Perth's value proposition

Long before COVID changed consumer behaviour, there was an obvious decline in the City’s footfall, in part due to the changing nature of the retail economy and the emergence of e-commerce.

Combine the shift during and post-pandemic for people to stay and shop local, most city bricks and mortar retailers have been unwilling or unable to offer unique reasons to visit a store.

Then we look at costs in rent and outgoings, with state government taxes such as land and parking taxes, plus our council rates and utilities, it all adds up quickly.

Things only got worse when social distancing restrictions saw a further retreat from the City to the living room. These costs and a loss of demand has obviously hurt not only retail, but offices and hospitality which cannot rely on an uninterrupted supply of people visiting each day.

Since our election in October 2020, everything the City of Perth Council has been focusing on is related to our value proposition as the heart of a metropolis home to 2 million people. As Mark McGowan rightfully reminds Scott Morrison, Western Australia is the sole reason why our national economy is in such strong shape.

In turn, it’s our job as the capital city council to assure the people of Perth that we are doing all we can to ensure the value proposition of the city as a destination for office workers, retail shoppers and hospitality patrons is as strong as possible.

As the Lord Mayor put it during his campaign, we cannot “outWestfield” Westfield.

Here are 4 ways we can improve our City’s value proposition

1: We need to leverage our city’s cultural history

We have some amazing buildings, some over a century old, all sitting dormant in our malls because it’s simply too expensive to upgrade these to suit modern building codes.

A key project I would like the City of Perth Council to implement is a rigorous grant process which sees ratepayer funds invested to support key cultural precincts come back to life. I’m not talking about $5,000 to fix a wall, I’m talking something big that locks in key strategic projects which will change our city’s heart.

This million-dollar investment would send a strong signal that we’re supporting the market in bringing back the glory days of Perth. We’ll unlock the multiplier effect, as businesses would need to provide matched funding and meet certain criteria, including strict heritage protection requirements, all with a focus on adding as much value to the broader community as possible.

Imagine going to see a show at the newly renovated Plaza Theatre, then having a drink at the Metropole Hotel before heading back to your New York-styled apartment. These are all sitting there, stuck in the past, right above Hay Street Mall.

2: Cut the Perth Parking Tax

Right now, every non-residential car bay in West Perth, Northbridge, the CBD, and East Perth is taxed between $1038 - $1169 every year. This applies to non-residential buildings with 5 or more bays, so it captures a lot of taxpayers. Landlords pass this cost onto tenants. If there are no tenants, the landlord wears it.

As the City of Perth is the largest owner of car bays in the city, we have some great data to highlight the pain.

So far, for this financial year, for every $1 taken in parking fees, 30 cents is taken by the State Government. In return the only thing of value we get is the CAT Bus, but that’s shown to be just a small expense compared to the annual income this tax collects.

This time last year the fund had $130 million sitting idle. After some pressure to spend it on “congestion” measures, the State Government announced a new pedestrian and cycle bridge to Victoria Park.   

We need a break. The best thing Mark McGowan can do right now is cut this tax in half. It will allow us to offer visitors a free parking period and most importantly one more compelling reason to visit our businesses. The CAT Bus system is clearly able to keep running with a lower tax, otherwise the fund would never have reached such a huge balance.

3: Provide an annual calendar of events with a focus on family-friendly offerings spread across our neighbourhoods

From Crawley and Nedlands right around to East Perth and Claisebrook, we know there’s more to Perth than the CBD. We’ve got some amazing community groups hosting a range of events all year. That complements the bigger events the City hosts in addition to all the offerings of our hospitality industry, and our cultural institutions like the new museum. The problem has been: who knows what’s happening every weekend? Where do we find the information?

In resetting our approach to events and activations, instead of having the burden of providing everything internally, the City will soon publish a calendar of events which advertises what’s happening every week of the year. If you’re hosting something, let us know. It’s better we have a coherent marketing approach than trying to replicate what others are already doing.

No matter what you’re interested in, you’ll have it all on one calendar. It’ll be uploaded onto the City’s website in the coming weeks. Keep up to date with this by following our Deputy Lord Mayor Sandy Anghie who’s leading the charge here.

4: A safe and clean city

In addition to taking real action to help rough sleeping through a new Safe Night Space for 50 women and the upcoming Beddown trial led by the Lord Mayor, we’ve put a concerted effort into tidying up our inner city streets and shopping/hospitality precincts.

Both for personal well-being and the health of our city, we cannot allow the situation to continue where people are sleeping in our malls. We cannot fix this straight away, but in the 6 months since the new Council came together, we’ve invested new funding and made it a priority to address.

Six months might seem like a long time, but really we’ve only just started the journey together; the Lord Mayor, the 8 councillors and the City.

We need to continue to partner with the business community and our residents to ensure we are striking the right approach to get the outcomes we all obviously need.

If we continue to progress these 4 core areas, the City’s value proposition will get stronger, inviting more people to take another look at Perth.

As always, have your say by getting in touch [email protected] or calling me on 0406 681 432.

*As always, these are my thoughts as just one elected member on the City of Perth Council*