It’s only recently that greater Brisbane has had an integrated ticketing system (the Go Card) for its public transport.  Initiatives such as integrated ticketing (and the SEQ Regional Plan) reflect a growing appreciation, across Australia, that there needs to be an integration of systems and strategic planning at the metropolitan (rather than the individual council) level.

The new KPMG report Spotlight on Australian Cities contains a useful guide to the state of metropolitan planning in Australia.  Brisbane ranks second to Melbourne in terms of performance against Council of Australian Governments (COAG) criteria for strategic planning frameworks and their implementation.  Adelaide, Perth and Canberra fill the third to fifth places, and Sydney comes in sixth, beating only Darwin and Hobart.

These rankings seem to make sense.  Melbourne has a reasonable history of metropolitan thinking, since the establishment of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board in 1918, and SEQ has directed a lot of attention to regional planning in recent years in order to cope with population pressures (and the water crisis).

Some media attention has been given to the KPMG report’s call for a new Commonwealth Cabinet Minister responsible for urban issues.  This is a good idea, although it may be a role that Australia’s new Population Minister, Tony Burke, could take on, once he delivers his report on managing Australia’s population growth next year (assuming no change of Government).  Clearly metropolitan planning is a key part of responding to the pressures of population growth.

Finally, I’m unsure about the report’s recommendation that State and Territory Governments issue “infrastructure development bonds” to help fund infrastructure.  The Treasury Corporations of these Governments are already sellling bonds (i.e., borrowing money), largely to fund infrastructure needs, and I can’t see how stamping them as “infrastructure development bonds” would help the Treasury Corporations get a better deal from the major financial players who buy the bonds.  Still, with all the sovereign debt out there globally, which our State and Territory bonds have to compete with, it may be necessary to think creatively about how to fund infrastructure in the future.