Gold Coast economy is struggling
Richard Holliday
Non Executive Director, Development Executive: Commercial Advisor, Government and Stakeholder Relations.
The economy of the Gold Coast is driven by tourism contributing over A$6.0 billion to the economy and employing 40,000 locals both direct and indirect. The property, education, and health sectors are the other major employers and contributors to the economy.
Destination Gold Coast (Gold Coast Tourism) has said the economy has already lost over A$1 billion and the losses are growing at a rate of A$310 million a month.
The latest ABS jobs data courtesy of Conus Business Consulting Services in Cairns, shows unemployment numbers reaching 40,806 or 17.5% by 30 June and reducing to 19,028 by December 31, 2020. This is only half of the story.
The drop in Gold Coast's GDP is 13.7% in the June quarter and a year on year drop of 8.6% by 31 December 2020 compared with a statewide drop of 5.4%. The Gold Coast economy will feel the largest impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland. The Gold Coast GDP loss is expected to be 60% higher than the state average by December 2020.
If anyone on the Gold Coast thinks post COVID-19 is business as usual then have a serious look at the numbers in the link below.
The Gold Coast can no longer ignore the elephant in the room. Our economy is linked to industries subject to factors outside of our control and we have no safety net of big business to support the city while we recover from natural disasters or the current pandemic.
So what do we do?
We can't go back to business as normal, normal is yet to be defined, however one thing is crystal clear we need to further diversify our economy at the same time as growing our economy and population.
The Gold Coast has a population of 700,000 and we need a million people and quickly. I am not talking about reducing the tourism sector's contributions as a percentage, I am talking about growing the pie as a buttress against further natural disasters where 40,806 people are thrown onto the unemployment line outside Centrelink.
The home of the Gold Coast Suns, Metricon Stadium holds 40,000 for a concert, this is the number of our friends, relatives, and acquaintances that will be unemployed by 30 June.
The Gold Coast needs the most aggressive business attraction strategies in Australia and the smartest people tasked with attracting new businesses to the city. We need to attract businesses from Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales and I'd go so far as to say internationally. Brisbane is also a fertile opportunity given the number of businesses across the city.
The Gold Coast has 300 days of sunshine, the best lifestyle, and amenities in the country and we have a highly skilled and underemployed workforce. The city is connected to two International Airports, the Port of Brisbane and the western road network connects the city to Toowoomba. Our southern links provide great road transport services to the interstate domestic and global markets. Our inter-city rail network works well and is linked to the Light Rail from Helensvale to Broadbeach and by 2023 to Burleigh Heads.
The business attraction strategy must be in conjunction with both the federal and state governments as they have the really big levers they can pull to assist the Gold Coast.
Talk of a hub for public sector workers in the CBD does not solve the problems we face. They can be addressed by old fashioned hard work in the boardrooms across the country having conversations about the opportunities on the Gold Coast and how the city can assist businesses to relocate or to set up new businesses in the city.
Why can't the Gold Coast be the head office for Queensland, national and international companies and brands? Before I am shot down, I acknowledge those companies that are already operating successfully on the Gold Coast and thanks for being here, we really appreciate your support of our economy and jobs. A simple message, talk to your mates and business colleagues about the Gold Coast and encourage them to join you in paradise.
Tourism, Events, and Hospitality will not sustain our economy or provide the long term jobs we need to ensure the youth of our city (your children and grandchildren), they are our city's future, stay in the city and have the opportunity to get a well paid job outside of hospitality and tourism. We need more white-collar jobs for our highly educated university graduates.
The city's economy appears to be operating on remote control without a clear focus on being the driver of strategies and policies to grow our economy harder and much faster. The city's economic strategy must underpin all other strategies and outcomes in the city and be the powerhouse in our city's economic and jobs recovery.
The Gold's Coast Economic Development Strategy 2013-2033 is nearly ten-years-old and I doubt if anybody reads it today.
Gold Coast Economic Development Strategy
Our city's future and the planning for a truly global city must be driven by economic outcomes, not only planning outcomes and any conversations about reducing red and green tape are meaningless unless the economic levers are directing the outcomes and pulled by those with the power to make changes and a difference to our city. Do our city bureaucrats really understand how business works and the cost of delays to all sorts of approvals and permits? Reducing the time frames equals reducing costs and not a development "free for all" as some have suggested.
Planners love planning outcomes, that's their job however there is a bigger picture and we can't waste a minute in recognising the opportunities in front of us and how we are going to change our economy for the better.
The city needs planners and they need an economic strategy that understands their objectives and most of all, their clients' needs and the economics of proposed developments across the city. If unnecessary delays make projects uneconomic, jobs suffer, proponents suffer, our economy suffers not the council planners or bureaucrats.
If we fail to get our economic strategies realigned post COVID-19 and quickly, we may face a lot more than a recession and I will refrain from mentioning the "D" word. We are already seeing higher crime rates, increasing homelessness, long lines at food banks, domestic violence, and people in absolute crisis with children the most vulnerable.
This is not the Gold Coast I love, we all have a responsibility to try harder and contribute to a better Gold Coast and I hope I have raised a few thoughts for others to consider.
Will the Gold Coast be the Greece of Australia?