Australian PM's wife to head powerful Sydney planning body

The wife of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will head a powerful planning body designed to oversee the development of Australia's largest city.

Lucy Turnbull, a former Lord Mayor of Sydney herself, has been selected to be the first chair of the Greater Sydney Commission to work with local councils on development and planning controls.

Controversially though, it has its own power to overrule local government decisions and initiate its own plans for development and public space across the city.

The commission has the support of the opposition New South Wales Labor party. However, the emerging Greens party said it removes the democratic process from local governance. Endit