Growth Management Summit 30 - 31 Mar 2010

[ozbob]

I will be attending the summit representing RAIL BoT

From the Courier Mail click here!

10 million Queenslanders by 2050

10 million Queenslanders by 2050

   * Craig Johnstone and Melanie Christiansen
   * From: The Courier-Mail
   * March 25, 2010 10:10PM

QUEENSLAND could have a population of more than 10 million by the middle of the century, new Federal Government projections reveal.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics projections also put Brisbane's population at more than 4.5 million by 2051.

They were contained in the bureau's latest rundown of Australian demographic statistics, released yesterday.

The bureau said Queensland had a population of 4.45 million at the end of September last year, a 2.7 per cent increase over the year.

Queensland also remains the most popular destination for Australians considering an interstate move.

In the year to September 2009, 16,000 interstate migrants settled in Queensland – more than 300 a week.

The next most popular state was Western Australia, drawing 3400 interstate migrants in the year, while NSW lost 16,700 residents to other states.

Queensland remains the third-biggest state by population, behind NSW with 7.16 million and Victoria with 5.47 million.

Apart from interstate migration, Queensland population was boosted by 58,100 overseas migrants and a natural increase of about 41,100.

Australia's population topped 22 million over the same period.

Nationally, the population grew by 451,000 in the year, including 297,400 overseas migrants and a natural increase of 154,500.

The latest figures follow renewed calls to cut Australia's immigration intake to help slow population growth.

Former NSW premier Bob Carr told a forum in Brisbane on Wednesday the immigration rate should be halved, because Australia's environment could not sustain the predicted population of 35.9 million by 2050.

Federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson, who last year floated a plan to cap the population at 26 million, said the ABS figures highlighted "a recipe for environmental devastation, rising interest rates, and unaffordable housing".

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he believes in a big Australia and the nation should prepare for population growth with appropriate planning and infrastructure.

ABS projections said that if Queensland had high fertility rates and high rates of both interstate and overseas migration, its population would hit 5.8 million by 2021, 8.6 million by 2041 and 10.1 million by 2051.

Premier Anna Bligh is hosting a summit on managing the state's population growth next Tuesday and Wednesday.

[ozbob]

Summit web site --> http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/

[ozbob]

Summit program --> http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/program/assets/summit-program.pdf

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Two-day summit to tackle population growth

Two-day summit to tackle population growth
DANIEL HURST
March 29, 2010 - 5:37AM

Environmentalists believe it is doomed to fail but a development industry leader says he remains optimistic.

When Premier Anna Bligh's two-day growth summit begins in Brisbane tomorrow, housing industry bosses, community groups, conservationists, planning experts and all three levels of government will sit down in the one room.

Their task? To work out new ways to deal with population growth in the state's rapidly developing south-east corner.

But disagreement has already broken out between some of the participants on the wording of the question, let alone what the solutions are.

Queensland Conservation Council secretary Simon Baltais said yesterday he was not convinced the summit would achieve anything because its goals were all about "managing" rather than "controlling" population growth.

Simon Baltais, who is also a spokesman for the Sustainable Population Australia lobby group, said Ms Bligh should acknowledge at the summit "that we have a population problem".

"Before the end of the century there'll be 17 million people in South-East Queensland," he said, citing current growth rates.

"If people think all our ideals that we cherish will still be there at that point, it's madness."

However, Urban Development Industry Association Queensland chief Brian Stewart said people needed to accept the population would continue to rise.

"That's to do with international migration, it's to do with national population increase and from time to time it's to do with interstate migration as people exercise their constitutional right to move freely around the country," he said.

"It's very easy to suggest we put our head in the sand and just stop growth, but the question is whether that's in our country's best interests."

The dispute provides an early indication of the types of arguments that will play out among participants during the summit workshops.

The two-day event, to be held at the State Library of Queensland, will feature speeches and panel discussions about growth, prosperity, sustainability, liveability and the role of each level of government.

Interest groups, experts and planners will then sit down in workshops to develop new ideas and policy solutions.

Ms Bligh, who announced the planned summit in November last year, has already floated several proposals including boosting the federal government first home buyer grant for people who move to rural and regional areas.

She has also suggested the creation of "go zones" and "no-go zones" to give communities more certainty about what types of development would be allowed in their suburbs.

These zones would be in addition to existing measures spelt out in the state government's South-East Queensland regional plan and individual council planning schemes, which already show where growth will be accommodated.

According to the regional plan, which was updated last year, the south-east corner requires an additional 754,000 homes by 2031, including 156,000 in the Brisbane City Council area.

Many of these dwellings will be built as part of higher density apartment or townhouse complexes in existing suburbs, prompting concerns about the impact of that growth on the character of those local areas.

In Woolloongabba, for example, a Brisbane developer has sought permission to build a modern 20-storey apartment complex beside a heritage-listed 87-year-old Russian Orthodox church, much to the displeasure of the church's members.

Environmentalists and community groups warn the pace of growth will continue to cause conflict in the suburbs, with the population in South-East Queensland expected to increase from 2.8 million to 4.4 million people by 2031.

At a planning symposium in Brisbane last week, former NSW premier Bob Carr called on the federal government to draw up a national population policy.

"The only population policy we have got at this time is 'more, and more and more'," Mr Carr said.

Mr Carr also told local councillors to lobby the federal government for a national population cap.

Professor Martin Bell, from the University of Queensland Centre for Population Research, last week blasted calls for a South-East Queensland population cap, saying such a move unachievable.

Mr Stewart said the ageing population meant Australia would have problems supporting the baby boomers once they moved out of the workforce if population growth was curtailed.

But Mr Baltais said the federal government's current immigration intake was "huge".

"It's not about stopping our immigration, it's about having a sensible immigration policy," he said.

Queenslanders will be able to submit questions for panel participants at http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Let's go national: Bligh's population policy call

Let's go national: Bligh's population policy call
TONY MOORE
March 29, 2010 - 5:01PM

Anna Bligh today joined calls for a national population policy that would allow for Australia-wide infrastructure planning up to 20 years.

On the eve of a growth management summit in Brisbane, the Queensland premier said the plan had received some interest from federal Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Ms Bligh said the federal government needed to spend more time co-ordinating population growth and infrastructure spending.

"I do think it is time to have a look at a national population policy that gives the states a bit more certainty in what we are planning and building for," Mrs Bligh told reporters this afternoon.

Mr Swan will deliver a keynote speech at tomorrow's summit.

For the first time Ms Bligh outlined her support for a national population policy, an idea raised by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman earlier this month.

The Queensland Government set up its South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program in 2005 to guide the region's infrastructure over the next 20 years.

Ms Bligh said this approach should be taken on a nationwide basis.

"For a long period of time the federal government in this country has not had a clear population policy and state governments and local governments have had to plan outside of any certainty on predicting and forecasting of population numbers," Ms Bligh said.

"If we saw a population policy - underpinned by a national infrastructure program that looked somewhere in the 10 to 20 year horizon - it would make the planing efforts of the state and local governments that much easier and that much better.

"This is an important and legitimate role for a national government to ensure consistency of national forecasting."

Brisbane City Council has recently been criticised by the city's ALP councillors for approving plans for the inner-city suburbs of South Brisbane and Fortitude Valley without firm population forecasts.

Cr Newman said the policy would set the framework for guiding investment decisions.

"I think all the [South-East Queensland] mayors have said very clearly - and we will be saying at Premier Bligh's growth summit - that there does need to be a national population policy," Cr Newman said.

