Referral authority (VIC)

A referral authority is a body that a Victorian planning permit application must be referred to where an overlay or constraint triggers it, a CFA (bushfire), Melbourne Water (drainage and flooding), the EPA, a utility, or a heritage body. Its conditions or objection bind the outcome. It is the Victorian counterpart to the Queensland referral agency.

When a proposal triggers a referral (because of a zone, an overlay, or a threshold), the responsible authority must refer it under the Planning and Environment Act. Referral authorities come in two kinds, and the difference matters:

• Determining referral authority: its say is binding. If it objects, the responsible authority must refuse; if it requires conditions, they must go on the permit. (CFA in a Bushfire Management Overlay is the classic example.)
• Recommending referral authority: it provides advice the responsible authority must consider but can weigh against other matters.

Either way, the referral adds statutory time to the assessment, and referral triggers are the most common cause of Victorian permit delays.

For a builder the practical points are to identify the referral triggers for a site early (the overlays on the planning property report are the tell), because you cannot control a referral authority’s timeframe and a determining authority can sink or reshape the permit. Address the authority’s concerns up front, a compliant bushfire assessment for the CFA, a drainage strategy for Melbourne Water, so the referral comes back clean rather than as conditions or an objection. Treating a determining referral authority as a formality is how a Victorian permit gets refused or stalls.

Also known as: Determining/recommending referral authority, s55 referral.

Category: Planning / Victoria.

Related

• VIC DA process
• Responsible authority

See also

• Referral agency

References

• VIC DA process (Chalkline) (verified 2026-06-03)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03. Verified: 2026-06-03. Quarterly review for currency.