As a federal parliamentary committee puts regional migration under the microscope, the Property Council calls for policies that deliver good growth in Australia’s capital and regional cities.
The inquiry, chaired by Liberal MP Julian Leeser, follows the Morrison Government’s decision to cap the number of permanent visa places offered each year at 160,000.
Leeser has said the committee will explore ideas to encourage new arrivals to move to regional areas, and complement the government’s new regional visa push.
In a written submission to the committee, the Property Council supports targeted measures to promote distribution of people outside our biggest cities.
“But measures to attract migrants to regional areas must be underpinned by investment attraction programs to create jobs and drive economic development – otherwise people will continue to seek work in our larger cities, as they have done for the last 50 years,” says Michael Zorbas, the Property Council’s group executive, policy.
“We do not support policies that cut migration or divert it away from capital cities under the illusory promise that this will improve capital city quality of life.”
The Property Council’s submission points to research conducted by the Grattan Institute, which finds governments have “tried to lure people, trade and business away from the capital cities” since federation. “These efforts have mostly been expensive policy failures,” the think tank warns.
Australia’s four largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – currently accommodate three quarters of Australia’s growth, and generate most of our wealth and jobs.
“It is in these cities where decades of deficits in city governance, infrastructure, land supply and public transport have created the most public concern about growth,” Zorbas explains.
The overwhelming majority of Australians believe growth can be good if it is managed properly. A recent survey of nearly 3,000 people commissioned by the Property Council found 75 per cent supported well-managed population growth, while 77 per cent attributed problems of growth with failure of government to plan properly.
“Congestion pressures in our large cities are the result of 40 years of poor planning, underinvestment in productive public infrastructure, poor economic management and, in some states, an ideological unwillingness to embrace even partial asset recycling,” Zorbas adds.
The submission sets out how Australian cities can better manage population growth based on research commissioned by Professor Greg Clark OBE. This benchmarking exercise identified several weaknesses – transport, governance, infrastructure investment and institutional capacity – that prevented Australian cities from adequately managing growth.
The submission also underscores the severe and debilitating costs associated with cuts to capital city migration. Economic modelling undertaken by AEC has found the NSW Government’s call to halve net overseas migration would cost the state economy $130 billion over a decade, create 200,000 fewer jobs and erode state investment value by up to $177 billion.
“Australia’s decision-makers and planners, at all levels of government, must remain focused on delivering good growth, especially in our major cities, rather than looking for ways to prevent it,” Zorbas concludes.
Download the Property Council’s submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.