In the early 1970s, Albury-Wodonga was selected as the primary focus of the Whitlam Federal Labor government's scheme to arrest the uncontrolled growth of Australia's large metropolitan areas (in particular Sydney and Melbourne) by encouraging decentralisation.

The National Urban Growth Centres initiative, which was Australia’s closest attempt to replicate the 'New Towns' strategy of post-war European models,[1] had grand plans to turn Albury–Wodonga into a major inland city.

[5] However, due to the subsequent Fraser Government's repudiation of Labor's decentralisation policies, the plan to populate inland areas and cities other than the State capitals was abandoned.

Meanwhile, in Australia, some began to term the new development as 'satellite towns' and emphasised the improved conditions around housing, more open spaces and easier access to the countryside.

[3][2] From a Commonwealth perspective there was a desire to relocate public servants from larger cities such as Canberra and Sydney to Albury–Wodonga due to concerns around rising costs in highly populated urban areas.

However, Albury–Wodonga was, successful in establishing an Australia Tax Office bureau and today still has a large number of defence jobs as a result of a major logistics centre development and training school set up by the federal government.

[2] To attract larger private enterprises (for example Mars Petcare and the Newsprint Mill at Ettamogah) the state and Commonwealth governments intervened, enforcing provisions such a social housing for employees, to help accelerate growth.

In and around the area, the AWDC planted approximately 3 million trees and shrubs, becoming one of Australia’s biggest urban re-afforestation programs.