The Lord Mayor said the federal government needed to make its case for an Australian population of 35.9 million.

"Let's have the debate, let's see why we need a population like that to support the taxbase to ensure that we can pay for people in their old age and hospitals," he said.

Comment has been sought from Mr Swan.

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Wayne Swan puts population cap off the agenda

Wayne Swan puts population cap off the agenda

   * Stefanie Balogh,Craig Johnstone and Emma Chalmers
   * From: The Courier-Mail
   * March 29, 2010 7:51PM

TREASURER Wayne Swan has ruled out capping southeast Queensland's booming population, saying the answer isn't to stop growing but to grow differently.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Swan will say: "I don't for a moment dismiss the critics of population growth ... but I can't bring myself to agree with those who think we can solve all our problems by putting a freeze on national population growth."

His comments to the State Government's growth management summit will come as the Bligh Government prepares to give its Urban Land Development Authority the task of opening more land for housing in southeast Queensland to better manage the region's strong population growth.

The expanded role for the ULDA will allow "greenfield" housing sites on the outskirts of Brisbane to be developed faster, improving home affordability for middle-income earners.

Premier Anna Bligh is understood to be considering including the move on the Government's policy agenda to emerge from this week's growth management summit.

The move also comes as a report for the Government by consultants KPMG paints a grim picture of the inability of major unit developers to access finance.

The report says the global financial crisis has cut the number of banks lending for medium- to high-density development in Queensland from eight to two.

Developers also had to pre-sell all their units before banks were willing to lend to them, the report found.

Ms Bligh said it showed that banks were "pricing in planing risk", forcing developers to pay a form of insurance if they did not gain timely building approvals.

Meanwhile, Mr Swan will say: "Growth's all about improving our standard of living and at the same time improving, not detracting from, our social cohesion and our environment."

In prepared remarks obtained by The Courier-Mail, he says "the answer isn't to stop growing, but to grow differently" and he will argue it is too easy to speak about the costs of an increased population, and forget to the mention the benefits.

If the bulk of Queensland's advanced resource projects and less advanced investments came online, Treasury modelling suggests it would produce an increase of about $70 billion in real Gross Domestic Product over the five years to 2013-14.

Meanwhile Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry has attacked Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce's call for an examination of tax incentives to encourage Queenslanders to move to regional areas. "Senator Joyce is freelancing as the Shadow Treasurer, announcing a new uncosted and unfunded tax policy on regional zone tax rebates in The Courier-Mail," Senator Sherry said.

The greenfield housing developments are code for 'maximum profit, transport poor .. more of the same lunatic practices ..'

[Jon Bryant]

Good Luck today Bob. Have fun and don't let them walk away believing that our current form of development is even close to sustainable in the short term let alone the long term. The Summit should be more like an intervention than a workshop. 

[ozbob]

Interesting day presentations and discussions.  Public transport has figured prominently, although much of the day was to do with broad socio-economic issues.  Our discussion group wants to know where are the TODs?  

From the Brisbane mX 30th March 2010 page 2

Planning pressure

[ozbob]

From the ABC News click here!

Townsville could be Queensland's second capital: Bligh

Townsville could be Queensland's second capital: Bligh

Updated 6 hours 35 minutes ago

Premier Anna Bligh has suggested Townsville or another regional city could become a second capital city to help Queensland deal with population increase.

Ms Bligh used her opening address of a two-day growth summit in Brisbane to suggest the state would benefit from another capital.

She says one of the ideas the summit may consider is identifying a regional city like Townsville to become a rival for Brisbane in economic, cultural and social terms.

The Townsville Chamber of Commerce (TCC) has welcomed Ms Bligh's suggestion the city could become the state's second capital.

TCC president John Carey says Townsville is already considered by many as the capital of north Queensland and he would support it becoming official.

"If by that she means it would be competing with the things in a similar manner as Sydney and Melbourne, I don't think there's much desirability in that prospect," he said.

"But if she means that it's going to be a regional capital - which I think it is - then making that official isn't going to hurt anyone."

Townsville Mayor Les Tyrell also welcomes Ms Bligh's idea.

"The people in Townsville have been referring to the city as the capital of north Queensland," he said.

But Ms Bligh's suggestion has been rejected by leading business group, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ).

CCIQ spokesman David Goodwin says opening up affordable land in regional centres is the best way to encourage people to move away from the south-east.

"Creating a second Brisbane is going to create a second lot of problems and it's going to increase the size of government," he said.

"It'll increase the cost on the private sector and I think essentially you are looking at government solutions for what are essentially private sector problems."

Ms Bligh has also called on banks to help developers meet the needs of a growing population.

She told the growth summit that multi-unit developments are needed in parts of Brisbane to deal with population increase, but she says banks tightened their lending during the global financial crisis.

"It's time for all banks to start reassessing their activity in this area," she said.

Ms Bligh has also flagged new laws to speed up the development of land in south-east Queensland.

She says the state is struggling to bring major sites in identified growth areas to market.

ms Bligh says the time it takes to get land to market in Victoria is up to two years shorter.

"It's time I think to reconsider some parts of the approval process and the government architecture that oversees those processes," she said.

"I challenge the summit here over the next two days to consider the practical ideas that could deliver that.

"If that requires an overhaul of government structures and processes, if it requires changes to legislation then so be it."

- Reporting by Chris O'Brien, Penny Timms and Kim Lyell

[ozbob]

From the ABC News click here!

Population summit not just a 'talk-fest'

Population summit not just a 'talk-fest'

Updated 8 hours 49 minutes ago

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is promising a two-day summit on population growth will not just be a talk-fest.

Speakers at the two-day event include Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan, a number of mayors, business groups, and conservationists.

Lobby groups have a long wish-list ahead of the two-day summit.

The Tourism and Transport Forum says there needs to be more investment in public transport and nearby housing developments.

The Queensland Conservation Council says development is killing koalas and greenhouse gas emissions are escalating.

Ms Bligh says the forum will not just be a talk-fest.

"I know there's a lot of people coming to this summit who are coming ready armed with ideas," she said.

"My guarantee to them is I want real action out of this summit.

"Some of the ideas may be things we can implement almost immediately, others might take some drafting of legislation and take a bit longer."

Ms Bligh has suggested a $3,000 boost to the first homebuyers grant for people in regional areas as one way to encourage population growth outside the south-east corner.

Regional infrastructure

But the Queensland Opposition says it is the latest in a series of summits, on issues ranging from obesity to the Great Barrier Reef.

The Opposition says infrastructure needs to be improved in growing regional areas.

The Australian Industry Group (AIG) says today's growth summit in Brisbane needs to consider the affordability of industrial land.

The group's state director, Chris Rodwell, says a new AIG survey shows the biggest infrastructure problems for business are broadband connection, local roads, and major highways.

Mr Rodwell says land affordability is a constraint to growth for one-in-five businesses surveyed.

"It's important that we look at housing and other issues that come with population growth, but if we only focus on those then we're missing the trick," he said.

"For a growing population you need a growing economy and we need to make sure that the infrastructure constraints that are on business need to be removed."

North Queensland

Meanwhile, Townsville Mayor Les Tyrell says he is seeking a commitment from the State Government for more infrastructure to cater for population growth in north Queensland.

Councillor Tyrell is one of three Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) delegates representing councils across the state at the summit in Brisbane.

