How Gold Coast can create new job opportunities out of coronavirus change

The coronavirus pandemic has caused unimaginable pain to the Gold Coast economy. But it has also created an opportunity for new jobs, writes Keith Woods.

MANY years ago, at the outset of my career in journalism, I remember naively asking why a colleague always lingered long in the office after their work was clearly done.

The answer was simple. “He hates his wife, he doesn’t want to go home.”

That chap will be long since retired, which is probably just as well, because I’m sure he would have struggled with working from home full time, as so many of us are now doing.

Unlike that fellow, many people are actually quite liking the experience. The commute from the kitchen to the office room is definitely less trying than a trip through M1 traffic. Uses less petrol too.

And it’s great to see more of family, even if it’s only at break time.

Company managers are taking note. There was a fear going into lockdown that the NBN would not be able to cope – but it has held up surprisingly well. Systems for remote working have also proved remarkably robust.

Managers tasked with finding cost savings are now beginning to wonder whether office space could be an easy target.

Commuting to work no longer looks like this for a lot of people. Picture: Lawrence Pinder.

This column has spoken to a number of people on the Gold Coast in the last week who say companies are seriously considering making working from home a permanent arrangement, to be continued even when social distancing rules are eased.

Similar conversations are no doubt happening in every city in Australia. And therein may be an opportunity for the Gold Coast as we try to chart a course through a future where tourism may take a very long time to recover.

People working from their home in a crowded Sydney suburb might just as easily do the job from Mudgeeraba or Miami. 

That’s a concept that could be sold to companies. A big insurance company based in Melbourne, for example, wanting to hire loss adjusters, could just as easily hire them in the Gold Coast as they could locally. Individuals already working from home could be tempted to relocate here.

All that matters is the internet connection.

Gold Coast City Council has in recent years built a super-fast fibre-optic network to help attract business – the only council in the country to build such a facility.

That cable can deliver internet speeds of one gigabit per second – far in excess of anything the NBN can deliver to your home. Could the network be upscaled to service the new work-at-home army?

A lines outside the Centrelink in Nerang recently. Picture: Jerad Williams.

It could be a very worthwhile investment. If we add to our enviable lifestyle a reputation as the nation’s digital capital, with unrivalled broadband infrastructure, then high-quality jobs would surely follow. 

Like many, I witnessed with my own eyes the enormous lines leading from Gold Coast Centrelinks the day tourism and hospitality was shut down. It was a sobering sight.

To help those people, Mayor Tom Tate has this week rightly turned his mind to rebooting our economy when this crisis is over. But most ideas remain rooted in tourism and development – industries very vulnerable to external shock.

If we are to give hope to the people who filled those Centrelink lines, we must recognise the world has changed, and change too. We must find ways to diversify.

It would help not only those who might work from home on the Coast, but those in hospitality and services who would benefit from their custom.

Mayor Tate told this column he was enthusiastic about the idea.

“I see a tremendous opportunity for our city post COVID-19,” he said.

“We have a lifestyle that is second to none, so we are definitely positioned perfectly as a city of choice for those people whose working conditions have changed.

“It’s pretty simple really.

“You could work from home in Newtown in Sydney or Fitzroy in Melbourne in an 80 square metre, two-bedroom unit with high rent and a high cost of living.

“Or you could be in Ashmore in a 160 square metre, three-bedroom plus-study home close to the beach, parks, and with great weather.

“ … will the Gold Coast be a coveted place to work from home? Absolutely. If you can live and work on the Gold Coast, whether your employer is here or interstate, you would be mad not to.”

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture: Adam Head.

We are living through two great disruptive events in our working lives – COVID-19, but also the advent of the digital age.

It has already had an enormous effect on the retail industry, with online shopping putting the future of bricks-and-mortar stores such as Myer and David Jones in jeopardy.

The technology to allow a second disruptive wave, affecting office work, has been slowly building in recent years. It has just got a serious kickstart.

But with disruption always comes opportunity. Just ask Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

This time around, the Gold Coast could be well positioned to seize advantage. We should strain every sinew to take the chance.