Australia’s state of Victoria has announced a ban on natural gas connections in all new homes and residential subdivisions, effective January 1, 2024 C.E. New public buildings — schools, hospitals, police stations, and other government-owned structures — must go all-electric immediately, even before the residential rules take effect. The move is the most sweeping gas ban by any Australian state, targeting the jurisdiction with the country’s highest household gas use.
At a glance
- Gas ban: From January 1, 2024 C.E., all new homes and residential subdivisions in Victoria — including public and social housing — must connect to all-electric networks only.
- Energy bill savings: The state government projects that an all-electric new home will save its owner roughly $1,000 per year in energy costs, rising to $2,200 for households that also install solar panels.
- Emissions target: Victoria’s gas sector accounts for 17 percent of the state’s total emissions; the ban supports state targets of 75–80 percent emissions reduction by 2035 C.E. and net zero by 2045 C.E.
Why Victoria, and why now
Victoria stands out sharply on Australia’s energy map. Around 80 percent of Victorian homes currently use gas — the highest share of any state in the country. That dependence has costs beyond the climate: gas appliances produce indoor air pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illness, and carry carbon monoxide risks that no level of ventilation fully eliminates.
In 2021 C.E., Infrastructure Victoria released a report recommending the state government reduce gas use, remove barriers to all-electric developments, and review natural gas use in government operations. The 2024 C.E. ban translates that recommendation into policy. As Environment Victoria CEO Jono La Nauze put it: “We have a major problem with gas use, and this will stop the problem getting worse.”
The timing also reflects a changing economics of energy. Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said building an all-electric home already costs less than installing a gas connection. With Victoria’s electricity grid actively transitioning away from coal toward renewables, the efficiency gap is expected to widen. Modern reverse-cycle air conditioners are roughly five times more efficient than gas heaters, and induction stoves are faster, safer, and cleaner than gas burners — advantages that compound as the grid gets greener.
Health and climate voices align
Medical professionals have been among the most consistent advocates for this kind of policy. Healthy Futures, representing 150 Victorian healthcare workers and 30 health organizations, welcomed the ban as a major step against air pollution. Coordinator Harry Jennens noted that children living in homes with gas stoves face a higher risk of developing asthma, and that gas appliances can cause death through carbon monoxide poisoning.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) both endorsed the announcement. RACGP co-deputy chair Aadhil Aziz said the government was “listening to medical professionals” and treating climate and health as connected problems — which, in this case, they are.
This kind of policy sits squarely among the clean energy milestones being reached by governments around the world as the economics of electrification shift decisively.
Industry response: support with caveats
The Master Builders Association described the announcement as a step toward a cleaner and more sustainable industry, though its CEO Michaela Lihou called for adequate stakeholder engagement to account for the varied energy needs of different building types and consumers. Plumbers raised sharper objections: Master Plumbers CEO Peter Daly said the industry was not consulted before the announcement and described the $1 million transition package for the broader construction sector as “completely unrealistic” given the scale of change required.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny confirmed a transition period for homes already in the permit and approval process. The government said changes to Victorian planning provisions would be accompanied by consultation with industry and local government. Whether that process fully addresses the gaps flagged by the plumbing trade remains to be seen.
The Victorian Greens, who had campaigned for this ban, also noted a tension in the policy: while the government was banning new gas connections in homes, it was simultaneously making it easier to open new gas mines and approving new gas drilling across the state, including near the 12 Apostles. That contradiction points to a broader challenge: the transition away from gas as a domestic fuel is only one part of eliminating Victoria’s dependence on the fossil fuel.
What comes next
Existing homes — which account for the vast majority of Victoria’s gas use — are not covered by the ban. Retrofitting them represents the next and far harder challenge. La Nauze acknowledged this directly, calling it the government’s “next challenge.” Changing gas appliances and connections in an established home is expensive, and without targeted support programs, lower-income households could be left behind in the transition.
The Energy Efficiency Council, however, was optimistic about the financial case for switching. CEO Luke Menzel said that for homeowners in Melbourne carrying a 25-year mortgage, the energy bill savings from going all-electric could, if applied to loan repayments, cut two years off the mortgage. At a time of high interest rates and cost-of-living pressure, that is a practical argument that goes beyond environmental idealism.
Victoria joins a growing number of jurisdictions — including several U.S. jurisdictions that have updated building energy codes — in treating new construction as the most cost-effective place to break the gas habit. The International Energy Agency has noted that heat pumps and induction cooking already outperform gas on efficiency in most climates. And with Australia’s rooftop solar capacity continuing to expand, the all-electric home is increasingly powered by sunshine rather than coal.
The ban does not solve every problem. The construction industry needs more education, more funding, and more lead time than this announcement initially provided. And for the many Victorians already living in gas-connected homes, the policy offers no direct benefit yet. But for every home built from 2024 C.E. onward, it locks in a cleaner, cheaper, healthier energy future from the foundation up.
Read more
For more on this story, see: ABC News — Victoria bans natural gas in new homes
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Australia’s rooftop solar boom: 3.5 million panels installed
- Ethiopia bans fossil fuel vehicles and goes electric-only
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Australia
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