He says he will be pushing for more infrastructure and a greater public service presence in regional cities at the summit.

Councillor Tyrell says it is more economical to build public infrastructure in regional areas than the south-east corner.

"We think that there's some win-win's here," he said.

"One is with some encouragement they can help with the problems in the south-east Queensland and the major population growth there, but they can also provide opportunities for people to live in other parts of the state and provide infrastructure for those people at a cheaper rate."

He says cities like Townsville have the potential to expand but need the infrastructure to support a larger population.

"There's also those other things like schools and all that state infrastructure," he said.

"There's obviously a need for some assistance in a whole range of social infrastructure and the entertainment centre is probably a good example of that."

Central Queensland

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter is the only regional Mayor to take part in a panel discussion on balancing prosperity and sustainability.

Councillor Carter says the Rockhampton region in central Queensland can expect huge economic benefits as the resources industry continues to grow.

"Where we need to locate the high impact industrial land that will be servicing a lot of this growth, making sure that that's located in an area that's not impeding our residential areas, get our heavy transports out of urban areas," he said.

"Of course the most important thing is to make sure that our residential areas, where we all live, that is a premium place to live close to shopping, close to public transport."

Central-west Queensland

Winton Mayor Ed Warren, from the state's central-west region, is also in Brisbane representing the Remote Area Planning Development Board.

Councillor Warren says he wants to raise the prospect of the central-west as an option to population growth concerns.

"We have got to be looked on as an alternative and particularly with the impending development of the Galilee Basin, our population has been -0.9 per cent for the last number of years," he said.

"I think it's got to be a positive for us in the future with possible increase in population for the next number of years."

He says the central-west's declining population is concerning but is not the only challenge facing the region.

"As time has gone on of the last 10 years, some of those government services - they might not have been completely reduced - but they've reduced the personnel living in regional or the city areas and they come out and service areas," he said.

"So those people are not actually living in the region, even though they claim that they are still servicing the region - our region - from another far away urban centre."

- Reporting by Melinda Howells, Penny Timms, Niki Lyons, Meera Nambiar and Paul Robinson

[#Metro]

Townsville?

The Regional places have truly awful transport by any measure.
Townsville
Rockhampton
Cairns
Toowoomba...

Many of these places have rail infrastructure already present, but underutilised or used exclusively for freight.
Buses, busway, BUZ could be deployed as well as cycling (since the towns are tiny and surprisingly compact)
as well as light rail using the rail alignments and jumping off into suburban streets.

[ozbob]

Some comments:  The summit is an interesting collection of political representatives (Federal, State, Council), business and academic representatives, various environmental and community groups, and community representatives.  The general mood is one of planned controlled growth - productivity, participation and population. Transport has figured in much of the discussion and debate, as has development and demographic economics.  

David Owen presented via a video link.  He highlighted that fact that New York is the USA's most environmentally favourable City by a long way.  Density where supported by transport (public transit) gives the inhabitants very low environmental foot prints.  

In group discussions I stressed the lack of transport provision in many developments and suggested that both Springfield and North Lakes are not the best examples because of the poor provision of public transport concurrent with development. Development must be preceeded by public transport or concurrent.  Some discussion on how to tap into the  value added to  development to provide this infrastructure up front. Also highlighted the TOD rhetoric is not matched by action.  The planned TOD over Milton was not proceeded with because of a  requirement to proof the TOD against dangerous goods that might run through on the rail ( ).  Other TODs are just plans ..

Also raised the general principle of maximising the use of existing transport assets (TODs do this),  but also improved frequency of rail and bus services, and I raised directly with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane the possibility of more bus lanes?  Had a chat with the Premier, and also with the Minister for Transport.  Discussed transport issues generally, and CRR with both the Premier and Minister. Appreciate the opportunity for networking generally.

More discussions planned for tomorrow.

[#Metro]

The planned TOD over Milton was not proceeded with because of a  requirement to proof the TOD against dangerous goods that might run through on the rail ( Undecided ).

I've seen QR trains haul wagons with "cyanide" written on the side on one of the lines. 
Unbelieveable...

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

15-minute neighbourhood hubs may solve Queensland's growth problems

15-minute neighbourhood hubs may solve Queensland's growth problems
Last updated: March 31, 2010

    * Rosemary Odgers and Ursula Heger
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 30, 2010 8:37PM

"FIFTEEN-minute neighbourhoods" where residents live, work and play in the one place could be the blueprint for future development in Queensland to help ease the state's growing pains.

Developing a regional centre like Townsville as the state's second capital city or creating more satellite cities on the outskirts of Brisbane have also been proposed by the state's leaders at a summit called to address the looming population crisis in the southeast corner.

Premier Anna Bligh floated the idea of 15-minute suburbs, using New York City as an example where people embrace high-density living and sustainability by giving up their cars in exchange for public transport.

"Nobody wants to see Manhattan on the banks of the Brisbane River," Ms Bligh told 250 delegates at the Queensland Growth Management Summit in Brisbane yesterday.

"But the general idea that well planned density can result in better use of scarce natural resources such as energy, water and fuel, I think is thought-provoking.

"We could be thinking locally of 15-minute neighbourhoods where everything that we need to live, work and play is within 15 minutes walking distance.

"Before the car, it is actually how communities evolved and as we confront global warning, maybe some of these ideas need to be revisited."

As up to 100 noisy anti-development protesters rallied outside the summit, Ms Bligh conceded the South East Queensland Regional Plan, which protects 85 per cent of green space from development, had failed to tackle the population problem. She released a report showing it takes two years longer to bring land to market in Queensland than Victoria and foreshadowed an overhaul of approval processes.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said the 115,000 new arrivals to Queensland each year could fill Suncorp Stadium twice over but rejected calls for a population cap.

He said capping population growth at 0.8 per cent per year, rather than the 1.2 per cent currently projected, would only exacerbate the problem of any ageing population and reduce GDP by 17 per cent by 2050.

Demographer Bernard Salt told the summit 180,000 migrants a year would be needed to prop up the tax base, particularly as baby boomers began retiring from next year.

He said the country was experiencing "hyper-growth" partly caused by expatriate Australians returning home amid the global financial crisis.

[mufreight]

The planned TOD over Milton was not proceeded with because of a  requirement to proof the TOD against dangerous goods that might run through on the rail ( Undecided ).

I've seen QR trains haul wagons with "cyanide" written on the side on one of the lines. 
Unbelieveable...

These materials are essential for our life styles, bot yours and mine and their use requires that they be moved from point of production to point of use, perhaps you would prefer that these materials be moved by road in a less controled higher risk more public environment rather than in the low incident highly controled less public transport environment that rail presents.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Cosy communities key to livability: author

Cosy communities key to livability: author
MARISSA CALLIGEROS
March 31, 2010 - 5:59AM

An American journalist and author says "living smaller, living closer and driving less" are the keys to the future livability of Brisbane.

David Owen, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of The Green Metropolis told the Bligh Government's growth summit yesterday high density apartment living was necessary to accommodate rapid population growth in the region.

He went so far as to point to high density living as the most "environmentally responsible" mode of living.

"Residents of cities use less energy, less water, than the residents of suburbs," Mr Owen told the summit via video-satellite link.

"In the United States, New Yorkers have the smallest carbon footprint of any Americans - about 7.1 metric tonnes per person per year, versus the national average of 24.5 metric tonnes.

