The Winner is Sid-en-ee
One airport, one runway operating and winds reaching 70 km/h cancelled my flight from Sydney on Friday afternoon. Collectively, travellers appeared calm and understanding, many having viewed the aborted landing of QF12 from Los Angeles.
The cold front also delivered a dust storm on Thursday that left the Harbour Bridge impressively visible for an Instagram moment one minute and in darkness the next.
Sydney is in all but name, the nation’s capital. It is business suits, designer labels and far less hipsters than Melbourne. It is banking and finance and politics and busy lunchtimes tracking down sushi rolls.
It is iPhones and earbuds and social media. An organised big city with endless infrastructure and construction projects underway, trying to support a consistently increasing population.
I enjoy spending time in Sydney; captivated by modern architecture’s link with buildings of the past, sensitively highlighting difference rather than trying to cover it up.
The unsaid regarding British arrival remains, though acknowledgement of country begins proceedings.
Briefly gazing into Sydneysiders’ eyes; trying to guess professions and how long commuting to work takes each day, strangely makes me think about home and unlikely comparisons. What could Launceston learn from Sydney and vice versa?
Population Australia, Domain and ABS assists our conversation.
Sydney with 5.64 million inhabitants is the most diverse city in Australia, with ethnicity and accents showcasing a multicultural central business district. By contrast, Launceston is far less diverse with 76 per cent of our 66,752 residents born in Australia resulting in, arguably, lost financial opportunity, cultural acceptance and empathy.
The harbour city is also extremely expensive and often congested, with NSW full-time wages, on average, higher than Tasmania by approximately $230 per week, required to support median house price differences where purchasing in Sydney costs $1.14 million compared to $461,547 in Tasmania during the June quarter 2018.
During the past seven years, Sydney’s population has grown on average by 4.5 per cent. In a damming statistic, Launceston’s population decreased on average by 0.09 per cent with the only increase during 2016 where we grew 0.1 per cent.
Ongoing population growth has led to a huge infrastructure spend and vibrancy in a city that comes to life after traditional business hours conclude. Darling Harbour is a hive of activity with locals and tourists lapping up food and beverage options. However, there is no doubt lock-out laws have curtailed spending.
By comparison, Launceston, due to stagnate population growth, is often devoid of people even though the dining options are as good, if not better than anywhere else. In recent times, this has undoubtedly changed, in line with better economic conditions, but there is still a long way to go.
The way to address this challenge is people. Considering our performance during the past seven years, we should not be apprehensive about population growth. In fact, increasing Launceston’s population should be atop of every decision maker and community leaders’ agenda. It will be a slow grind, not unachievable, but not overly concerning like some cities playing catch-up.
Sydney accommodates 400 people per square kilometre with Launceston just 153. Consequently, along with population growth, infill projects delivering amenity must be given priority.
Like Sydney, Launceston still relies on professional jobs: 32.29 per cent of Sydney-based employees are considered professionals, with a surprising 32.2 per cent of Launcestonians professionally employed. It highlights the Northern capital is still the business centre of the state when compared to Hobart at 21.6 per cent.
The opportunities for Launceston can be found in employment growth industries like heath care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, and education, which surprisingly hold 11.4 per cent of the job pool compared to Sydney’s 3.4 per cent.
Launceston must attract working-age professionals to ensure population growth is measured in positive rather than negative terms. Further, our ageing population is an opportunity rather than a handbrake with services required providing jobs now and into the future.
The other opportunity, without doubt, is the City Deal and the University of Tasmania’s campus to Inveresk. What better way to grow the education pie than with more students and jobs delivering diversity and vibrancy to a city the statistics highlight is desperately crying out for difference.
On the face of it, Sydney and Launceston couldn’t be more dissimilar. But like many Australian tales, you just need to scratch the surface to learn the lessons.
The winner was Sid-en-ey and, now just maybe, Launceston.