Future Gold Coast Forum to discuss two biggest issues facing city

The Gold Coast is facing an existential threat from two key issues, with a crucial meeting looming about what needs to be done. Here’s what to expect.

On Friday the Bulletin hosts its annual Future Gold Coast Forum. It’s an extremely valuable event, bringing together key decision makers to discuss the future of our growing city. You will have noticed our coverage of important issues in the lead-up to the event. Despite the Gold Coast’s growing pains, broadly, the picture is a positive one.

Tourism numbers are up.

Our theme parks are flying, with significant investments at both Village Roadshow parks and Dreamworld.

The Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct in Southport is a hive of activity, with new buildings under construction.

The marine business centred around The Boat Works in Coomera is expanding rapidly, bringing high value jobs in its wake.

And as we reveal today, the Gold Coast’s film industry is growing “in leaps and bounds”.

The struggle of workers to find affordable accommodation is a huge headache for businesses in the city.

But beneath all this welcome success bubbles problems that are not easily solved, and will be at the heart of discussions on Friday: housing and transport.

It is hardly news to anyone living here that rentals are both hard to find and highly expensive. Yet the scale of the problem revealed in a comprehensive new report this week is shocking all the same. The findings of the National Shelter-SGS Economics and Planning Rental Affordability Index are stark. No suburb on the Gold Coast rates as affordable. Most are not even close.

The more desirable suburbs of the northern Gold Coast – the engine room for the booming industries listed above – are the worst affected, with the 4212 postcode which covers Helensvale and Hope Island found to be the least affordable in the city.

Figures from SQM Research this week also bring grim news. The agency, which compiles data from property listings, revealed that the vacancy rate on the Gold Coast has again plunged below one per cent. From a recent high of 1.6 per cent in July, it is now down to 0.9 per cent and is continuing to fall.

Home ownership is also immensely challenging, with ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott warning on Tuesday that home loans were getting harder to access.

“If you want a loan you have to be better off, and essentially rich,” Mr Elliott told The Australian.

Star Gold Coast CEO Jess Mellor. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

It is an enormous concern for business leaders, who need additional staff to sustain their growth plans, as Star Gold Coast CEO Jess Mellor outlined in this paper on Monday.

“Housing shortfalls close to tourism hotspots are making it increasingly more difficult to attract staff,” Ms Mellor said.

“The bulk of hospitality workers are those who need affordable accommodation and are most at risk from cost-of-living pressures”.

Growing congestion is also a clear and present danger to this city’s success. Work is nearing completion on southern M1 upgrades and the Coomera Connector is under construction in the north. But the really big challenge now is public transport. This column was impressed on a visit to Sydney last week to be conveyed by train from the Domestic Airport to Hyde Park in a mere 14 minutes. It was so good, it was a clear inducement to return again in the near future.

Good luck getting anywhere of significance on the Gold Coast from our airport in anything like the same time frame.

While the efficient transport from the airport in Sydney is an encouragement to return there, traffic around Gold Coast Airport has the opposite effect. Earlier this year relatives of this columnist gathered on the Gold Coast for a family event. Many flew in from Sydney. All they could talk about was how long it took them to get from the airport to their hotel. I was left with the strong impression we won’t be seeing them back here any time soon.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks Chief Operating Officer Bikash Randhawa at the site of the new Flash attraction under construction at Movie World. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

This is a clear concern for the tourism business, explaining why Village Roadshow Theme Parks Chief Operating Officer Bikash Randhawa was eager to discuss all things public transport when I spoke with him last week. Dreamworld, meanwhile, is saddled with a near permanent traffic jam at the roundabout in front of its entrance.

Both the housing and the public transport issues are clearly linked.

As we reported last week, plans for providing housing include medium density estates in the northwest of the city encompassing Oxenford, Coomera and Ormeau. These areas are currently public transport black spots. If this is what is to be built, the case for light rail spur lines in the north – as suggested by Mr Randhawa – is undeniably strong.

It is also high time the council came to an agreement with the state on those areas of the City Plan over which they have been in dispute for more than a year.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon. Picture: Liam Kidston

In fairness to the state, they have failed to sign off on the contentious amendments because in their view, in the midst of a clear housing crisis, they do not provide enough density in areas already well served by transport links. This was no doubt in the mind of Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon when she wrote in this paper last week about the “real choice” to be made about our city’s future.

“While we all know that we need more homes, do we keep building out, with more urban sprawl, or do we start to tip the scales in favour of building up, known as infill close to public transport and services,” Ms Scanlon said.

Ms Scanlon is right that difficult choices need to be made. The problems of housing and transport will not be solved easily or cheaply.

Fixing them will require real leadership from council and the state government, working in partnership with the business community.

The Future Gold Coast Forum will bring representatives of all three together on Friday. It will hopefully serve as a vital step in finding solutions to these very pressing problems.

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Originally published as Future Gold Coast Forum to discuss two biggest issues facing city