The Urban Development Institute of Australia

Thank you very much, Warwick, for that introduction, and thank you to all for coming to what has turned out to be a very large luncheon.

Can I, in particular, thank both the Property Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia for hosting this event and for giving me the opportunity of painting a broad picture of the way in which the Liberal-National Government is tackling and approaching the issues dear to your industry: those issues of regional development, and those issues of development within Perth – both the CBD and the broader metropolitan area.

Can I briefly acknowledge my ministerial colleagues in John Day, the Minister for Planning and The Arts, and to Brendon Grylls, the Minister for Regional Development and Lands.

I guess when people write and talk about Western Australia, the economy always comes to the forefront.  It is always in our minds and we probably focus on that more than many other states, indeed, other countries.  When we do focus on the economy, it is invariably talking about the structure of our economy: For example, the importance of the resources industry, or farming, or tourism.  And we also tend to focus on growth: How quick is our economy growing? How big is our economy?  How we compare.

It seems to me, and I'm sure you would agree, that perhaps not enough attention has been given to the spatial dimensions of our economy and the work that is going on through your two organisations and, indeed, with the ministers here – Brendon Grylls and John Day – I believe, as collectively adding a new and renewed look at the spatial – geographic, if you like – development of Western Australia.

As an economy, and as a Government, the best that this Government can do to assist your industry is to ensure that our economy is strong and growing and that the population of this state is strong and growing.  When you do that, in many respects you will do what else is required.

In his introduction, Warwick referred to approvals, and that has become a significant problem in this state.  It is probably the first issue that we have addressed across government.  I chair a ministerial group, which includes both Brendon and John, and a number of other ministers.  The focus that we've had as a Government is to simply make decisions in all areas and, yes, we recognise that administrative, legislative arrangements need to be changed and we will do that, I assure you of that.  And there will be a raft of legislation coming forward relating to the mining approvals process, and environmental, planning and the like.  But initially, as a new Government, decisions… dealing with a backlog of what matters.

And I just want to acknowledge the, I think, extraordinary efforts of John Day.  He has dealt with 380 planning decisions in about eight months.  He's dealing with them at a rate of three times what happened under the previous government.  Similarly, in other areas, decisions are being made.

First, can I comment briefly about some […inaudible…] issues of planning and development.  If anyone looks at Western Australia, the first impression is always the size of the state – two-and-a-half million square kilometres, 2400 kilometres north-to-south, 1600 kilometres east-to-west, the size of Europe.  Size and, in fact, distance and isolation will always dominate this state, our development and our experiences as a people.

The other aspect about it – and maybe, in part, it's a function of our natural resource endowment and our isolation and the size of this state – is that Western Australians have always been driven by big projects.  Big projects make sense in a big state.  Our great period for economic development in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s were about big projects… even the 1960s.  And now at the beginning of this century, we have the same opportunity: big projects, big agenda.

Indeed, if you look across the country, at a time with a global financial crisis, I assure you all of the action is in Western Australia.  We have very frequent COAG meetings with the Prime Minister and other premiers and I'm always sort of a little embarrassed if I'm conscious of what is happening in this state and I don't see the same level of […inaudible…] in the other states.  We are in a very special, almost privileged, position in Western Australia during what is a difficult global environment.  It's a unique situation.

Despite our history, we have an odd legacy.  In spite of the massive dimensions of Western Australia, we still have a small population – 2.1 million people – and while at the mid-point of the last century, roughly half of Western Australians lived in the city and half in country and regional areas, today 75 per cent of our people live in the Perth metropolitan area.  A high concentration, an irony, an odyssey almost, in such a large and diverse state.

And it's not just simply an Australian experience.  If you look at the state most like us, Queensland, 45 per cent – less than half – of Queenslanders live in the Brisbane-Gold Coast area.  Queensland has 11 cities with populations over 50,000 people.  A string of major regional centres up its coastline.  We have one city outside Perth, Bunbury, with a population of over 50,000… just over 50,000.

