Yes, our planning systems do more harm than good: They’re anti-social, exclusionary and must be reformed

In this week’s Friday Fight, a debate series in which two writers make their case on a hotly contested topic, the question is: does the planning system do more harm than good? As rents rise, property prices soar and the housing crisis reaches a boiling point, the focus has turned to supply as governments mull over reforms to the planning system.

In the negative corner, we have economist Cameron Murray. Arguing in the affirmative is lead organiser of YIMBY Melbourne Jonathan O’Brien.

Australia’s urban fabric is ruled over by an adversarial planning system geared fundamentally toward exclusion. The planning system in its current form exists first and foremost not to enable great outcomes but to limit the possibility space of human action and potential, and, in doing so, to maintain an unequal status quo that keeps our cities inaccessible and unaffordable for people who lack sufficient political power.