government spokeswoman said the policies would ease financial pressure on households,citing high gas prices.
“We’re helping more Victorians move away from gas appliances,replacing them with cheaper,safer,more modern electrical appliances,” she said.
Australian Gas Infrastructure Group chief executive Craig de Laine said the state was looking to remove the right of Victorians to choose how they heat their homes,and should instead be promoting the use of renewable gas options which can be used in the existing network.
He said Victoria’s electricity network still relied on a significant portion of brown coal generation,which was responsible for much higher emissions than natural gas.
“If the Victorian government continues down this path,it will increase energy costs for the majority of customers,it will increase emissions in the economy and the state,and it will push jobs out of the state,” de Laine said.
New residential dwellings built in Victoria after January 1 will not be able to install gas connections,the government has announced.
Opposition energy spokesman David Davis said the government’s gas policies had “more holes than Swiss cheese” and raised concerns about upfront costs for households going electric.
“Some estimates are in the range of $10,000 in additional costs,which will thump families during a cost of living crisis,” he said.
Other changes coming into effect from January 1,include a ban on native logging,which the state government brought forward from 2030,blaming ongoing court defeats that had crippled the ability to harvest timber.
Environment groups praised the move,but it was slammed by the CFMEU’s manufacturing division and the native timber industry who were furious with the process and said their efforts to negotiate a more gradual exit had been ignored.
Victoria’s Treasurer Tim Pallas announces Victoria will expand its tax on vacant residential land.Joe Armao
In law and order,Victoria Police will be able to charge higher costs for responding to major events. Police have previously been able to bill for services inside an event’s boundary,but the changes will allow them to impose costs for outside these zones,such as managing traffic or maintaining public order.
It will be required from New Year’s Day that the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service be notified when an Aboriginal person is taken into custody.
New federal laws to limit vaping to people with a prescription will apply from January 1. The first stage of the rollout begins with an import ban on single-use products and an expanded access scheme for medical use from the start of 2024.
Vacant Residential Land Tax,a 1 per cent charge on unoccupied homes,will be expanded from inner and middle Melbourne to all of Victoria. The tax has also been widened to include residential land that is vacant and undeveloped,if it has not been improved over five years.
New laws will limit the ability of developers and owners to pass on the costs of land tax and Windfall Gains Tax by tacking them on as an item in sales contracts.
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