
In our families, careers and businesses, growth is never easy.
Growth brings new challenges. It can be exhilarating and occasionally painful, and requires us to expand our capabilities. And once we have grown, it is enormously satisfying as well.
Growth and change are also realities of our modern cities. To run away from growth is simply to deny mounting challenges and a changing world. To stop growing is to agree to obsolescence.
More than a decade ago, a NSW Premier declared Sydney was full and he turned his back on a growing city. It didn’t take long to realise doing nothing actually made the city’s problems worse.
In this week’s issue of Property Australia, we put a series of questions to the new Planning Minister in NSW, Anthony Roberts, for his first interview as Minister. The good news is that he sees the clear linkage between continued housing supply and addressing housing affordability.
The Minister reminds us that he has seen the planning system from the other side, as a councillor on a small Sydney council. If we get our planning systems right, we make it easier for everyone – and we also get to preserve the things that matter to self-sustaining and vibrant communities.
His willingness to tackle the challenge is on clear display, but there is certainly a lot of work to do in our least affordable city.
Growth also shouldn’t just be something that we expect of others. It’s a natural pre-requisite to strengthening our own skills and navigating times of change.
The Property Council’s diversity programs don’t just help the participants, they help their companies and the industry. They are building capability in which we all can share.
This week, we are launching the next intake to the 100 Women of Property, which is a sponsorship program for women in our industry. It has already helped hundreds of professionals – it has built networks, expanded skills and imparted the judgment that only comes from experience.
And it has created tremendous benefits for the mentors and for the participating companies too. You can find out more in this issue.