Victorian Local Governance Association chief executive Maree McPherson said the former state government's decision to give councils 37 days instead of 60 days to consider gaming applications needed to be reversed.

"It is simply not long enough for the community's views to be gathered by a council staff member and, with other technical information, presented back to the elected council," Ms McPherson said.

She said if community consultation could not be done in the restricted time, it would happen later in the process when it was too late to be considered by councils and gaming regulators.

Ms McPherson is seeking a meeting with Gaming Minister Michael O'Brien this month to discuss the issue and remind him of the Coalition's election pledge to promote genuine community consultation on gaming.

Mr O'Brien said he did not oppose "streamlining" pokies applications and would keep the changes unless any problems could be shown.

"The Coalition said last year when the amendment was debated in Parliament that we would keep a close watch on whether or not Labor's measures unduly affected councils or communities," Mr O'Brien said. "Our position remains the same in government."

InterChurch Gambling Taskforce chair Mark Zirnsak supported the calls for more time to process applications and said the idea of community consultation needed to be taken more seriously in light of the financial and social impact associated with pokies.

"We currently have a problem where councils and local communities are not given sufficient consideration on whether they want gaming venues or not," Mr Zirnsak said. "There should be much greater power to local governments on these decisions."

Whittlesea Council sustainability planning manager Jon Rawlings said the council would be lobbying the government for a longer timeline. "Council believes this is not a realistic timeline given that research must be commissioned and completed and then reported to council."