"Spreading people out across the countryside may make them feel 'greener', but it does not reduce the damage that they do to the environment. In fact, it increases the damage while also making that damage harder to see and harder to address," he said.

"What you really do when you move to the country is move into your car.

"Moving people and their destinations closer together reduces their energy consumption in all categories."

But he said people were only able live, work and play close together when they were served by an efficient public transport system.

"New York is one of the few cities which has achieved the density required to support a really active transit system. The best consequence in terms of transportation is that once you reach a certain density people can live without the car.

"That typically means moving people up. We need tall buildings in order to achieve that kind of density that doesn't require automobiles."

Ms Bligh also said new growth could be accommodated by clever urban development.

"We could be thinking locally of 15-minute neighbourhoods - where everything you need to live, work and play is within 15 minutes' walking distance," she said.

"Before the car, it's how communities evolved and in an era of climate change we should do it again."

But demographer Bernard Salt said high-density apartments could only form part of the solution.

"Despite densification there is still the requirement for three-bedroom, brick veneer houses on 500 square metres of land," Mr Salt said.

He said high-density living was appropriate for double-income couples with no kids, DINKS, but not for average income earners with more than two children.

"The densification, 'cool set', are all drinking their macchiatos and pontificating about what everyone else should do, but they're not a below-average income earner with a large family looking for an affordable lifestyle."

Mr Salt said "real Australians, out in the 'burbs on a below-average income" could not afford apartments, townhouses, or duplexes.

"It's not a solution for someone on $50,000 a year with three kids. It's more a middle-class solution.

"Brisbane is enriched by having a range of demographic groups and a range of housing options and styles. One of the styles that is required and will be required in the future is a separate house on a separate block of land.

"We need a whole suite of innovative approaches in order to manage the city forward. Managed growth is the key to this."

However property analyst Michael Matusik told the summit the livability of the River City would be best served by "smarter, smaller homes".

Although he encouraged residents to seek the "middle ground", rather than trade the backyard for an apartment balcony, or move to the urban fringe.

"The only development in mass that will work in South-East Queensland will be smaller housing," Mr Matusik said.

"Townhouses don't stack up - they're not worth the price for the buyer in most cases - and many apartment projects just don't work because they're too expensive.

"Apartments satisfy 15 per cent of the market, while larger blocks cater for 10 per cent. In the middle there are a whole range of things that aren't there."

The former president of Greening Australia, Jim McKnoulty, said the duplex was on the 'middle ground'.

"High density living is certainly in demand from an increasing number of one- and two-person households, but it's too expensive and generally too small for young families," Mr McKnoulty said.

"A duplex with a three-bedroom [house] attached to a one-bedroom [apartment] can be adaptable over time - rent the apartment out while you get your mortgage down, take it over when the kids are there and then rent it out or bring Nanna in it when the kids leave home."

Mr Owen said mixed-use development - residential and commericial - was the most efficient model of accommodating a burgeoning population.

"This is certainly true in Brisbane. Brisbane central city has lots of tall buildings but like many other cities of comparable size in Australia, and also in the United States, it has a higher density of jobs than it does of residents," he said.

"It does not achieve the goal of releasing us from automobile dependence - that should be the true environmental goal in increasing the density of people."

[Jon Bryant]

This why the Sunshine Coast population cap is locking in unsustainable development. Let's (1) determine the carrying capacity for each region, (2) identify the leading practice for impact per person, divide (1) by (2) and there is the max population. As technogies improve so can the population.  All development proposals and local and regional plans need to demonstrate how they are achieving the leading practice for impacts.   

[Jon Bryant]

 :boPS Does the Premier understand that openning any new Freeway, motorway or road tunnel is in direct conflict with the 15 min neighbourhood.  They encourage the hour and a half to two hour neighbourhood. ? Time to halt all freeway construction and identify PT conversion.

[ozbob]

Today proceeded with focussed group discussions.  All groups  (7 in number) presented their ideas in the final sessions.  

The Premier then made a closing address with the following commitments:

1. A full report of the summit will be available on the web site in two weeks.

2. In 6 weeks a further report on how Government will proceed with the recommendations made.


The full list of the various groups suggestions will be made available in the report, but here are some of the key public transport and rail recommendations.  

Incidentally delegates voted 65.5% strongly in favour of reducing car use with another 20% (from memory) for reducing car use.  


.  Public transport support for an integrated system (inherent improved frequency)

.  Viable active transport network connections (fix high conflict zones) improved end of trip facilities

.  Encourage public transport, free after hours ..  (I also made a submission for more equitable fares).

.  More rail investment than road investment

.  More north south rail

.  Get TODs off the ground

.  Capitalise on population growth by maximising public and active transport

.  Set sustainability targets (including targets for public transport)

.  Recognise the design of transport infrastructure is as important as the design of places they connect

.  Public transport needs to be there from the start

Public transport and rail improvement figured strongly in the outcomes of summit.

It is time to move forward ..

[#Metro]

Today proceeded with focussed group discussions.  All groups  (7 in number) presented their ideas in the final sessions. 

The Premier then made a closing address with the following commitments:

1. A full report of the summit will be available on the web site in two weeks.

2. In 6 weeks a further report on how Government will proceed with the recommendations made.

Sound good but the resemblance to the 2020 summit is unsettling to me...

[ozbob]

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
31/03/2010

Qld Growth Management Summit: regionalisation strategy for Queensland

In closing the Queensland Growth Management Summit this afternoon, Premier Anna Bligh announced that the Government will develop a regionalisation strategy for Queensland.

"Over the last two days, we have heard loud and clear that regionalisation can play a greater role in managing our growth in the future."

"Recent ABS data has shown that the South East Queensland Plan, aimed at driving growth in and around Ipswich, is working."

"The data showed that Ipswich was the fastest growing Local Government Area in Queensland, jumping from an average of 2.8 per cent per year ten years ago to 5 per cent growth in 2009."

"This very clearly shows that effective planning and infrastructure investment can influence where people live."

"It's certainly encouraging to see that 6 of the top 10 fastest growing Local Government Areas in Queensland are outside of the SEQ, according to the latest ABS data."

A survey of summit participants found that 74 per cent believe growth in regions can help relieve pressures in SEQ. 85 per cent also believed that it was very important to encourage population growth in other regions.

More than 10 000 Queenslanders have visited the Queensland Growth Management Summit website and more than 1600 have used the SEQ Futures tool to tell us their priorities and model future scenarios.

More than 1100 Queenslanders watched People's Question Time last week and more than 3000 have participated in various industry and community events in the lead up to the Summit.

Within 2 weeks, a summary of the proceedings will be available on the Queensland Growth Management Summit.

The Premier today promised that the Government would respond to the ideas put forward at the Summit within 6 weeks.

==============================================================

[Jon Bryant]

Action now the words have been said.

Set sustainability targets (including targets for public transport)

The transport targets need to be 65-75% public and active transport and 25%-35% motor vehicle.  No just "reducing car use".  We have had 10 years of regional plans claiming to "reduce car use" and it has only increased year in year out.  Current infrastructure investment is creating traffic growth not catering for it.

Time for a halt on all freeway contruction and planning.

[ozbob]

Media Release 1st April 2010

Queensland:  Growth Management Summit - public transport a key

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has congratulated the Premier and the Queensland Government, and all who contributed to the recent Growth Management Summit.  Reports from the summit will be forthcoming, but from a transport perspective it is clear that public transport is a major issue moving forward in managing sustainable growth.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"A common thread running through the presentations and discussion at the Growth Management Summit was the need to maximise public transport, and improve integration of the various public transport modes and improve active transport network connectivity.  In south-east Queensland it is clear that there needs to be a shift from cars to public mass transport.  Rail is well placed for this and projects such as the Cross River Rail will allow very significant long term gains in frequency and capacity."

