Future Cairns: Experts focus on housing, skills shortage and ageing population
Factors key to developing Cairns as an emerging regional powerhouse have been explored in depth at the Cairns Post Future Cairns event. What the experts said.
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FUTURE experts have looked back to 1994 – when the Holden Commodore was the nation’s best selling car, Priscilla Queen of the Desert had just been released and lifting a mobile phone was a major bicep workout – to illustrate how much would have changed come 2050.
Key factors that will impact Cairns as a region have been explored in depth at the Cairns Post Future Cairns event at the Cairns Convention Centre.
On Tuesday, keynote speaker Simon Kuestenmacher and co-founder of The Demographics Group teamed up with Cairns Airport CEO Richard Barker, Cairns Regional Council director planning, growth and sustainability, Ed Johnson and Urbis director Kate Meyrick to discuss challenges to prosperity and how to achieve the most liveable city possible by 2050.
Mr Kuestenmacher said 28 years ago in 1994 the world was different.
“But not all that different,” he said.
He told the audience to forget about crazy utopian futures filled with robots and new technology to make life easy, but rather focus on an ageing population, a low-skill worker shortage and lack of housing.
“You need to be prepared to tackle the skill shortage early on,” he said.
Mr Kuestenmacher said the way to tackle future skills shortages was to provide low cost housing for workers. He advocated for a public scheme to build small units close to the city but admitted there was no political appetite for such a move that would likely drive down house prices.
Mr Johnson said the council’s challenge in combating the projected housing shortage could come in the form of further incentivising infill development close to the city.
“The downside to that is its density in areas that historically haven’t had it … so how do you realise density in an area where people have that natural amenity and that way of life,” he said.
“It’s not 50 storey towers on the Esplanade stretch. It’s about that medium rise medium scale that’s affordable to build affordable to service.”
Ms Meyrick celebrated Cairns as a “rock star” regional city well positioned to seriously rival major cities in the next 20 years.
A Mission Fit index created by Urbis gave Cairns a score of 50 per cent based on the evaluation of six sub industries that included people, planet, performance (economic), positivity, place and public transport.
“Cairns has a unique value proposition, incredible depth of natural resources, it’s close to Asian markets, it has a growing population, diversity of regional landscapes and lifestyle,” she said.
But she would like to see more affordable housing, greater public transport links and better connection between the city and the Cairns waterfront.
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Originally published as Future Cairns: Experts focus on housing, skills shortage and ageing population
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