Editing Robert Askin (section)

===Local government and planning===
[[File:Robert_Askin_1966.jpg|thumb|left|Askin in 1966]]
Askin, along with his minister for local government, Pat Morton, oversaw the rapid escalation of building development in inner-city Sydney and the central business district, which followed in the wake of his controversial 1967 abolition of [[Sydney City Council]] and a redistribution of municipal electoral boundaries that was aimed at reducing the power of the rival [[Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)|Labor Party]]. On its abolition, Morton commented that it was "essential for Sydney's progress" and replaced the city council with a commission, headed by another former Liberal leader, [[Vernon Treatt]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ngQAAAAIBAJ&pg=1166,3332500&dq=pat+morton&hl=en|title= The Battle of Sydney|work=The Age 19 September 1967 pg 3|access-date=2 February 2011}}</ref>

The Sydney metropolitan area at the time was marked by increasing strains on state infrastructure and Askin's Government's pro-development stance was largely attributed as an attempt to alleviate these problems. Despite this, the newly established State Planning Authority were continuously criticised for not being totally accountable to the public, particularly as the pro-business Sydney Commissioners worked side by side with the Planning authority to increase developments in the Sydney CBD to their highest levels ever, embodied by the construction of the [[MLC Centre]], the demolition of the [[Theatre Royal, Sydney]] and the [[Australia Hotel]].<ref name=retire/> Other controversial schemes proposed by his government were a massive freeway system that was planned to be driven through the hearts of historic inner-city suburbs including [[Glebe, New South Wales|Glebe]] and [[Newtown, New South Wales|Newtown]] and an equally ambitious scheme of 'slum clearance' that would have brought about the wholescale destruction of the historic areas of [[Woolloomooloo]] and [[The Rocks, New South Wales|The Rocks]]. This eventually culminated in the 1970s [[Green ban]] movement led by Unions Leader [[Jack Mundey]], to protect the architectural heritage of Sydney.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=retire>{{cite web|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=acpQAAAAIBAJ&pg=2298,5630604&dq=pat+morton&hl=en|title= A Free Enterpriser Bows Out|work=The Sydney Morning Herald 16 June 1972 pg 4|access-date=2 February 2011}}</ref>