"Many delegates identified the present inequity with the go card fare structure.  If we are to maximise public transport a fare structure that encourages citizens to use public transport as first choice, an equitable fare structure for the go card needs urgent implementation."

"The under utilisation of the present public transport asset was also highlighted.  The rail network is capable of supporting a much improved train frequency today.  A failure to address the obvious timetable gaps on the Sunshine Coast line, the Ipswich to Rosewood line does not encourage people to use public transport. The gaps and poor frequency on all lines now must be addressed with immediate priority.  Increased rail frequency will also help relieve the problems with failed bus - rail connections.  Improvement here will also drive public transport use."

"The report from the Summit will be available in a couple weeks (2).  In terms of public transport it is clear today what needs to be done.  Let's get cracking!"

References:

1. http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=69179

2. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3619.msg24020#msg24020

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Anna Bligh's plan to manage Queensland population growth

Anna Bligh's plan to manage Queensland population growth

    * Rosemary Odgers
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 31, 2010 8:16PM

TAX incentives to encourage residents to move to regional areas, "all you can eat" public transport passes and uniform infrastructure charges have been proposed to manage Queensland's burgeoning population growth.

A two-day summit on growth management wrapped up late yesterday with Premier Anna Bligh promising to take quick action to tackle the problems that come with rampant growth in the southeast corner of the state. Up to 250 delegates proposed dozens of ideas, which focused on how to shift people from the southeast to other parts of the state.

They included relocating state government agencies to the regions or offering tax incentives including tax-free zones, and cheaper business taxes or low-interest loans to entice more companies and individuals to consider moving to less populated areas.

Participants also called for better public transport including introducing so-called "all you can eat" public transport passes, which would give unlimited annual travel across buses, trains and ferries.

Developers wanted standardised infrastructure charges to deliver more certainty to the industry, while there were calls for a minimum amount of affordable housing to be included in all developments.

Scenic Rim mayor John Brent issued a challenge to developers to think of rural and regional Queensland, not just Brisbane.

The State Government and councils have already agreed to do more to progress "Transit Oriented Developments", which are built around train or bus stations.

And if the Gold Coast's Commonwealth Games bid is successful that region could become a showpiece for high-density living.

Ms Bligh said regionalisation had to be a central part of the strategy to address Queensland's growing pains, referring to it as "spreading the love".

She said the Government was serious about combating the problems associated with growth but there were no easy answers.

When asked how the Government planned to fund the ideas raised at the summit, she jokingly quoted former NSW premier Bob Carr who was once asked about how he was going to fund a Sydney Opera House upgrade.

"It will be funded from that great earth goddess the NSW Budget, whose ample bosom stretches for every worthwhile purpose," she quoted Mr Carr as saying.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Growth overview: Ideas versus reality

Growth overview: Ideas versus reality
MARISSA CALLIGEROS AND TONY MOORE
March 31, 2010 - 5:45PM

The Queensland Government will provide its first response to manage population growth in Queensland in six weeks, Premier Anna Bligh told the final session of the two-day population summit in Brisbane.

The ideas – including the recommendations from seven working groups – termed the G7 – will first be collated in a fortnight.

In six weeks the first suggestions from government on how to tackle the problems will be released, Ms Bligh said.

"So within two weeks you will have a full report on all these ideas where we will catch all this great thinking," she said.

"Within six weeks we will have a response on those which government wants to act  on."

Ms Bligh said some ideas will be complex and the first government response would probably recommend ideas be researched with local governments.

"We might say in that report we want to support this but we might have to embark on - for example - six months consultation with local government to see if they are feasible."

The seven working groups from the Queensland Growth Management Summit presented a series of recommendations.

They covered these themes: new housing designs to reflect Queensland conditions, regionalisation plans, public transport, a new regime of infrastructure charges, preservation of environmental issues, increasing densification and new "mega parks" for renewable energy.

This followed these issues being raised by conference delegates.

What the players said during the summit:

State Government

Premier Anna Bligh says "15-minute neighbourhoods", where residents live, work and play in one place, could be the blueprint for the future.

She says four things need to be considered: greener communities, public transport, better development approval processes and the need for regional growth.

Demographers

Demographer Bernard Salt's concept of a "mosaic city", where people "live, work and play" close together, has had much air-time. Gone is the concept of the satellite city.

We need higher density living, but the form of housing in that higher density needs further debate to get the housing mix right.

But New York journalist David Owen, the author of The Green Metropolis, says the ideal cosy community is really the vertical community.

We need to go `up' rather than `out' to accommodate the 115,000 people moving to the Sunshine State each year, he says.

To make this a reality we need enormous investment in public transport and infrastructure.

The difficulty is that South-East Queensland does not have one successful transit-orientated development - ie. high density over a transport hub - to show how it could work.

Developers

Developers agree Brisbane residents need to live in "smarter, smaller homes".

Indeed, the South-East Queensland Regional Plan released last year calls for 156,000 additional homes to be built in Brisbane, of which 138,000 will be units and flats, known as infill development.

But developers say it's impossible to actually build under current legislation, approval processes and the economic environment.

Conservationists

Conservationists generally feel their issues have been swamped and swept aside by the economic ruler, although koala protesters made their voice heard at the growth summit yesterday.

South East Queensland Catchments says Moreton Bay is under increasing risk and estimate the cost of environmental decline in SEQ at $5.2 billion by 2031.

Their survey of 941 SEQ households, the largest of this type of study undertaken, shows that 90 per cent believe protecting the environment is equal to (61.3 per cent) or more important (29.2 per cent) than economic growth.

The organisation today estimates $8 billion in tourism locations are at risk of degradation.

They say people are willing to pay $300 a year in rates, charges and donations to keep the environmental conditions as they are today.

Local Community

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says local communities must have say in population growth planning. Change must be bottom-up.

REALITY

High density development, in whatever shape or form, is (so far) near impossible to build.

Land supply is one factor, development approval is another and credit is the third.

1. Banks will not come to the party.

Commercial lending for residential development in Queensland plunged 60 per cent in the past two years, compared to the national decline of 10 per cent.

That coincided with the collapse of numerous second-tier lending firms, primarily based on the Gold Coast, and also Suncorp's withdrawal from the commercial lending market.

2. The state government's infrastructure charges typically increase development costs by 35 per cent, which is inevitably passed onto home buyers.

It costs about $1000 per square metre to build a three-bedroom, brick veneer home on Brisbane's urban fringe, while it costs up to $7000 per square metre to develop a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit in the inner-city.

Developers cannot afford to build apartments, and average income earners certainly cannot afford them.

Developers believe existing council regulations also prevent innovative housing solutions.

3. Master-planned 15-minute communities work in theory, but the Queensland Government has a hard time releasing land for development. When it does the development approval process is far too long . Developers are forced to sit on land for up to 10 years before turning the sod.

It may be more practical and cost-effective to look to the state's regions for the over-arching solution. But how do you get people to move out west or up north and stay there? Ms Bligh says the state could do with a second capital city and has already suggested a "regional" first home owners scheme.

