Advertisement

I love a suburbanised country

Forget Dorothea Mackellar and Banjo Paterson. Australia is a land of suburban homes situated in residential estates that might be called something like Snowy River but don't have rivers and have never seen snow.

Clancy runs a computer repair shop - the only time he sees a horse is when he's playing Age of Empires.

The great myth at the centre of the Australian story, that this is a land of farmers and sheep and kangaroos, is a mystery to anyone caught in a traffic jam at 7am on their way into central Perth.

Australia is a land of cities.

Perth contains the largest proportion of its State population, at almost 80 per cent, of any capital city in the country bar Canberra (which is a city with a great big national park attached to it).

When someone in Welshpool talks about "going bush", they're referring to a trip to Kings Park.

Cities are where we live and play, and they are pivotal to our overall economy. About 80 per cent of Australia's economic activity comes from our cities.

Perth CBD itself produces more than $41 billion of goods and services.

Two researchers from the independent think tank the Grattan Institute are today releasing a new book on the issues facing the nation's cities - and how to fix them.

The biggest issue revolves around two interconnected elements of city life: Where we live and how we get to our job.

Our jobs - and particularly the best-paid ones - are in a few select areas.

They are the CBDs, some suburban hubs and particular industries (such as what pops up around a university or a major hospital).

But for more and more city residents, getting to those jobs is a problem.

We see it in the congestion on the morning drive to work or in the cramped train carriage or loud bus.

Authors of the book City Limits, Jane-Frances Kelly and Paul Donegan, found out just how important our CBDs are to employment.

Across the nation's five biggest capitals, employment in and around their CBDs grew almost 60 per cent between 2006 and 2011.

In suburbs 10km to 20km from the CBD, employment grew 15 per cent, while beyond that it was about 25 per cent.

However, while employment is growing quickly in the city centres, the population growth is taking place more than 20km away in the outer suburbs.

Our CBD populations are up about 30 per cent, but the outer suburbs are growing at almost twice that rate.

There's also a big difference in the value of those jobs.

The researchers found that the average full-time job located 20km or more from the centre of our largest cities pays $56,000 a year.

But jobs within 10km of the CBD pay one-third more - about $77,000 annually.

And the total number of jobs in the far-flung suburbs compared with the city centre is another major issue.

There are fewer than three jobs for every 10 residents in Perth's outer suburbs.

But for those middle suburbs there are about seven jobs for every 10 people.

So, if the jobs are not just down the road then suburban residents have to get on that road - or a train or a bus - to find employment.

And that's the problem.

The solutions start at the decision-making level.

Given the debate that's just gone on in Perth about local government mergers it may be waving a red flag to suggest change has to occur at this level.

But there does have to be better relationships between councils, the State Government and the Federal Government if we are to get our cities working properly.

That might be keeping an agreed set of principles in place for an extended period - for instance, a council sticking by a policy of medium density development for an extended period rather than changing its position election by election.

That good relationship extends to people.

They need to be engaged about any ideas or changes, with the Grattan Institute noting that many places are not boltholes of NIMBYs but people who just want a good quality of life.

Other proposals, however, are even tougher.

Putting tolls on existing roads and much improved public transport are very high on the list.

Tolls that vary with time usage - that is, congestion charging - sends the price signal needed for any change to work.

Stand alongside any of Perth's major roads and see just how many vehicles carry just one passenger.

And having quality public transport in place means people have a good option if they're not prepared to pay the congestion taxes on their car ride into the city.

As the Grattan Institute found, commuting times across Australia increased more than 20 per cent over the past decade.

One-quarter of workers spend more time in their cars driving to and from work than with their children.

Factor in the higher costs people in the outer suburbs face by burning petrol sitting in traffic waiting to get to their job, and it's a perfect economic and social storm.

It's not efficient and it's not conducive to a quality family life.

The researchers also identify a number of other issues including the impact of negative gearing and the 50 per cent cut in capital gains tax that was introduced by the Howard government that are hurting our cities.

Many Australians want to live close to cities or in inner suburbs. The prices for houses and units in these areas show that's true.

The many zoning and planning restrictions we have in place, however, effectively prevents increasing supply. More homes in those areas, which are relatively well served by public transport, would help our cities work.

The absence of terraces, townhouses and units in Perth's inner and middle suburbs is one of the city's defining features.

It is also one of the economic handicaps facing the city long term unless the idea of Los Angeles on the Indian Ocean is your idea of Perth's future.

Some proponents argue more land release on our urban fringes is necessary.

That could be an answer but it doesn't work if there are no jobs, no roads and no public transport.

When Mackellar wrote My Country in 1908 about one-third of all Australians worked in agriculture, fishing or mining.

Of WA's 282,000 residents in 1908, a little more than one-third were living in Perth. Today, it's almost 80 per cent.

We have to take care of our cities, particular those areas where people live, and make sure they work.

Our economic fortune will rise or fall on whether we are successful.