Future Brisbane 2023: Government and business leaders to discuss Games legacy
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has admitted the Commonwealth can’t afford to continually foot the bill for major project blowouts, as he was peppered with questions at The Courier-Mail Future Brisbane 2023 Summit. SEE A FULL REPLAY OF THE EVENT
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Brisbane’s future liveability, ways to tackle the housing crisis and plans for a redeveloped Gabba in time for the Olympics have been the subject of discussion as a blockbuster list of speakers addresses the Future Brisbane Summit.
SEE A FULL REPLAY OF THE COURIER-MAIL FUTURE BRISBANE 2023 SUMMIT IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
High-profile demographer Bernard Salt has spoken about Brisbane’s future as a liveable city at the Future Brisbane Summit under way at Howard Smith Wharves.
Mr Salt was among a list of keynote speakers, which also included federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus.
This year’s Future Brisbane news series, which is part of a long-running Courier-Mail campaign, concluded with today’s half-day summit exploring how the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games can be a catalyst for improving liveability across the city.
REVEALED: FIRST LOOK AT NEW GABBA
Mr Salt spoke about a growing desire for liveability after the pandemic caused a change in priorities among the population.
The audience and livestream viewers also heard from Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee CEO Cindy Hook, among others to take the stage at Howard Smith Wharves.
Sky News journalist Peter Stefanovic was MC for the summit and joined by The Courier-Mail editor Chris Jones and The Sunday Mail editor Anna Caldwell.
Chief sportswriter Robert ‘Crash’ Craddock interviewed Paris-bound gold medallist Titmus and coach Dean Boxall on stage.
Key topics discussed included how the region manages population growth and housing supply; what Brisbane should become famous for beyond 2032; and how the city’s arts, culture and tourism experiences can be revitalised for when the world comes to town.
TREASURER COMES CLEAN ON FEDERAL FUNDING FOR MAJOR QLD PROJECTS
Treasurer Jim Chalmers was peppered with questions by The Courier-Mail’s Associate Editor Kylie Lang about the infrastructure battle between the state government and federal government.
He said the Commonwealth couldn’t afford to continually footing the bill for major project blowouts.
“It’s one thing to write a press release about building something, it’s another to build it,” he said.
“You’ve got to make sure that we can actually build the stuff that’s been announced.”
Mr Chalmers said there was a lot at risk if Brisbane didn’t grasp the opportunities provided by the Olympics.
“We shouldn’t assume that success in 2032 is preordained … we give ourselves the best chance when we collaborate like this,” he said.
Brisbane Airport Corporation Head of Public Affairs Stephen Beckett said fixing the Airtrain contract – which offers the UK owners exclusive public transport access to the terminals – was critical.
“We do need to find a solution for the Airtrain situation,” he said.
“It’s not right for Queensland now.”
Mr Beckett said making Airtrain more affordable, frequent and faster were quick fixes, but noted duplicating the line and extending the Brisbane Metro were longer-term solutions.
He revealed 40 per cent of the morning peak in the area were workers going to the airport.
“If you don’t have a car you really can’t work at the airport,” he said.
Urbis director Kate Meyrick said London and Barcelona were exemplars in delivering legacy benefits to the state.
She said Brisbane could be known as a place that “grows people”.
Technology One chief operating officer Stuart MacDonald agreed, telling the Future Brisbane summit the company had grown in the city and would continue.
“We love it here, we’ll never leave,” he said.
SWIM STAR’S CONFRONTING START TO LIFE SILENCES AUDIENCE
Extraordinary footage of Olympic swimming star Ariarne Titmus fighting for life shortly after being born has been shown to hundreds of guests at The Courier-Mai’s Future Brisbane event.
The sports star – joined by her coach Dean Boxall and The Courier-Mail’s Robert Craddock – said she believed those ten minutes after her birth where her tiny, blue body fought to breathe gave her a fighting spirit which has been with her ever since.
“I believe in these things – and I believe it did,” she said.
Her coach Mr Boxall – whose celebrations at the Tokyo Olympic Games after Ms Titmus won went viral – also revealed an extraordinary story of when his prized swimmer broke her nose in an unfortunate accident during an overseas championship earlier this year.
The swimmer had been getting in the back of a car and moving the seat, when it suddenly flipped back and hit her in the face, instantly breaking her nose.
Her response – to get back on an exercise bike and into training the next day – showed how tough she is, he said.
“This will make me sound bad,” he said – to laugh from the crowd. “But I said to her, ‘when are you going to make up that missed session’.”
Mr Boxall also implored his stars swimmer to make the most of the next eight months before the Paris 2024 – ribbing Ms Titmus, and saying if she was to be a mother “I know you would do everything right for the next 12 months”.
“I hope Dean knows just how much I want to win,” she said.
CITY’S GIANT OLYMPIC HURDLE
Brisbane faces a colossal task selling itself to the world ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games, with global focus group research revealing just three in 90 people were familiar with the city.
Speaking at the Future Brisbane summit, 2032 Olympic Games Organising Committee chief executive Cindy Hook revealed research undertaken by her team in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Singapore and Germany revealed just three out of 90 people could name Brisbane and point it out on a map.
