The Property Council of Australia (PCA) has released a report claiming that Australia’s large cities are suffering from “governance fragmentation”. With the exception of Brisbane, the PCA argues that local councils in Australia’s big cities only cover a very small percentage of their overall population, and have limited ability to influence planning decisions across their metropolitan areas. Instead, planning powers in metropolitian areas outside their control are left in the hands of state governments, which the PCA argues does not have a good record in this area.
The PCA, therefore, contends that this “fragmentation” makes it hard for Australian cities to develop as global economic centres. From The AFR:
