Within the planning literature, the distinction between regulatory planning and strategic spatial planning has exposed a recurring dichotomy that exists between the idea of 'conforming' (regulative certainty) and 'performing' (strategic flexibility) plans and planning systems. This paper critically examines the divergent trajectories of land-use policy and regulation in two Australian states, Queensland and New South Wales. This paper concludes by arguing that the flexibility/certainty dilemma is something of an artifice-a land-use planning shibboleth-that serves to distract professional and scholarly attention away from substantive issues such as how planning might better engender more sustainable urban settlements.