Australia's national identity is wrapped up in stories of the outback, hot deserts and wide brown lands.
Yet while Canberra calls itself the "bush capital", in truth Australia has one of the most concentrated urban populations in the world, clinging to the coastline in five major cities.
"Whereas the US and Europe have lots of medium sized cities, we tend to live in cities, big cities by international standards," said John Daley, head of the public policy think tank, the Grattan Institute.
Malcolm Turnbull has given cities a voice in his cabinet, with Jamie Briggs the Minister for Cities and the Built Environment, declaring urban planning a matter of quality of life.
"Historically the federal government has had a limited engagement with cities, and yet that is where most Australians live," Mr Turnbull said.
"It is where the bulk of our economic growth can be found. We often overlook the fact that liveable cities, efficient productive cities, the environment of cities, are economic assets."
Mr Turnbull's deep interest in cities is shared by his wife Lucy, a former lord mayor of Sydney.
Mr Daley said more than the new jobs created in Australian cities are within 10 kilometres of the central business districts, most in the services sectors.
But much of the new accommodation was being built 20 kilometres away from the centre, amid urban sprawl.
This created transport headaches to get people from home to jobs and decisions in where to invest in rail or roads.
"Roads are not better than mass transit or vice versa, each has their place. Infrastructure should be assessed objectively and rationally on its merits there is no place for ideology here at all," Mr Turnbull said.
This marked a change in tone from Tony Abbott, who talked of being an "infrastructure prime minister" but mostly championed major road projects.
Brendan Gleeson from the University of Melbourne's Sustainable Society Institute expected the cities ministry to win broad support.
"The cities generate most economic activity in Australia, so we really need the Commonwealth to pay much more attention," he said.
In addition to economic productivity, Professor Gleeson said the focus on cities was also a matter of sustainability, in tackling climate change and environmental impacts.
Mr Turnbull said making sure cities and regional centres are "wonderful places to live" was a key priority of every level of government.
"The most valuable capital in the world today is not financial capital, there's plenty of of that and it's very mobile," he said.
"It is human capital. Men and women like ourselves who can choose to live anywhere."