Surely one of our great responsibilities this century is to develop this state and have significant population centres to the north of Perth, through the Mid-West, through the Pilbara and into the Kimberley.  And I just have a few comments on that, on the sort of things that we should be thinking about – not necessarily right today, but over the coming period.  Bunbury, our one significant regional city, is well planned, well positioned.  It's got a lot of good attributes.  It also has four local authorities in the urban area.  Now, Bunbury has got the potential to become a second capital city to Perth, if you like.  A second city, not only for commerce and enterprise, but also a second city of government administration.  It is not a foolish thought to imagine one or more government departments headquartered in Bunbury.  Technology allows that, it's an attractive place to live and the new Forrest Highway will open in the next month or so, making it that close… much closer in time from Perth.

Geraldton? Geraldton also has great potential to grow.  The development of the Oakajee Port and Rail project will bring a whole new industry, a whole new industrial estate, and Geraldton has the potential to attract a new generation of sophisticated, high-technology, clean processing industry.  I have great hopes for that region.

In [… inaudible…] centres, probably more difficult.   But some of the smaller to medium-size towns can develop, but they need to be known for something, just as Margaret River is obviously known worldwide for its wine, you know, maybe places like Manjimup and Moora can be recognised for areas of intensive, high-quality agricultural food production.  Maybe Esperance can become a significant centre of aquaculture, as has happened in Port Pirie in South Australia.

We need to have a lucrative approach, both in government and in industry, to build up areas of specialisation and to start thinking spatially across this state.  That's the challenge… I think one… probably the great challenge for Western Australia going into this century.

But, we move now more specifically to Perth – particularly the CBD, but also the metropolitan area.  Now my mother, when I was growing up as a small boy in the 1950s and '60s, used to say to me that Perth was the most beautiful city in the world.  I would second that without question.  It was only a bit later in life that I realised that mum had never actually lived or travelled outside of Perth.  So that [… inaudible…].  But she was quite emphatic about that.  And, look, Perth is an attractive city.  We have the legacy of the Stephenson Plan from the 1950s.  It is a well-planned, well-functioning city and metropolitan area. Yes, the road density, well spread out, and […inaudible…] debates about that.

The Economist magazine only recently rated Perth as the fifth most liveable city in the world.  Accolades like that are a credit to town planners, developers, successive governments, the Perth City Council, and we have done well.  But the question I pose is: How will Perth fare for the […inaudible…] period?  Now, I'm not even going to have the debate of the Dullsville issue, but there is a factor there in terms of, perhaps, a lack of vitality, a lack of a cosmopolitan feel, and the difficulty Perth often has in retaining some of our brightest and youngest.  And, yes, it's a great place if you want a career in the mining or petroleum industry, but maybe in other areas opportunities are limited.  So […inaudible…] conscious of that.

But this is now a unique opportunity we have.  This is a time to evolve.  I know the financial situation is still stressful, I know credit is difficult, but what is happening in Australia… the big action, the big projects are in this state.  And just like 100 years ago, when bold decisions were made for this state, the time is now for us to go ahead and do what we have been talking about and thinking about for probably the last 20 years.

In saying that, and I'll begin by talking about the central business district area itself: no one government, no one premier, can claim that they did it.  And in that sense I acknowledge the work of the previous government, a lot of the planning into the Northbridge Link, the start of construction on the Arena – it's costing a bit more than Alan said… a lot more – the Perth Theatre, the development in Northbridge.  And you can go back to Richard Court's government and the […inaudible…] Convention Centre.  I mean, there's a continuous sort of work in motion.  But there is now a point at which we can just drift, or we can make those bold decisions. 

I also acknowledge the work of the City of Perth and, indeed, the City of Perth […inaudible…] recent times has, and is, being proactive: streetscapes, realigning traffic flows, sculptures, small bars in the city.  All of those are a worthy, positive step forwards.

We must have both good governance, good planning and good projects: quality architecture, quality projects.  And that is a shared responsibility between government, both State and local, and your industry and all the professionals that work within it.  As I said, this is the opportunity.  Indeed, we are probably on the verge right now of the most significant changes to our capital city in over 100 years, and I don't want to miss that opportunity, and I don't think you do either.

