Talking Point: Hobart, I love you but we need to talk

DAVID BARTLETT: Why reject the uni move? And why not sports and art centres at Macquarie Point?

POTENTIAL: Sports and arts centres for Macquarie Point.

Dear Hobart (and by Hobart I mean you, greater Hobart),

I have been in love with you for many, many years. For 43 of the last 51 years we have slept together each night, risen together each morning. I have embraced your beautiful topography — mountain and river, sky and sand. You, in return, have enveloped me in your beauty, warmth and cold alike. I have loved you from your highest point looking south to the ocean and I have loved you from your icy river waters, gazing up at your natural and spectacular amphitheatre. You have given me a place to grow a family and a garden, to grow a community and a dream of a beautiful future.

I have loved your food, your beer, your science, your art. You have given me Mona and Mofo, both dark and not, and so many other experiences that stimulate and excite that I know are the very best in the world.

For many years I have extolled your virtues nationally and internationally, singing your praises as the “greatest small city on the planet”. Sure, I have flirted with Melbourne and New York, even San Francisco once or twice. But ultimately, as I reach middle age and our relationship grows ever deeper, I know you are the only one for me.

But Hobart, we need to talk. Lately, you have started to irritate me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. In fact, you have started to really show me sides of yourself I just don’t like. When your institutions try to re-invent and reorient you to the modern economy you whinge and moan.

Don’t you realise the very best thing for you is to embrace our university in your heart and present yourself to the world as a place that values and celebrates education. And not just for your pretty and comfortable southern suburbs, but for everyone, north of your flannel curtain and beyond.

I was proud, when together, we located the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies on your beautiful waterfront. Your obsessive desire to attract visitors kicked in. Shouldn’t we save that space for the all-important visitors you argued. Hobart, can’t you see that if all you have is visitors crowding your waterfront, staring at each other you will lose your authentic allure, that special connection to science, research, the southern oceans and Antarctica? And as for your idea to move CSIRO and IMAS across the port to Macquarie Point! What for? So that you can reserve more space for more visitors to stare at each other — have you lost your mind Hobart?

Yes, my dear, change does bring choices. A new embrace of our education and research strength will come the need to modestly lift your reach to the sky. No, Hobart not skyscrapers on the waterfront but a modest and dense increase in height in the city centre to accentuate your natural amphitheatre, not destroy it.

For the first 40 years of our love affair Hobart you provided for those most in need. Rarely, if ever, did you allow your people to sleep in the open as the cold Antarctic air blew fierce by night. Now, it seems you just don’t care anymore. More visitors are great. We both love them. But seriously Hobart, remember to look after your own.

What I used to laughingly call your three-minute traffic jam has turned into a full half-hour screaming match in the morning with you. And when I try to avoid your snarls and ride my bike or motor scooter you abuse me with dangers — both physical and mental. Four wheels good, two wheels bad — you Orwellian beast you Hobart!

Please my love, embrace new public transport ideas. Open up your corridors for light rail. Not just for the opportunity to unclog your car-ravaged arteries but so we can provide more density of housing along those corridors and in your city heart. Consider some new additions to your public transport adornments — what about your beautiful harbour?

Here’s a radical idea Hobart. Last year’s Metro annual report shows revenue of about $50 million of which close to $40 million came directly as a government subsidy. Why not increase that subsidy by 25 per cent and give every one of your residents a free ticket to ride. I know we fantasise about giving you a $3 billion cross city tunnel upgrade but get real Hobart! You’re dreaming! For just $10 million a year we could give every one of your residents free public transport.

I have a confession to make Hobart. I recently had a fling with Oklahoma City. Before we met, I had imagined her as a Tom Joad jilted, mid-west, dustbowl city in decay. But by embracing her unique art, culture, food and built heritage she has reinvented herself. With the University of Oklahoma deep in her heart. Hobart you have all of that in quality and quantity not seen elsewhere. Foolishly though Hobart, unlike Oklahoma City, you built your major sports stadium in a suburb that means big sporting events annoy and irritate not only the residents but also the fans.

My one-night stand with Oklahoma City happily coincided with OKC Thunder’s game night. The whole city came to life with pedestrian and public transport routes lighting up with fans happily on the move to and from the game. The 20,000-seat stadium in the heart of the city had no carpark that I could see. Imagine then Hobart if we mothballed the barnacle that is Bellerive Oval and planned to build new and exciting big event spaces — for both sports and arts — on your sadly withering Macquarie Point. Twenty thousand Hobart residents and visitors lighting up river, cycle, light rail and pedestrian routes on their way to the game via cafes and bars.

While I grow old, you are still a teenager Hobart. Stop thinking about tomorrow and start thinking about your next 25 years. Will you be a vibrant and exciting beauty or will you be an irritating old curmudgeon? With much love and dreams of a beautiful future together, David.

David Bartlett is a former Tasmanian Labor premier. He advises corporates and governments in digital transformation, is a director and chairman of four technology and innovation-based companies based in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and is president of the Hobart Chargers.