Episodes

  • What a DA is and how to object

    What a DA is and how to object
    19 Sep 2026
    A practical guide to development applications, public notification, planning controls, evidence-based objections and submission deadlines across Australian councils. General information only; local rules, documents and time limits differ.

    This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.

    Sourced from the public record — council agendas, minutes and published notices, attributed every time.

    A Talking Labs production.

    This episode includes AI-generated content.
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    8 mins
  • How your council actually works

    How your council actually works
    12 Sep 2026
    Episode one. Before any particular decision, here is the machine: your council runs on three levers — rates, planning and works — and everything else you are angry about belongs to a government that is not your council. Why councillors set policy but cannot direct staff, why your rates bill rises even where a cap applies, who really controls the planning scheme, what a council genuinely cannot do, and how to get something done — on the agenda, inside the window, against the criteria.

    General information about how local government is structured in Australia. Arrangements differ between states. Not advice about your own situation.

    This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.

    Sourced from the public record — council agendas, minutes and published notices, attributed every time.

    A Talking Labs production.
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    6 mins