Local governments can show national governments how to plan better: integrated planning and reporting reforms in Australia

In most states of Australia, legislation for some form of integrated strategic planning enables local communities to move towards the centre of decision-making and planning for a better future. Experience with these laws is now being researched to determine if the principles and process they embody could also work at the national level. The first part of this paper focuses on the specific model of ‘Integrated Planning and Reporting’ in New South Wales, while the second part discusses how a modified form of the concept could work nationally.