Brisbane is the key to Queensland's growth

One hundred years ago, Australian cities prospered when the rural sector prospered. The country rode on the sheep’s back and in the miner’s barrow. Today, in the 21^st Century, it’s the other way around - not just for Queensland but globally.

In Queensland, that message is not getting through and it seems to be having a noticeable effect on the economic fortunes of the city – and the state.

Queensland’s capital has fallen behind most state capitals and is a long way behind the prosperity that has been enjoyed by residents of ‘new economy’ cities like Melbourne and Sydney.

While Sydney and Melbourne enjoy increasing economic growth, Brisbane needs to think back to the Expo days for the last time it felt prosperous and ‘on the up.’

Consider what’s happened over the past five years. Growth in Brisbane house prices has been the worst of any capital city – beaten even by Hobart and Adelaide.

The city has reported the worst trend in hotel occupancies of any capital, and unemployment is among the worst – only exceeded by Hobart and Adelaide.

There are no city figures for retail sales, vehicle registrations or bankruptcies, but the statewide figures, heavily influenced by the urban south east, are similarly depressing. In terms of retail sales we are running 5^th over the same five year period, we have the highest growth in personal bankruptcies as a percentage of the population and the worst trend performance in terms of vehicle registrations of any state.

As an urban economy, the Brisbane region even compares poorly with some of the large provincial cities in Queensland. Of the worst 20 places for unemployment in Queensland, 13 are in and around the Brisbane region. Of the best ten places in terms of unemployment, only one is from the Brisbane region.

Government boosters and real estate agents are actively talking up the city’s prospects, and every sign of improvement is naturally welcomed. But on any cold assessment of the facts, Brisbane has fallen behind in the race of capitals and by doing so, the economy of the State is being held back.

The Property Council has for some years argued the case for Federal and State Governments to take a more positive approach to the needs of the Capital city and the reason is that it will be the fortunes of the capital city economy which will help drive growth of the state. This has been true of the Sydney and Melbourne experiences, and also explain much of the performance of other major cities in Australia.

But these arguments have generally foundered.

Politically, most parties are still transfixed by the 'One Nation' issue and its related 'bush politics'. The argument that 'the bush is doing it tough while the city prospers' has been allowed to go unchallenged in a politically correct climate where it’s more important to appease than to explain.

The changing world economy has meant a decline in the role of rural and primary industries and a rise in the importance of services supported by efficient, globally competitive urban economies.

This doesn’t mean abandoning rural industries or their people, but it should mean Governments more actively arguing that the fortunes of all Queenslanders – city and bush - are now closely tied to the competitiveness of our urban economies.

Successful urban economies are needed to maintain and drive the fortunes of rural and provincial areas. Linkages between the fortunes of urban economies and rural ones need to be built.

But instead of actively supporting urban areas as the pathways to prosperity, State budgets happily boast that two thirds of capital works are spent outside the Brisbane region. This is despite the fact that the south east corner, which makes up just 1.3% of the land area of the state, accounts for two thirds of the population and 80% of the growth.

As a result, the capital city suffers massive infrastructure deficits. There are plans for Integrated Regional Transport networks but the budget is more than $10 billion short of what’s needed.

The capital also continues to suffer from policy weaknesses which paint our reputation as a 'big country town' instead of a competitive metropolis. The ongoing and outdated debates about Sunday trading and daylight saving are just two examples.

In the case of daylight saving, a suggestion that daylight saving could be introduced just for the urbanised south east region in order to allow it to be more competitive with places like Sydney and Melbourne met with resistance from rural communities who argued that it would inconvenience them in their dealings with the capital.

But the cost of inconveniencing the capital city in competition with other capitals is that the prosperity the capital could be enjoying just isn’t there and that in turn is affecting the prosperity of the entire state.

The politics are sensitive but the economics of the argument are not. Instead of apologising for urban infrastructure projects, the State could more aggressively argue that this urban infrastructure is the best chance for many regions to access national and global influence.

And if our governments embraced this as our greatest opportunity for global influence, we would see budgets and policy programs devoted to supporting and developing our cities as global assets. Globalisation and urban strategy are two sides of the same coin.

The development of our urban infrastructures would be not be relegated as an issue for local government, but embraced at the national and state level as a program of utmost economic importance.

In the same way that governments tackle tax reform and waterfront reform, we would find ourselves reforming our urban transport systems, our information technology infrastructure, funding our urban educational institutions and supporting our urban quality of life in order to retain and attract 'knowledge workers' who work in places which have the most to offer, not where 'old economy' businesses say they should.

These are important for the entire state, not just the city in which they are located. Imagine if Sydney suffered a major economic downturn? The ripples would affect the economies of all regions in the country. In the same way, the economic fortunes of Brisbane are vital to the fortunes of regional and rural communities in Queensland.

For that reason, Queensland’s best chance of turning around its economic performance is through a greater commitment to the economic and social needs of its capital city and its major urban centres.