In short
Short answer: the Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO) is a Victorian planning overlay set out in clause 45.03 of the Victoria Planning Provisions and applied to land through each council's planning scheme. In the clause's own words, its first purpose is: “To ensure that potentially contaminated land is suitable for a use which could be significantly adversely affected by any contamination”. (Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria), verified 27 Sep 2026)
An overlay sits on top of the land's zone and adds controls for one issue, whatever the zone is; a lot can carry several.
What it typically means for a buyer (Delora editorial, not legal advice): The land may be contaminated from past uses. Housing and other sensitive uses typically need an environmental audit or risk screen first.
Check whether the Environmental Audit Overlay applies to an address with Address Check. For a decision on a specific property, the official record is a Planning Property Report from VicPlan, and the council's schedule sets the local detail.
What the clause says
Clause 45.03 of the Victoria Planning Provisions (Environmental Audit Overlay) states its purposes as: to ensure that potentially contaminated land is suitable for a use which could be significantly adversely affected by any contamination. (Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria), verified 27 Sep 2026)
Ask your conveyancer: Has an environmental audit or preliminary risk screen been completed, and what did it conclude?
Shown on planning scheme maps as EAO.
How much of Victoria this covers
From the 2899 sample suburbs Address Check's export has processed so far — a lower bound, not a statewide total, until the export runs statewide.
32,043 land parcels and 119,882 addresses in the sample so far.
Councils with the most coverage
- Greater Dandenong (4579 lots)
- Maribyrnong (3135 lots)
- Yarra (2196 lots)
- Kingston (1998 lots)
- Wyndham (1923 lots)
- Merri-bek (1912 lots)
Suburbs with the highest share
- West Melbourne — 74% of addresses checked (7176)
- Travancore — 58% of addresses checked (876)
- Port Melbourne — 47% of addresses checked (6798)
- Heatherton — 44% of addresses checked (653)
- Collingwood — 43% of addresses checked (3652)
- Maribyrnong — 33% of addresses checked (2590)