Regardless, much of South-East Queensland's economic prosperity depends on the beauty of its natural features.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Spread the love and regionalise, urges Bligh

Spread the love and regionalise, urges Bligh
TONY MOORE
April 1, 2010 - 5:23AM

A new regionalisation push for Queensland is back on the agenda for state government after a two-day population growth summit, Premier Anna Bligh said last night.

Ms Bligh promised to have the government's first response to the Queensland Growth Management Summit ready within six weeks.

And on top of the agenda is a fresh set of ideas to promote growth in Queensland's regional areas.

"One of the clearest messages for me was an acceptance that regionalisation has to be a central part of our considerations," Ms Bligh said.

"It seemed to me that even those people who thought that - whether you thought population was a good thing or a bad thing - everyone thought that spreading the love would be a very useful way of dealing with it."

Ms Bligh said the survey work completed during the summit showed there was community support for the idea.

"What we saw from the survey material was very high levels of support and confidence that better-targeted regionalisation policy could have a significant impact," she said.

While Queensland is Australia's most decentralised state, in the past 25 years population growth in the south-east has been 2.6 per cent per year.

Outside the south-east corner, growth has been 1.2 per cent.

A first step would be three undeveloped sites in Gladstone, Mackay and Townsville to be master planned for residential growth by the government's Urban Land Development Authority.

"[The greenfield sites] range in size from 26 hectares in Gladstone to 83 hectares in Townsville, all of them within five kilometres of the CBD of each of those centres," Ms Bligh said.

The Premier offered Ipswich as a case study for regional growth, with ABS data confirming its place as Queensland's fastest growing region.

It had a population growth of five per cent in 2009, up from 2.8 per cent 10 years ago before Queensland's South East Queensland Regional Plan started in 2005.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said Brisbane should follow planning procedures adopted in the Canadian city of Vancouver.

"We think that community engagement way they went about in the nineties gives us a lot of great lessons," he said.

Cr Newman said in several suburbs in Brisbane where there was agreement that development could be sensitively accelerated in partnership with the State Government.

"There are places around south-east Queensland that are 'lay-down misers', they are easy," he said.

"I think places around the the Gabba bus station will be straightforward, I think Milton should have been straightforward."

The seven working groups from the Queensland Growth Management Summit - referred to as south-east Queensland's G7 - yesterday presented a series of recommendations.

[Nightwriter]

They can bleat on all they like, but without any jobs people aren't going to move out to the regions!  Its as simple as that!!

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Damn the population tsunami, good ship Qld must hold - somehow

Damn the population tsunami, good ship Qld must hold - somehow
STEVE GRAY
April 3, 2010 - 2:00AM

When the 1954 census was taken, there was no such entity as Queensland's Gold Coast.

Between Southport and Coolangatta 19,807 people were counted in a region then called South Coast.

Fifty-two years later, the 2006 census recorded a population on the Gold Coast of 524,667.

From bare sandhills to metropolis in 52 years - such has been Australia's growth.

And there's plenty more on the way.

By 2030, the city of Gold Coast will be home to some 900,000 residents.

With this sort of expansion comes growing pains, and mounting public concern over the rate of change - which convinced the Queensland government to host this week's Growth Management Summit.

Whether it was an idle talkfest or a meaningful contribution to the future, only time will tell.

But the growth summit at least brought the population debate to the fore.

Or did it?

The debate was not primarily about population. But, as the name suggests, it was about how to provide catch-up infrastructure for the past influx of people, manage the 2100 a week arriving in Queensland currently, and the million more on their way in the next two decades.

Naturally enough, population is going to intrude on any debate about growth. But the question many in southeast Queensland, and the nation more broadly, want answered - whether or not population increase should be limited - was largely buried.

The question the growth summit was asked was not whether Queensland, and the state's southeast in particular, should be swamped in people it can't accommodate, but how to fit in the vast number who will inevitably arrive.

Already, there are two certainties to come out of the summit - densification and regionalisation.

Our cities are bound to go upwards and more people will be living in high-rise apartment blocks and in hubs based along rail and bus routes.

Such closely-populated suburban hubs would satisfy Premier Anna Bligh's concept of the 15-minute neighbourhood.

"We could be thinking locally of 15-minute neighbourhoods - where everything you need to live, work and play is within 15 minutes' walking distance,'' Ms Bligh said.

"Before the car, it's how communities evolved, and in an era of climate change we should do it again.''

Regionalisation will occur on two levels. Firstly, by creating what demographer Bernard Salt calls the "mosaic city'', and secondly by efforts to attract people to regional Queensland rather than just the crowded southeast corner.

Mr Salt sees the mosaic city as an alternative to urban sprawl and a growing population.

This would include a densely populated inner-city, but decentralised jobs in outer suburbs for families and others who don't want to live in apartments.

"We are a suburban people,'' Mr Salt said.

"Live, work, play, recreate, go to university, go to hospital - all within a containerised region.

"It's like a mosaic, a series of cells.''

He said higher fuel prices will force regionalisation and lead to as many as one-in-five city residents working from home as people reduce their travel.

"One thing that you can be confident about in the next 40 years is that, in real terms, petrol will be $5 a litre,'' he said. This will force regionalism at the fringes of existing cities.

As to inducing newcomers to settle in Townsville, Kingaroy or Cunnamulla - that's not such an easy proposition.

Ms Bligh admitted as much when she said that no government had the power to tell people where to live.

"Even if we did stabilise population, as some people are calling for, what we can't do is stop people moving around,'' she told the 200 summit delegates.

The premier even floated the idea of a "second capital'' to ease population pressure in the southeast, specifically mentioning Townsville as a likely candidate.

It may be a good idea, but it's decades from fruition and it would certainly require more than the measly $3000 she has considered as a first home owners' grant to tempt people to the regions.

What is more likely is that the population will follow jobs and money to regional Queensland as it develops.

Ms Bligh recognised this when she said the recent signing of $80 billion worth of LNG contracts with China and Japan would attract people to the southwest, where the coal seam gas is, and to Gladstone, the central Queensland industrial city where the raw material will be converted to LNG and shipped overseas.

This resource boom-led population boost raises the major challenge of providing both the social and concrete-steel-and-bitumen infrastructure to meet the increased population, a field where Queensland has not excelled in the past.

The population debate in the southeast can be summed up in the different attitudes of two local governments in the region.

Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has led the turn-around in the city's fortunes and is one of Australia's strongest pro-growth advocates.

Ipswich is the epicentre of the South East Queensland Regional Plan which seeks to provide for the influx of a million newcomers and, on the latest ABS figures, is experiencing a five per cent a year growth in population.

Masterplanned cities are under construction on greenfield sites around Ipswich and there is huge investment coming to the region.

"Growth is not a dirty word,'' Mr Pisasale said.

"The key is managing it properly.

"People are blaming growth for everything. They're blaming growth for the lack of koalas. They're blaming growth for the lack of quality of lifestyle.''

He blames poor planning for the angst felt by many in southeast Queensland.

Mr Pisasale has the support of his community, having gained 85 per cent of the primary vote at the last local government elections.

Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot also has the go-ahead from the community he leads, with 70 per cent support in the primary vote for his policy of curbing population and growth on the tourist strip north of Brisbane.

Protesters travelled from the Sunshine Coast for a noisy demonstration outside the growth summit.

A poll in the local Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper on the day following the summit showed that 60 per cent were in favour of a population cap for the region.

Mr Abbot said that if the summit merely promoted a new view on how to maximise the population of southeast Queensland, then it had failed.