There are three major projects that I wanted to briefly mention.  First, the Northbridge Link; secondly, the Perth Cultural Centre; and third, the Perth Waterfront.

With respect to the Northbridge Link, and a lot of work, a lot of planning, has gone into that.  It has been good work, and well done.  The project is, in fact, three projects: sinking the rail line from the Horseshoe Bridge through to the old […inaudible…] centre area.  That's the first project.  The second project is sinking the Busport [sic], and the third project is developing whatever goes on top of what will be, basically, a 14 hectare site.  A large area of land, a large tract of land, right in the heart of the city.  It's a unique and special opportunity.

I managed to persuade my friend Kevin the Commonwealth should be involved, and to my surprise the Commonwealth agreed.  So now we have a situation where the project includes not only the railway but, of course, also the Busport.  The investment in sinking that infrastructure is significant: about $480 million on current estimates.  It is also an extraordinarily complex engineering project.  To build a tunnel for a rail system which will go over the… sorry, for building a tunnel for the new rail line, east-west, we will go over the tunnel coming in for the Southern Line, there'll only be 18 inches or so gap between the two of them, is going to be a taxing engineering project, done while maintaining the public transport system.   Similarly, lots of complexities in sinking the bus station and maintaining the bus service, but that will be done.

Preliminary site clearing and preparatory work will start on that project before the end of this year.  By mid next year it's expected that major construction tenders will be out and contracts awarded, and work will get under way out toward the end of 2010, on the second half.  The whole project to sink the rail and Busport will take up to four years.  It is a large project, it's going to cause some disruption, but it will be worth it.

You then get to a… the issue of what goes on top, and I'm indulging myself here.  I am insisting and I'm persuading more and more people that this generation will leave a legacy.  Not only will we sink the rail line and Busport and therefore connect Perth to Northbridge, but we will leave a legacy for future generations, and that will be a large town square or park.  I'm not going to presume to say how that should be configured, whether it's got water, grass, pavement, fountains, sculptures or whatever – but Perth will have a large town square.  Because in 50 years' time, that area will be the centre of what I expect to be a far larger city and that will be, if you like, our gift – this generation's gift – to our children and our grandchildren.  We need to think big.  John Forrest saved Kings Park, we can indulge ourselves and save something for the future as well.

The second major project which John Day's almost got total carriage of is the Perth Cultural Centre, both as Planning Minister and, of course, Minister for Arts.  The Cultural Centre in Northbridge is looking tired.  Anyone who wanders through it would probably draw that conclusion.  Now this is going to be a work in progress, we don't have the funds to do all that we're wanting to in one hit, so it's going to be a continuing process.  And it will be done in conjunction with some very clear measures to reduce anti-social behaviour in Northbridge, change the whole tenor of that, so that our club-restaurant-entertainment district is safe and attractive and enjoyable.  So the two go together and, in fact, on the Northbridge issue itself it is our intention that there will be significant changes – in terms of the overall governance and public safety in Northbridge – put in place for this coming summer.

As for the physical developments in the adjacent cultural precinct, a number of things are happening.  The new State Theatre Centre will be completed around mid next year.  That was a $91 million project started, obviously, by the previous government, but will become a major feature of that area and a great boon to the arts and to entertainment in this city.  The museum: haven't yet made a decision on the scale or the cost, but the new museum will be built in that cultural centre, not at the East Perth power station site.  We will keep an integrated, cohesive cultural and arts centre for Perth.  Ah, $8 million has been allocated to pull the old Francis Street building, so that work will get under way relatively soon.

Also, we've allocated $10 million to give a facelift to the Art Gallery: a new façade to the building, reshape the public areas and open space surrounding it, and hopefully we can open up the rooftop as part of the arts experience for Perth.

Hosting more festivals, more public events, and a revitalisation of that arts centre.  Perth needs to be more cosmopolitan.  It needs to offer more entertainment, more experiences, for a wider diversity of people and cultures, and that Northbridge area is where that can happen.

