ABSTRACT
Canberra, perhaps more than any other city, is dependent on the whims of politicians and public policy. Its original designation as a National Capital for Australia was the result of inter-state political rivalries and jealousies; politicians made the final adjudication of the competition for the city's design; city planning, since the early years, has shown a tendency to sway to the demands of political expediency and the ups and downs of the cityTs growth closely reflect the philosophies of the political parties governing Australia. Under the Labour government of the early 1970s increases in the administrative workforce of government resulted in rapid growth for Canberra where around 60 percent of employees work directly for the government. Then, a change of government in the mid-1970s resulted in a policy of reducing the amount of government spending so the local economy hiccupped. Since 1975 there has been a reduction in the administrative workforce compared with increases of around seven percent per year in the early 1970s. This local downturn coupled with a slowdown in the national economy meant that by the late 1970s population growth in Canberra was around two percent per annum compared with almost seven percent five years earlier and well over ten percent per year in the early 1960s.
