Abstract: This paper compares and contrasts the activities of Commonwealth and State government agencies in relation to the management of public land. Context for this study is provided by the growing impact of neoliberalism on governments. Two conceptual manifestations of this ideology on the planning, use and management of public land are considered. First, the neocorporatist state, a recent theory of the state, provides an ideological framework to explain the politics of the approach of the state in terms of the commodification and privatisation of public land. Second, the paper is set in the context of the growing impact of neoliberalism on urban governance in the form of corporate liberalism. Both concepts – one of state power and politics, and the other of urban governance – are seen as linked through the ideology of neoliberalism. However, through a comparison of the management of ‘surplus’ public land by the Commonwealth government and the New South Wales State government, differences in ideology and governance within the neoliberal construct are apparent. Evidence for this hypothesis is provided by a comparative analysis of four case studies relating to surplus public land around Sydney Harbour. The case studies comprise two Commonwealth government examples – the former HMAS Platypus site and a broader examination of the role and sites managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, and two State government case studies – the former Quarantine Station and Barangaroo. Contrasts in the land use, planning and management philosophies of these sites are highlighted, and an explanation sought by reference to the pertinent conceptual framework of neoliberalism.