"But if we come out of this with a new view about how to spread the population growth of Queensland right across the state, with some real values for southeast Queensland, then it will be successful,'' he said.

Ian Christesen, a Sunshine Coast resident and member of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council advisory panel, said the question asked at the summit is not the one people want answered.

"What the community wants answered is: When are we going to move to a sustainable, stabilised population,'' he said.

"What they're talking about here is: How are we going to cram them in. Are we going to stack them on top of each other or are we going to keep bulldozing.

"That's not the sort of debate we need to be having.''

Perhaps, but the population debate is now out there, and better focused than it was before the summit.

It's a debate that will continue, even as 2100 new people arrive in Queensland each week, and more than two-thirds of them lob into the southeast corner.

AAP

[ozbob]

13th May 2010

Mr Robert Dow

admin@backontrack.org

Dear Mr Dow

The Queensland Growth Management Summit (the summit) was a great think tank of ideas, providing an important opportunity to discuss how we can all contribute to more effective growth management for Queensland. Thank you again for your contribution to its success.

I want to take this opportunity to let you know about some recent activity as the Government works to finalise our response to the summit:

All of the ideas developed during the summit workshops are now published on the website, and videos of all keynote speeches are also available for download and viewing.

On 4 May, Queensland Government Ministers headed to key regional centres to discuss the proposed Queensland Regionalisation Strategy with local communities, and received a very positive response.

Also, I will shortly be releasing our Government's full response to the summit, which will be available from the website at www.qld.gov.au/growthsummit.

You may also be aware, I have recently returned from a trade mission to North America, where I took the opportunity to meet with key officials in Vancouver, Canada, which is consistently voted one of the world's most liveable cities.

During this visit, I reached agreement with their Mayor and Premier to develop an exchange of senior planning staff to grow expertise in the areas of urban planning and mass transit.

I also saw first-hand how good planning can ensure population growth becomes an opportunity to secure better, more liveable and more sustainable communities and neighbourhoods.

One of the great ideas proposed at the summit was to use Queensland's 2018 Commonwealth Games bid to deliver a sustainable, well designed, green Athlete's Village which we could reuse as a vibrant new transit-oriented community.

My visit to Vancouver also gave me a chance to inspect the Vancouver Winter Olympics Village — a showcase of green development — which has provided more ideas about how we can take this idea forward.

I encourage you to visit the summit website for further updates on these important initiatives.

Yours sincerely

ANNA BLIGH MP

PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND

==================

Summit summary --> http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/program/review.aspx

[ozbob]

http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/program/assets/queensland-growth-management-summit-communique.pdf

COMMUNIQUÉ
Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 March 2010
State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane
Queenslanders unite to discuss divergent views  click here!

[Jon Bryant]

Whilst this is a great read and inspiring in many ways I remain concerned that the outcomes of the summit are in many ways very similar to the intent/aims/goals of the State Regional Plans and various Local Strategic Plans that have been in place for well over 10 years.  So in 10 years we are no closer to achieving the desired outcomes in fact I think we are even further away.   Yes good stuff has been done but the overall outcome is a move away from there intent.

Thus my real concerns is that we have even better intents/aims/aspirations yet the programs, projects and budget allocations have not changed to really drive towards them.  If all levels of Government are truely serious about honouring the outcomes of the Summit they must make dramatic and significant change to the way they invest in/prioritise infrastructure expenditure and the direct the development of our cities. 

[ozbob]

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
26/05/2010

New bodies to steer Growth Management agenda

Two new bodies will act as the foundation stones of the Government's Growth Management response said Premier Anna Bligh today.

A new agency, Growth Management Queensland(GMQ) and a new Infrastructure Charges Taskforce have been established ahead of the Government's official response to the Growth Management Summit.

"These foundation stones are an important first step as we put the finishing touches to our comprehensive growth management response," said the Premier.

Ms Bligh said the Growth Management Queensland would be the nerve centre of the Government's growth management agenda.

"This new agency is charged with delivering a focused and coordinated approach to growth management in Queensland," she said.

"It will ensure that the Government's regional planning for things like infrastructure and housing is closely aligned with our regionalisation policy.

"It will be our Growth Management nerve centre co-ordinating land use planning, infrastructure delivery and economic development.

"Expanding greenspace, open space and affordable housing will also be the responsibility of the new office.

"I have appointed Paul Low, currently Associate Director General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, as the GMQ's Chief Executive Officer and his office will have the powers needed to deliver on its mandate."

Ms Bligh said the immediate and urgent priorities of the Office of Growth Management include:

·Improvement of development approval processes in Queensland;

·Creation of delivery timetables for land supply, including greenfield sites;

·Accelerate development of infill sites and delivery of priority TOD precincts;

·Protect and improve liveability in our communities - for example by delivering more green space.

The Premier said the new Infrastructure Charges Taskforce would look at how local governments deliver infrastructure for new development in Queensland.

"It is clear that getting infrastructure charges right is a critical issue for housing affordability," she said.

"I firmly believe developers should continue to contribute to the significant costs of infrastructure - but I acknowledge that charges need to both simpler and more certain.

"This issue has been a problem for too long. We need certainty and consistency and we are going to nail this once and for all."

Ms Bligh said the new taskforce would comprise some of our state's best and brightest minds:

·John Mulcahy - former CEO of Suncorp Metway and one of Australia's foremost businessmen

·Chris Freeman - former CEO of Mirvac with more than 20 years experience in finance, with a focus upon property development

·Grant Dennis - Executive Chairman of Dennis Family Holdings, a family-owned builder and developer

·Jude Munro - the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of the Brisbane City Council

·Greg Hallam - Executive Director of the Local Government Association of Queensland.

·Alex Beavers - Deputy Under-Treasurer, Queensland Government and

·Paul Low, Chief Executive Officer of Growth Management Queensland

"These two measures are foundation stones of a comprehensive response which I look forward to releasing soon," said Ms Bligh.

==============================================================

[ozbob]

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
26/05/2010

New Queensland Infrastructure Plan to manage growth

The Queensland Government has announced a major shake-up in infrastructure planning to anticipate and manage population growth across the entire state.

The new plan will mean the Government's entire state-wide capital works program will have a renewed focused on managing population growth.

"This Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) will be a long term planning document for the entire state similar to the SEQ Infrastructure Plan and Program," said the Premier.

"For the first time we will have a state-wide plan that will anticipate infrastructure needs in growing regions as we deliver on regionalisation to help take the pressure off the south east corner.

"The new Queensland Infrastructure Plan will integrate the existing Queensland Roads Investment Program (RIP) and SEQ Infrastructure Plan and Program (SEQIPP) as well as other state infrastructure planning documents."

Ms Bligh said the first QIP would be delivered next year and key features would include:

·A clear state-wide blueprint of road, public transport, health and education infrastructure needs to match forecast population growth.

·A clear state-wide pipeline of targets with the credibility to attract federal funding

·A robust prioritisation, sequencing and maturity assessment of projects across all of Queensland's regional planning frameworks

·A plan that incorporates significant economic development activities (such as the new LNG industry) and associated infrastructure needs.

The premier said consultation with SEQ councils about existing dwelling targets in their regions would be a major new direction of QIP.

"At the Growth Management Summit, some Councils said the new dwelling targets for the local areas did not match up to their expectations," she said.

"We have listened, and will give Councils the chance to sit down with Government and confirm the forecast dwelling numbers for our region, within the existing urban footprint."

