What Are Ministerial Directions? A Guide to Victoria's Planning Tool

If you've ever dug into how planning schemes get written or changed in Victoria, you've probably come across the term "Ministerial direction." It sounds bureaucratic, but the concept is fairly straightforward once you break it down.

The Basics

A Ministerial direction is exactly what it sounds like: an instruction from the Minister for Planning to planning authorities (usually local councils) about how they must go about preparing planning schemes and amendments. Rather than leaving councils to interpret the rules however they see fit, these directions set consistent, mandatory requirements that apply across the state.

The legal foundation for the main direction on planning scheme format sits in the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Specifically, planning authorities must comply with the Ministerial direction on the form and content of planning schemes, issued under Section 7(5) of that Act. This particular direction governs the layout and mandatory information every planning scheme must contain, and it also applies whenever an amendment is made to a scheme. It's meant to be read alongside the Victoria Planning Provisions, the standardised framework that underpins every planning scheme in the state.

Directions Are Numbered, and They're Not All Active

Victoria currently has a series of numbered Ministerial directions in force, covering a wide range of planning concerns. A few examples of what's currently active:

• Direction 1 Potentially contaminated land

• Direction 11 Strategic assessment of amendments

• Direction 12 Urban Growth Areas

• Direction 13 Managing Coastal Hazards

• Direction 14 Ports Environs

• Direction 17 Localised Planning Statements

• Direction 19 Amendments that may affect the environment, amenity, or human health

• Direction 20 Major Hazard Facilities

• Direction 22 Climate Change Consideration

There are also directions covering more specialised areas, like the preparation of development contributions plans, infrastructure contributions plans, and green wedge management plans.

What's notable is that these numbers aren't permanent labels for permanent rules; directions get revoked and replaced over time as policy priorities shift. Victoria maintains an archive of revoked directions (things like the old Urban Growth Boundary direction or the Rural Residential Development direction), which is a useful reminder that planning policy is a living system, not a static rulebook.

Why They Matter

For anyone working in or around the planning system, councils, consultants, developers, the key takeaway is this: when preparing a planning scheme or an amendment, you're not just working from the Planning and Environment Act and the Victoria Planning Provisions. You also have to actively consider every current Ministerial direction relevant to your amendment. Skipping this step isn't just an oversight; it can undermine the validity of the process.

Where to Find Them

The Department of Transport and Planning maintains the full, current list of directions (plus local provision templates for drafting compliant ordinances) on its Guides and Resources section. Given how often directions are added, revoked, or updated, it's worth checking the source directly rather than relying on a static summary, particularly if you're actually drafting an amendment.