“None knew the city was hosting the 2032 event,” Ms Hook said. “We’re starting from a relatively low level of awareness.”
However, Ms Hook said with half the world’s population expected to be watching the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Brisbane had a great opportunity to set its own perception.
She said the city must figure out how to bring business, athletes, residents and sports to “align around the common goal”.
“We need to collaborate on a scale that’s never been seen before,” she said.
Ms Hook noted the International Olympic Committee considered Brisbane’s legacy strategy the “best they’ve ever seen” and said the critical work was now “how we make it a reality”.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, joining Ms Hook and Deputy Premier Steven Miles in a panel discussion moderated by The Courier-Mail editor Chris Jones, acknowledged Brisbane wasn’t a globally recognised city.
“We aren’t, but we’re about to be,” he said.
“Brisbane can fit into this market of being the most Australian place on earth.”
When it was noted Brisbane was less liveable than Sydney and Melbourne, according to global rankings, Cr Schrinner said “I call BS”.
“Brisbane is the place where people are voting with their feet to come – so whatever the rankings say,” he said.
“Melbourne, which was the most liveable, is now the most leavable.”
Cr Schrinner said developing public transport was key with new lines to Brisbane Airport and better connection to Chermside.
“These things can be built well and truly before 2032 if we come together and get serious about it,” he said.
Mr Miles – while announcing the state would push ahead with a $2.7bn Gabba redevelopment – said affordable housing and transport was critical.
“There’s real catalytic opportunity for us to deliver on that,” he said.
Mr Miles denied Sydney and Melbourne were more liveable and said the state’s 20-year plan was “to not be like Sydney”.
“We need more houses and better transport, that was always the vision for bidding to host the Olympic and Paralympics,” he said.
Mr Miles noted the state was developing plans for a “walkable spine” through the city connecting the Games venues.
TIME TO TURN UP THE VOLUME
Brisbane should turn up the volume in promoting its fun and vibrant music and cultural experiences, while encouraging visitors to “stay longer”, The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane event has heard.
The Star’s chief executive Robbie Cooke told the hundreds of guests the much-hyped $3.6bn Queens Wharf development was on track to be opened in the first half of 2024 – describing the extraordinary precinct as a “destination of fun”
“There will be a 1000 hotel rooms; 50 bars, restaurants and cafes; the biggest ballroom able to accommodate 1600 people – so we could host events like the Logies.”
The Sunday Mail and Courier-Mail editor Anna Caldwell was joined by Mr Cooke along with Howard Smith Wharves chief executive Luke Fraser, The Fortitude Music Hall’s venue director John Collins and QAGOMA director Chris Saines.
Mr Collins said he wanted to see Brisbane’s success in hosting major sporting events joined with arts and culture – such as hosting great bands outside Suncorp Stadium during Magic Round.
He also called for the state government’s “antiquated” night-life precinct laws requiring patrons to scan their ID to be ditched as Brisbane became a more international city.
All panel members agreed more had to be done to market Brisbane as a multi-day destination – with Mr Fraser suggesting the tagline could simply be “stay longer”.
DEMAND FOR LIVEABILITY
A push to capitalise on liveability in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic gives Brisbane the opportunity to create booming “lifestyle zones”.
Australia’s leading demographer, The Demographics Group founder Bernard Salt, has told The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane summit the end of the pandemic had prompted the world priorities.
He said after “staring death and destruction” in the eye for three years, people were now ready to “rebuild, recreate (and) create a better version of Australia.”
Mr Salt questioned: “How can Brisbane capitalise upon that?”
“We are obsessed with lifestyle … that has been the driving force of Australia,” he said.
“We’re going to see the rise of a new model in the pursuit of lifestyle.”
Mr Salt flagged the creation of lifestyle zones on the end of the metropolitan area, and noted major satellite suburbs like Ripley and Caboolture were rapidly growing.
PRE-FAB HOMES A MUST
Queensland must embrace using prefabricated homes in a bid to boost the state’s critical housing shortage, with experts telling Friday’s Future Brisbane event stagnant productivity was escalating the crisis.
Archipelago founder director and architect Peter Edwards said unlocking the use of design for manufacturing and assembly materials meant new homes could be delivered cheaper, and faster.
“We’ve got plenty of land, the idea that we don’t is ridiculous, and it’s actually not that expensive,” he said.
“We’ve got slippery planning pathways, we’ve got great leadership in our local councils who are making it smoother.”
But Mr Edwards said with such an enormous pipeline of infrastructure under way, a disruption to the building sector was both key and inevitable.
Mr Edwards was joined by Property Council Queensland director Jen Williams, Cross River Rail chief executive Graeme Newton, UQ Professor Antony Moulis and The Courier-Mail’s real estate editor Liz Tilley to discuss Queensland’s urban planning and housing future.
Ms Williams said Brisbane was missing the “middle-housing” needed to house the millennial population, particularly as that sector of the population began to age and have children.
“We’ve reached the point where it’s the parents of the people wanting them to move in who are stopping them – maybe they need to have a conversation about that,” she said.
On the state government’s announcement of the doubling of the first home buyers grant, Ms Williams said any stimulus should be focused on the supply end – such as discounting stamp duty or offering tax breaks to developers.
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