Third, can I move to the waterfront?  And the reality is that 100 years ago, Perth was better connected to its waterfront than it is today – 100 years ago there were jetties, there was river transport, there were hotels, there were warehouses, there were shops and there was all sorts of entertainment, probably of… some were probably dubious.  But it was active, it was alive and it had a vitality.

Our river, the Swan River – our greatest natural advantage – is effectively cut-off from the city by Riverside Drive and by an expanse of lawn.  And I'm talking about that area next to the Convention Centre, basically between the alignments of William and Barrack Street.

Now, the previous government had a grand plan, a grand design, a grand vision.  I don't think most people in Perth particularly liked that.  But Perth does need to proceed with the development.  We do need to connect our city to its waterfront and we need to change the orientation of the city itself so it is not simply an east-west alignment, with the wind tunnel effect, but you also start to get a north-south alignment from the waterfront, through the heart of the city, through the Northbridge Link and through to Northbridge.  Both projects have that interplay between them.

The Swan River and the project of the waterfront development is at its early stages.  We do not have a definitive plan, we do not have a grand vision that is about to be imposed upon the city and its people.  But what I would like to assure you is that the planning of that will start as of today and the objective is that within 18 months we will see physical construction starting to take place on that site.  Hopefully there are, behind me, some… some diagrams, some drawings, sketches, of a streetscape, of a pedestrian-level view of the connection of William and Barrack Street and of the type of experience that might be on Perth's waterfront – I guess similar to a Southbank in Melbourne or a Darling Harbour in Sydney. Lower level, open space, walkways, boardwalks, shops, bars, art outlets, whatever. An environment for people, a friendly pedestrian, environment.

Now while there is no definitive plan at this stage, and I invite all of you and your organisations to be involved in this, but we’re not going to go slowly, it’s not going to be years we’re talking about. It’s going to start from today. But what is foreseen, even at this stage, are a number of key features. First, that the water from the river does come in. It comes into the… basically the foot of the existing skyline of Perth, that we bring the water in where it historically, and naturally used to be. That will create a public open space, boardwalk, walkways and the activity.

That leaves obviously the next question from there is: Well, what happens to Riverside Drive?  And Riverside Drive is obviously a critical factor.  It’s a beautiful drive, people like to drive along the river and see the city on one side, with water on the other side.  But to bring the water in, logically, Riverside Drive either has to go over the water, or under the water, or around the water.  And work on that planning issue and the costing of that is starting already. We need to get a handle on how we can do that.

And the other aspect is that this is going to be very much a mixed-use development: people, commercial, residential, entertainment, hospitality.  And a scale of buildings leading from the river, basically, scaling up towards the more traditional Perth skyline.

And it will also be a development where the Government will take the lead, along with Perth City Council, in terms of broad concepts, the planning and the design. But I will be looking – indeed asking – the private sector to do this project. This is going to be the best real estate in Perth; it’s going to be prime riverfront, spectacular land.  And it’s a project that I would hope you and your industry will see the commercial opportunities. The Government will plan and do its part, but this will pretty much be a partnership between Government, the Perth City Council, and the property development and commercial building industry.

So I hope you’re up for it, because it’s going to be a great opportunity and it will be your opportunity to be part of the transformation of the city.  As I said, work's getting underway and the planning will start and hopefully we will see construction by about 18 months' time.

A special feature of what is proposed will be the construction of a landmark building, and the building might be loosely defined for the moment.  Not the Sydney Opera House, but a spectacular striking piece of architecture that will give Perth its place. We may well be a beautiful city, as my mother used to say, but we need to be conscious that we are in a part of the world, in the Asia-Pacific, where many cities are known, are growing quickly and passing us. We need an identity, we need a profile, we need an attraction.

And what is proposed that we would develop right on the water, perhaps even over the water?  A pre-eminent centre for indigenous art and culture. I don’t know yet what that will entail, I hope the Commonwealth will come to the party and be a part of it. Some early discussions have started with indigenous leaders and so far, so good. But there is a lot of work to be done on that.  This will be something striking: I’m not the architect, I’m not the town planned, I’m not the landscaper. But what I expect to see come out of the professionalism, the entrepreneurship and the creativity of this State will be a striking structure that will reflect indigenous people and this State’s position in Australia, it’s pre-eminence in the art and culture. It’s going to be exciting, going to be different. May even be called Reconciliation Place.  Who knows? I don’t know. There’s a way to go now. But that’s going to be part of what I hope will be this development: something truly special.

