QLD City Deal: Why Scott Morrison’s endorsement is a rare feat
This is a big deal. The Prime Minister’s endorsement of a southeast Queensland City Deal this week completed an extremely rare feat: cross-jurisdictional and bipartisan support behind a long-term initiative.
Opinion
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THIS is a big deal. The Prime Minister’s endorsement of a southeast Queensland City Deal this week completed an extremely rare feat: cross-jurisdictional and bipartisan support behind a long-term initiative.
While most southeast Queenslanders won’t be familiar with the City Deal concept, it can be best described as a means to lift government investment above day-to-day politics and to create a unified investment strategy.
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City Deals, first implemented in the UK, involve a long-term contract between levels of government, committing to a series of investments and initiatives which have been prioritised because of their potential to create jobs and improve productivity and liveability.
An SEQ City Deal will ensure all three levels of government are aligned on the strategies to drive the region’s economy, cater for our growing population, improve our connectivity and maintain our enviable lifestyle.
The Property Council has championed the adoption of this co-ordinated approach in Australia, particularly for southeast Queensland – which is a prime candidate for a City Deal given its size, governance structure and infrastructure challenges.
The Prime Minister’s announcement coincided with the release of TransformingSEQ: The SEQ City Deal Proposition, which sets out the shared ambitions for the region’s future by the State Government and the SEQ Council of Mayors.
The Queensland Government, SEQ Councils and the Property Council have been collaborating for nearly six years on the potential for an SEQ City Deal, jointly funding studies into how it could work in our local context.
Several years of ground work have already been done, and the TransformingSEQ proposition document has endorsed a number of key proposals that have been promoted by the Property Council.
The development of Growth Infrastructure Compacts, an integrated land-use planning approach, and unlocking under-utilised government-owned land to deliver urban outcomes have all been flagged as potential opportunities.
While these proposals are all subject to further negotiation, it is clear that there is real appetite for the City Deal to be used as a vehicle for revolutionising the way we plan for growth across the region.
For Queensland’s business community a City Deal represents certainty.
The certainty of a long-term strategy, that transcends political cycles, would allow investors to get behind the scheduled infrastructure program with their own investment.
Queensland’s property industry, in particular, will have considerably more confidence to invest in new projects if there’s transparency around the timing of infrastructure funding and delivery.
The UK experience has been that wherever City Deals have been established, a strong increase in private sector investment has occurred. More investment ultimately means more jobs for Queenslanders, and a more prosperous region.
For the broader community a City Deal provides a guarantee that our region’s growth will be managed in a sustainable way that maintains our enviable way of life.
Now that everyone is on board, it is critical that no time is wasted in negotiating the Deal and building a consensus around southeast Queensland’s long-term direction.
Chris Mountford is Queensland Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia
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