Renamed Committee for Brisbane seeks feedback on how to make the Brisbane area more liveable
Brisbane has been described as having more fun with less attitude by visitors and now the Committee for Brisbane wants residents to debate the best and worst parts about the area.
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“More fun, less attitude” were the words chosen by my young, hip very New York sister-in-law when asked of her impressions of Brisbane on her first visit to Australia. She’d been told by everyone to go to Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef but to bypass Brisbane – “its boring”. Having done the grand first tour, then came her family duty, Brisbane.
Well, weren’t we blown away by her honest appraisal.
Maybe it’s because you can’t sell big city vibe to a New Yorker, but she implored us that the greater Brisbane region we showed her is very special and not at all wannabe anything else – that elusive bit of magic – cool authenticity.
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Apart from the extraordinary range of stunning nature, she was super impressed by the active, friendly and laconic people. I had to explain what a larrikin is.
Another visitor said it reminds her of California before it “took off” and forever changed to its awkward freeway state of mind.
Another frequent comment is that there’s a sense of community among leaders in business, arts, academia, sport and even politicians.
This was well demonstrated when the Brisbane Development Association decided to propel upwards and relaunch as the Committee for Brisbane (CFB) with the deliberately bold ambition of being a policy and advocacy think tank with the goal of greater Brisbane being the best place in the world to live. A new advisory board has been established to work with the existing committee to advise, provoke and influence debate about what is necessary to achieve such an exciting goal.
The current directors are Julieanne Alroe (infrastructure), Li Cunxin (arts), Prof. Ian Frazer AC (science), Bill Grant OAM (placemaking), Susan Johnson (transport), Harvey Lister (entertainment), Jason Scott (media), Raynuha Sinnathamby (property), Tracy Stockwell OAM (sport), Jude Turner (nature tourism), Peter Varghese AO (education) and Rosemary Vilgan (business).
Further additions are under consideration.
It speaks clearly to the notion of fun and ambition without territorialism and attitude that such a diverse group would volunteer their time and money for the individual and collective passion to see our region evolve during its current period of dramatic change.
Demographics provide the substance to planning and all analysis says the same – greater Brisbane is at a Cinderella moment which will far eclipse the Commonwealth Games in 1982, World Expo in 1988 or the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
The current population of 3.5 million is on its way to 5.5 million within 30 years. If we also take in the region to Byron and Lismore these numbers swell by 300,000.
This rate of growth is the highest in Australia but in an altogether different way. We are a city of cities, separated by greenbelts, each with its own personality, landscape, history and vibe. Noosa is so different to Byron, Moreton from Manly or Ipswich from Toowoomba. From mountain to island and coast to coast, we’ve got it all.
Ours is not the Sydney or Melbourne model of 5 million people sprawling continuously outward from a coastal centre where the vast majority of wealth, decision making and privilege congregate – virtually gated communities, insulated by advantage from the sprawling masses.
This may be historical luck but in planning for the future we must limit reliance on luck or history, instead debate, discuss, argue and advocate on how to get it right. This must be about both the hardware – roads, trains, buses, bridges, tunnels and software — communities, schools, clubs, events, activities, sport, art and heritage (indigenous and migrant).
Our goal at CFB is to work with, beside and behind many organisations, formal and informal. Whole of region thinking is necessary as demonstrated by the Council of Mayors progress across many fronts, the State’s Regional Plans and of course the excellent work being done by the various Council bodies. Indeed the CFB was founded by the Brisbane City Council as the BDA 60 years ago for the purpose of encouraging a better Brisbane.
An essential element of our group is our independence. This allows us to say what sometimes others can’t. We can stimulate debate and ideas that might be awkward for aligned or representative bodies.
The idea of CFB is not unique, indeed such bodies are growing from Sydney to San Francisco, London to Lisbon. What is unique is our region’s range of personalities and experiences.
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The central theme we adopted at Southbank during the 16 years I had the honour to chair the corporation was “build it for locals and the tourists will come to see”.
We called it the “no stuffed koala rule”.
Similarly our ambition is to be working for locals as this will naturally lead to more people coming to live, work and play in an address blessed with boundless possibilities.
Such vision cannot be achieved through promotion or contentment. It needs a giant suggestion box for ideas, big – like an Olympic bid – or small like what is the best way to encourage tree lined streets with their own character. Big – like how to enhance the egalitarian spirit of our region – and small, such as how to encourage local, organically created events like the Ma & Pa Bendall surfing tournament at Moffat Beach.
We are the world centre of surfing champions, men and women, to be sure, but we want participation, love of nature, healthy living — not just spectatorship like Melbourne.
Our call to arms is for people to join with us in having the ongoing debate about what is necessary to be a liveable place. If you’ve ever said “wouldn’t it be great if only they did …” then here’s your chance.
One of the exciting things in 2019 is the timing. The region looks likely to bid for the world’s most watched event but in a low cost, community centric, legacy infrastructure way. Surely that is what the IOC should aspire to?
We are about to have transformational infrastructure such as airports, hotels, city and national railways, metros, port expansions, communication cables and the like. And of course there is increasing effort going into our superb natural environment. The river is getting cleaner, millions of trees are being planted and society is increasingly demanding growth to be balanced between nature and housing.
Equally there are many challenges, again re-enforcing our call for engagement.
I’m privileged to be Chair of the board, working with President Brendan Christou and the management committee.
Please visit our website, join, criticise, recommend and debate. The possibilities of this region, Byron to Noosa, Toowoomba to Tangalooma are boundless.
- Steve Wilson is a leading stockbroker and chair of the Committee For Brisbane’s new advisory board.
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