This chapter takes up one of the fundamental democratic issues raised in Chapter 1: who are the people to whom governments ought to be responsible? The development of three levels of government in Australia and the fragmentation of local government have meant that this question has been answered in ways that are often unproductive for good metropolitan governance. This issue clearly has a strong institutional dimension (Chapter 2), which the chapter explores. The attitudes and behaviours of citizens contribute to the problems identified here (see Chapter 3), as do deep inequalities revealed in, for example, the displacement of Aboriginal people as Australian cities expand (see Chapter 4). These problems also might be understood through the circulation of discourses around ‘the bush’ and ‘world cities’ (see Chapter 5). The ‘world cities’ concept reminds us of the growing connections between local and international politics (see Chapter 6).

Australia’s national image centres on the bush; however, most Australians live in urban settings. Despite this, there has been very little – and only episodic – explicit attention given to cities by successive Commonwealth governments (Orchard 1995; Parkin 1982). The long-term functioning of Australia’s federal system has tended to overlook the public-policy significance of cities and urban regions. The politics of addressing these problems involve three fragmented tiers of government – local, state and national – together with a range of domestic interests and international forces.