Slicker cities for city slickers

Brisbane has a particular opportunity to offer world-class standards of urban amenity to corporations and their people, but only if we have world-class standard technology infrastructure which allows them to connect their businesses with the rest of the world.

The talent will come from a technologically savvy workforce, which is where the importance of our universities and education systems comes into its own.

In terms of software, the first priority has to be a Federal, State and Local Government compact which recognises the economic importance of our major cities and which undertakes to support them through an integrated program of re-investment.

Policy approaches from all levels of government must be better coordinated. Look no further than what can only be called a looming disaster in terms of the light rail proposal, where each level of Government has a stake, but where lack of intergovernmental cooperation and inadequate public sector funding of the proposal means it may be unlikely to ever eventuate.

Sadly, one of the first acts of the current Government was to disband the Better Cities program.

Better Cities had some fundamental weaknesses, but isn't it time the Commonwealth offered the community an improved approach, rather than ignoring the challenge altogether?

And finally, supporting the cultural values of the city through better funded and coordinated city marketing must take place.

The Property Council has embarked on an ongoing advocacy effort, which is unashamedly pro-city.

We have released a series of reports outlining various aspects of Brisbane's city centre, which usually receive scant political attention.

We have asked the Government Statistician to prepare a research proposal which industry will fund, to deliver much needed basic data on the employment and travel dynamics of the city centre economy.

We have jointly funded a very exciting national research project with the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, to highlight to the federal Government particularly the importance of balancing programs for rural welfare with programs designed to support the future economic viability of our cities.

Our objectives in doing so are to draw attention to the importance of the city and the role it will play in all our lives in the 21st century.

It's an opportunity which cannot be passed over.