Coordinating actions in cities
States and Territories, together with local governments, have primary responsibility to plan for urban growth and change. To support the States and Territories in this role, the Australian Government works cooperatively with these jurisdictions through COAG.
The Australian Government has significant investment in Australia's urban communities through its contribution to the development of economic, transport and other infrastructure; health, housing, education and training; and social services and welfare. These investments, together with a range of Commonwealth policies and regulatory activities, influence the way cities are planned, managed and developed. However, in the past, Commonwealth policies, investments and activities were not always coordinated with other levels of government, nor well understood from the spatial perspective of cities.
Council of Australian Governments' Reforms
On 7 December 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to nine criteria and a national objective to ensure Australian cities are globally competitive, productive, sustainable, liveable, socially inclusive and are well placed to meet future challenges and growth.
COAG agreed that by 1 January 2012, States and Territories will have in place plans that meet the criteria and noted that the Australian Government will link future infrastructure funding decisions to meeting these criteria. In order to do this, the Australian Government will:
- consider if State capital city strategic planning systems have met the criteria;
- have reference to, and endeavour to act in a manner consistent with, those capital city strategic planning systems which meet the national criteria; and
- consider whether there is a jurisdiction-specific mechanism to ensure independent and expert advice is provided to governments on the development and implementation of capital city strategic planning systems.
The Australian Government undertook to contribute to the reforms through:
- using its property and assets to support innovative urban development, wherever possible;
- better coordinating the management of Commonwealth properties, with State and local planning systems, including for airports, as outlined in the Aviation White Paper;
- better coordinating the management of Australian Government services, for example the location of major Australian Government service delivery facilities, with State, Territory and local planning systems, and
- better linking and streamlining approval processes under relevant Commonwealth legislation.
As part of these reforms, the COAG Reform Council (CRC) is currently undertaking a review of jurisdictions' capital city strategic planning systems against the nationally agreed criteria. This review will conclude by December 2011. Once the CRC has completed its review, the Australian Government will need to consider what further actions, if any, are necessary to deliver on our objective to provide more productive, sustainable and liveable cities. The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport will work with the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government and the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities in leading the Australian Government's activities in regard to cities' policy.
The National Urban Policy represents an important contribution from the Australian Government to the COAG cities reform agenda by:
- setting out national principles and priorities to guide States and Territories in the development of strategic planning systems to ensure our cities become more productive, sustainable and liveable;
- articulating how the Australian Government will coordinate its own policies, investment and activities in cities, in partnership with State, Territory and local governments, the private sector and communities; and
- outlining how the Australian Government will uphold the COAG agreement through its policies, investment and activities.
National Urban Policy — a clear direction for our cities
The National Urban Policy presents the Australian Government's agenda on the future shape of our cities. It is a long term, national framework to guide policy development and public and private investment in cities through articulating a set of goals, objectives and principles.
The goals of the National Urban Policy are:
- Productivity: To harness the productivity of Australia's people and industry, by better managing our use of labour, creativity and knowledge, land and infrastructure.
- Sustainability: To advance the sustainability of Australia's natural and built environment, including through better resource and risk management.
- Liveability: To enhance the liveability of our cities by promoting better urban design, planning and affordable access to recreational, cultural and community facilities.
These goals will be achieved through delivering on the following objectives:
Productivity
- Improve labour and capital productivity by:
- aligning workforce availability and capacity to meet labour force demand; and
- supporting education, research and innovation.
- Integrate land use and infrastructure by:
- integrating planning of land use, social and economic infrastructure;
- investing in urban passenger transport; and
- protecting corridors, sites and buffers.
- Improve the efficiency of urban infrastructure by:
- maximising returns on new and existing infrastructure;
- taking into account operational and maintenance costs of infrastructure and assets;
- connecting private investment capital to infrastructure and assets of high public benefit;
- utilising smart infrastructure; and
- enhancing connectivity through the National Broadband Network.
Sustainability
- Protect and sustain our natural and built environments by:
- protecting and enhancing natural ecosystems; and
- supporting sustainable development and refurbishment of our built environment.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality by:
- supporting and investing in low emissions technologies;
- putting a price on carbon; and
- facilitating regulatory reform.
- Manage our resources sustainably by:
- reducing resource consumption and waste; and
- improving water, energy and food security.
- Increase resilience to climate change, emergency events and natural hazards by:
- climate change science and research; and
- mitigation and adaptation.
Liveability
- Facilitate the supply of appropriate mixed income housing by:
- encouraging a range of housing types to suit diverse households across all parts of cities; and
- supporting the development of aged persons accommodation, including medium and high care.
- Support affordable living choices by:
- locating housing close to facilities and services, including jobs and public transport, in more compact mixed use development; and
- supporting new outer metropolitan housing with access to facilities, services and diverse education and employment opportunities.
- Improve accessibility and reduce dependence on private vehicles by:
- improving transport options; and
- reducing travel demand by co-location of jobs, people and facilities.
- Support community wellbeing by:
- providing access to social and economic opportunity;
- improving the quality of the public domain;
- improving public health outcomes;
- redressing spatially concentrated disadvantage; and
- enhancing access to cultural, sporting and recreational activity.
Governance
- Improve the planning and management of our cities by:
- facilitating a whole-of-governments' approach;
- integrating planning systems, infrastructure delivery and management; and
- encouraging best practice governance and applying the principle of subsidiarity.
- Streamline administrative processes by:
- improving the effectiveness and efficiency of approval processes for development; and
- encouraging participation and engagement with stakeholders.
- Evaluate progress against performance by:
- research, analysis and reporting.
The goals and objectives are also underpinned by the following principles which will guide policy and investment decision-making in relation to cities:
| Efficiency | Our cities and the social and economic infrastructure and services that support them should be planned and managed to maximise their efficient use. |
|---|---|
| Value for money | Investments in our cities should be cost-effective to return maximum benefits to communities and investors. |
| Innovation | The planning, design, construction and management of our cities require creative ideas and solutions to meet the current and future challenges. |
| Adaptability | Our cities need to be adaptable to changes in economy, population, demographics, technology and the environment. |
| Resilience | Our cities need to be resilient to events such as natural disasters, the effects of climate change and global socio-economic processes. |
| Equity | Our cities should support the equitable distribution of access to resources and opportunities, including education, jobs, housing, services and facilities. |
| Affordability | Households should have affordable options for where they live and work, how they travel and access services and facilities, and for leisure opportunities. |
| Subsidiarity | Planning and services should be delivered by the most local level of government that has sufficient scale and capability to reasonably deliver them. |
| Integration | Policies and programs need to be integrated across the different levels of government, across portfolios, and with industry and communities. |
| Engagement | Planning, policies and programs need to be informed by the views of all sectors of the community. |
The National Urban Policy commits the Australian Government to those principles and objectives for all future activities and investments which impact on major cities. It identifies areas of Commonwealth focus to advance its productivity, sustainability and liveability goals and objectives.
If www.budget.gov.au responds slowly or you are having trouble downloading a document, try one of the Budget Website Mirrors
Note: Where possible, Budget documents are available in HTML and for downloading in Portable Document Format(PDF). If you require further information on any of the tables or charts on this website, please contact The Treasury.
