Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
from local accountability as they are managed by public–private partnerships that
operate like private corporations but are authorised to use public funds to leverage
private investment. For example, WestConnex is managed by the Sydney Motorway
Corporation, a private company established by NSW government in 2014.
This poses questions about what level of government is best placed to resolve
contested urban policy challenges, how projects are funded and which urban actors
should be involved. Some argue that urban policy should locate responsibility
and funding for urban intiatives in the level of government where they are most
effectively addressed; urban scholars often conclude that this will be at the level of
metropolitan regions. In Sydney, bodies such as the Greater Sydney Commission
evidence the state government’s commitment to metropolitan city governance (but
not government).
Metropolitan planning and governance
Currently, state and territory governments have responsibility for creating strategic
plans for Australia’s metropolitan regions. Strategic planning at a metropolitan level
is a framework for and expression of urban policy. As such, it is highly political
and is subject to a great deal of contestation – such as debates over whether new
developments should replace farmland on the urban fringe, the provision and
location of public and social housing, and the gentrification of neighbourhoods and
displacement of poorer residents. 30 Recent and ongoing struggles in inner Sydney
provide pertinent examples, such as the private transport-led redevelopment of
government-owned land and public housing in Waterloo and the sale of public
housing in Miller’s Point.
Metropolitan planning for Australia’s capital city regions is longstanding but
is increasingly subject to debates about whether it can meet the challenges posed.
Reflecting the shift from equity to efficiency goals, market-driven development has
led to rising socio-spatial inequality since the 1980s. In Sydney, the term ‘latte
line’ 31 has been used to describe the divide between the well-connected, affluent
and skilled jobs-rich inner suburbs and the poorly connected, highly car dependent
outer suburbs, which lack employment opportunities. In turn, the phrase ‘new
urban divide’ was coined to describe the spatial mismatches that strategic planning
seeks to address:
The housing market and transport systems in Australian cities [are] creating an
increasing divide between people and jobs, forcing people into trade-offs between
financial security and family time, and making social connection much harder. 32
30 Howe, Nichols and Davison 2014.
31 Saulwick 2016.
32 Kelly and Donegan 2015, 76.
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