Finally, can I just make a few comments on some governance issues.  There are a lot of players involved, obviously all the private sector interest, but within the Government itself – the State Government and Cabinet, the Department of Planning, the Planning Commission, bodies such as the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, the Perth City Council, the Central Perth Planning Committee – there’s a complex array of organisations.

We have some outstanding people in the Planning Commission, the Department of Planning, the City of Perth, and the redevelopment authorities, who just happen to have experienced, quality people at the Government level, matched by some outstanding people in the private sector. We have a new State Architect who will be involved in all this development, particularly the waterfront development.

So we’ve got an opportunity because of the expertise to bring this all together in a sensible way.

For the waterfront itself, carriage of that project to this point had been with Landcorp. Now, Landcorp may play a role down the path, I do not know that, but the carriage of the project – the waterfront project – will be with the Department of Planning under Eric Lumsden. Now, they will take a pre-eminent role in the initial planning, consultation, working out what can be done, how it will be done.

Similarly, the Department of Planning – from a State Government perspective – will be the lead agency in the Cultural Centre, obviously working closely with the Department of Arts.  It will be the lead agency in the Northbridge Link project and, again, obviously working closely with the Public Transport Authority who will have the direct responsibility of sinking the infrastructure.  And it will work very closely with the Perth City Council on the waterfront.

The Perth Central Planning Committee will have a broad oversight co-ordinating role, and I hope that will give some clarity to governance, and use the skills of the people we have heading up those various agencies.

And to take a wider metropolitan view, we have had over the years the development of redevelopment authorities: East Perth, Subiaco, Midland and Armadale. That model, on balance, has been very successful.  I know you'd get some argument on that, but I think the success is there to be seen. What is proposed is that we will move to a single Perth Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority.  Rather than recreate a new entity or establish a new entity every time, there will be a single body.

Now, the transition to that will be that when Subiaco Redevelopment Authority finishes its task, and it’s close to that now, perhaps the remaining parts of it will merge into the responsibility of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority.  Midland will carry on, and Armadale will carry on, but we won’t create anymore.  And the East Perth Redevelopment Authority will become a Metropolitan Perth Redevelopment Authority to be able to go into any area of Perth, metropolitan area of Perth, where there is a need for a redevelopment to have that expediency and authority to do the planning, to work with local authorities and to break the backlog.  And that will be under the authority of John Day.

And I think that will give a better focus, and I think we can all probably think of areas of Perth that need that ability for an agency to move in, bring about the change, bring in the private sector investment, change the planning, change the zoning and then move on to the next one.  And so I hope that we see not only the revitalisation of the CBD, but we see many areas – sub-regional, and perhaps ignored, neglected areas of Perth… metropolitan Perth – redeveloped.

So to finally conclude, these may well be difficult times. The focus in this State is about big projects and being bold. This is, I assure you, an historic opportunity that we have.

There’s going to be some remarkable developments in Western Australia over these coming few years. The Ord River in the Kimberley, under Brendon Grylls, is already under way. You might not be aware: the first major expansion and lengthening of the irrigation channels are being built now.  To the north of Broome, some controversy: a new LNG precinct.  In the Pilbara: iron ore expansions; yeah, BHP, Rio merging; but perhaps a whole range of smaller iron ore producers coming in.  And indeed if you look at that northern part of Australia, we still only have 40,000 people in each of the Kimberley and the Pilbara.  The Kimberley is twice the size of the state of Victoria.  The Kimberley for the next 50 years I suggest will be as important to Western Australia as the Pilbara was for the last 50 years.  Very much it’s our future in the north.  Geraldton, with Oakajee; and the Perth City projects.

So, in taking all the projects – both regional and, particularly, the ones in the city – I welcome your advice, I welcome you comment, and most of all I welcome your participation.

Thank you very much.

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