Think Tank: Michael McGee

IN the Commonwealth Games, Transit Australia Group chief executive Michael McGee sees the capacity for the Gold Coast to solve its public transport problems.

Transit Australia Group chief executive Michael McGee

MICHAEL McGee has spent much of his career taking risks on new things — and his time with Transit Australia Group has been no different.

Working in Venture Capital after a stint with the National Audit Office in Canberra, Mr McGee helped with online bookings pioneer Wotif.com when they were a start-up and also with Wagners — the family business who built a $100 million airport at Toowoomba.

As CEO of Transit Australia, he built a product with no market — an electric bus — which is now the cornerstone of the Burleigh-based business’s foray into Malaysia.

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TAG operates bus companies on the Gold Coast and north to Cairns and also manufactures buses for routes across Australia, including double deckers for Melbourne and vehicles for the Sydney Buses fleet.

What do you love about the Gold Coast?

“The energy and drive of the place, there’s so much enthusiasm and optimism around the place and I think people don’t recognise that it’s there.

“That drive and energy really translates not just to your lifestyle but also to business.

“The Gold Coast is untapped from that perspective.

“You can wake up, have a surf or a swim or walk along some of the most beautiful and breathtaking beaches in the world and within half an hour, be walking some of the best rainforest walks and then, in the evening return to a lovely dinner in a cosmopolitan setting.

“You can actually have down time — that sets the Gold Coast apart.

“It’s like constantly being on holidays.”

Michael McGee, chief executive officer of Burleigh Heads-based Transit Australia Group in front of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

What do you think could be done better on the Gold Coast?

“Targeting the luxury traveller. Sometimes it’s very hard for Australia to compete with the dollar, as we know through manufacturing, and people get very excited when the dollar drops to a point, especially people who rely on inbound tourism.

“To me, the luxury traveller is not that affected by the movement of the dollar.

“We need more six-star hotels. The Gold Coast has the opportunity to differentiate itself and be a luxury tourism destination for international travellers who spend a lot of money.

“If you look at Dubai, they’ve done that very well.”

In your travels, what have you seen being done elsewhere you think could work well here?

“Infrastructure for passenger transport. The light rail was a great start to the Gold Coast and the reason for that is priority infrastructure.

“A couple of paint strips down the highway doesn’t mean priority infrastructure.

“Look at what the light rail’s done — it’s priority infrastructure and it’s made a big difference to the Gold Coast.

“We need to inject more infrastructure like that into the Gold Coast.

“Look at the growth inland, what are we doing to support the growth west and the movement of people?

“To get people out of cars, you’ve got to make public transport the mode of choice.

“I would love to see really well-located park and rides to support major events down here and to support people coming in on weekends and for work.

“Then you’d have high-frequency transport modes running from those transport nodes into town, and into the light rail corridor.

“But it needs to have priority, otherwise you’re stuck in traffic with everybody else.

“That will support the Gold Coast to grow and get people out of their cars.

“Bus rapid transits — it could be hybrids, it could be electric, diesel — you feed them in from the west.

“If you look at countries that have done really well — London has done very well with its bus network because they recognise buses are actually cheaper.

“Also South America have done very well with it too where they’re very stretched with dollars.”

If money, time, laws and approvals were no issue, what is one big project you’d undertake tomorrow?

“A tax-free zone for start-ups. The Gold Coast could become the Silicone Valley of Asia.

“You could leverage off the universities here, we’ve got a great university system, we’ve got a great lifestyle — people can come and raise families, live and enjoy themselves and that’s very attractive.

“Then you could put in an entrepreneur hub, a tax-free hub, that would attract a lot of start-ups.

“I’m looking at the knowledge economy.

“Not just software but medical, Silicone Valley-style. That way you’ve got incubators that are sitting there developing.

“I think it’s a great spot to do it. If you look at Silicone Valley itself, they’ve leveraged off the universities but also when you put these things together they feed off each other.

“It’s people bumping into each other at random locations and events — it’s the lifestyle.

“People are drawn from all around the world there and you get people who are very intelligent mixing — it’s just done very well and I think we could do something like that.”

What conversations should Gold Coast movers and shakers be having?

“I think this one’s starting, but leveraging the Commonwealth Games post-2018.

“This is really key for the city in terms of what will be left behind — this to me will set up growth for the next decade beyond the games so how do we make sure the infrastructure that’s invested is not just for the games, but also to support the Gold Coast beyond the games.

“You don’t want to set up any facilities that become white elephants or set up park and rides that don’t make any sense for mass transit going forward.

“It needs to be leveraged for events after the games but also for mass urban transit — that’s what we need to do.

“It’s also a chance to change people’s perspectives on the Gold Coast — it’s more than the glitter strip, it’s a great place to do business.

“The Gold Coast should use it as a chance to showcase that and also some of the talent we have, there are so many businesses that are out there doing wonderful things.”