PM to announce $50m smart cities plan

Malcolm Turnbull is encouraging councils to partner with communities and businesses to improve liveability in cities.

The prime minister will announce a $50 million pledge for a collaborative smart cities program on Monday.

The project will incentivise councils to open up their data and tie with local groups, not for profit and research institutes to find innovative solutions to improve people's quality of life.

Later, Mr Turnbull will head to Brisbane for his first appearance on the ABC's Q&A program since February last year.

Mr Turnbull can expect to be grilled by a broad cross section of voters on the highly-anticipated event, in a different format to the public debates he's become accustomed to during the election campaign.