Ms Bligh said the dialogue with councils would highlight the link between infrastructure investment and dwelling targets.

"This is also an opportunity to better integrate major local government infrastructure delivery with the State's record levels of investment," she said.

The Queensland Government is investing in the largest infrastructure program in history, with a forecast expenditure of $18.2 billion in 2009-10.

==============================================================

[ozbob]

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
26/05/2010

Growing green wedges to avoid urban sprawl

The State Government plans to transform cane-fields and other land in South East Queensland into "green wedges? to avoid urban sprawl between our cities.

Premier Anna Bligh said that under a new plan some of the farmland and forests between South East Queensland?s urban areas would be transformed into major new parks, nature reserves and outdoor recreation areas.

As an outcome of the Queensland Growth Management Summit held in late March,

Ms Bligh said the region?s rural inter-urban breaks would be officially protected as buffers against urban sprawl.

"The message from the community is that we must avoid a continuous urban strip from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast at all costs," Ms Bligh said.

"No one wants to see 200 kilometres of wall-to-wall urban development.

"This means inter-urban breaks at places like Woongoolba and Norwell or Beerburrum must be retained.

"At the moment these areas are dominated by rural uses such as sugar cane farming and pine forests.

"By mid 2011 a new 10-year strategy will be developed to ensure that these green lands remain green and will be used for a range of purposes including agriculture, greenspace and outdoor recreation.

"This will ensure that large parts of these green wedges are accessible to the people so families can enjoy walking through these open spaces, kick a football or picnic with their friends."

Premier Bligh said land would be purchased as it came on the market and as budgets became available.

Member for Albert Margaret Keech said she strongly supported the protection of green space between our major cities.

"People are telling me that we have to strike a balance between providing for growing communities and protecting our environment and the lifestyles we've come to enjoy," Mrs Keech said.

"Particularly for an area like the Northern Gold Coast where we have some beautiful rural regions, it is important to protect the character of this land."

Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Stirling Hinchliffe welcomed the initiative.

"We want to engage with local community groups, landholders and local councils to find and develop these areas into accessible green assets for all Queenslanders," he said.

"My department is responsible for the Toward Q2 Green target of delivering 50 percent more land for public recreation by 2020 so this will be a major contribution to that target.

"The region is predicted to grow by around 1.4 million people in the next 21 years so we need more greenspace to maintain South East Queensland?s great lifestyle.

"This strategy of protecting green wedges is just one way to deliver on that green ambition."

Mr Hinchliffe said the new initiative would support the intent of the recently released draft Greenspace Strategy.

==============================================================

[ozbob]

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
27/05/2010

Premier flags new era of growth management in Queensland

Premier Anna Bligh has charted a new course for managing growth in Queensland with the release of the response to the Queensland Growth Management Summit.

"The growth summit was a wonderful opportunity to listen to the community and I thank all those people who took an interest in it," Ms Bligh said.

"Today I am pleased to release our response, Shaping Tomorrow's Queensland, which commits my government to six priorities that will underpin our growth management strategies.

"It is important to say that this response is not a magic wand for the problems of growth in Queensland.

"I am committed to continue to work with all levels of government and the community to continue a dialogue with the community on managing growth.

"Shaping Tomorrow's Queensland focuses on shaping our future, strengthening our regions, promoting liveable and affordable communities, delivering infrastructure, protecting our lifestyle and environment, and connecting communities.

"These themes will be supported by 22 new initiatives and 25 new supporting actions to manage growth across the whole state."

Key new initiatives forming part of Shaping Tomorrow's Queensland include:

·Establishing Growth Management Queensland (GMQ) - a new office within the Department of Infrastructure and Planning to lead the government's growth management agenda.

·Delivering a Queensland Regionalisation Strategy to encourage population and economic growth outside South East Queensland.

·A $11,000 Regional First Home Owners Grant to encourage regional growth - this provides a $4000 boost to the State's existing $7,000 First Home Owners Grant.

·The development of a Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) that clearly links infrastructure delivery with population growth and economic development. From 2011-2012 the QIP will integrate other infrastructure planning documents, such as the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program and the Queensland Roads Investment Program.

·Establish an Infrastructure Charges Taskforce to further reform development infrastructure charging arrangements, including providing advice on available options for trunk infrastructure funding

·Develop a long term strategy to transform the inter-urban breaks in South East Queensland into major new greenspace and outdoor recreational opportunities.

·Task the Urban Land Development Authority with facilitating delivery of major new satellite communities in priority greenfield areas, initially at Ripley Valley, Yarrabilba and Flagstone.

The 47 new initiatives and actions will be shared across State agencies with the Department of Infrastructure and Planning building on its existing regional planning strengths with a broader growth management role.

"It is clear from the summit that the Queensland Government must manage growth properly to minimise the impacts on our environment and way of life, provide the regions with new opportunities and keep Queenslanders in jobs," said the Premier.

"The government response signals a new era of growth management so Queensland can continue to capitalise on the benefits on offer.

"I encourage all Queenslanders to visit www.qld.gov.au/growthsummit to learn more about the way forward.

==============================================================

[Golliwog]

http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/assets/gov-response-summary.pdf

20. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards
at Bowen Hills to develop major new inner city greenspace.

Interesting idea. Where else could it go?

[O_128]

http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/assets/gov-response-summary.pdf

20. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards
at Bowen Hills to develop major new inner city greenspace.

Interesting idea. Where else could it go?

Split it up so each line has its on facility, maybe turn redbank into the main one?

[longboi]

http://growthsummit.premiers.qld.gov.au/assets/gov-response-summary.pdf

20. Test the feasibility of relocating part of the Mayne Railyards
at Bowen Hills to develop major new inner city greenspace.

Interesting idea. Where else could it go?

Redbank and Ipswich would be the best place to relocate the bulk of maintenance facilities, diesel, traveltrain and some citytrain. You could also build new citytrain stabling at places like Thorneside, Clapham, Banyo and somewhere on the North Coast and upgrade current stabling at Caboolture, Beenleigh and maybe Shorncliffe.

[ozbob]

Queensland Growth Management Summit eNewsletter - October 2010

--> http://enews.premiers.qld.gov.au/em/mail/view.php?id=591016418&a=27782&k=903d097

(as is smart state fashion they forgot to update page title  - still showing as May)

[#Metro]

Activities completed over the past six months include:

    * Establishing Growth Management Queensland as the lead agency to deliver summit outcomes and coordinate growth management in Queensland. Read more

    * Introducing an $11,000 Regional First Home Owners Grant for building new homes to ensure regional growth, providing a $4000 boost to the existing First Home Owners Grant. Read more

    * Releasing a Strategic Cropping Land Framework to improve Queensland's environment and natural resource protection. Read more

    * Releasing a Queensland Integrated Waterway Monitoring Framework that will improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of waterways monitoring. Read more

    * Releasing Valuing the Things We Waste - Queensland's Waste Avoidance and Efficiency Strategy to help deal with the impact of population growth on waste. Read more

    * Setting ambitious 20-year targets to guide the transformation of SEQ's transport network and finalised and released the draft Connecting SEQ document. Read more

    * Releasing the Transit Oriented Development Guide that identifies best practice in the delivery of compact communities. Read more

5 x reports/documents/papers
1 x new government agency
1 x cash initiative (IMHO would be better spent improving services/infrastructure in regional areas than a one off cash boost to houses, but interesting idea to follow to see if it works)