By Robert Carry

The federal government is set to introduce a national plan for Australia's major cities which will see centralised control over a range of planning and development issues.

The proposal, due to be debated by the Council of Australian Governments in December, will use infrastructural funding to compel Australian cities to properly prepare for population increases and climate change.

According to The Australian Financial Review, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Business Council of Australia last night that the time had come for the Australian government to take a much greater national responsibility for improving the long-term planning of  major cities.