Coast’s liveability facing death by a thousand cuts
WHERE is Australia’s best place to live? Is it Sydney, with its spectacular harbour, Perth, graced with beautiful King’s Park, or Hobart, with its heritage facade?
There’s a strong case for the Gold Coast, but let’s keep that to ourselves a little longer.
Surprisingly, pollie-infested Canberra ranks highest in many surveys.
That despite winter lows that would chill an eskimo and roads so pockmarked with roundabouts that yes, you are always going around in circles.
Yet Canberra, a dirty word for everyone else in Australia, regularly tops the liveability charts. No less than the OECD has declared it not just the finest city in the nation, but the world. Lonely Planet shares that opinion, ranking Canberra far ahead of any other Australian destination, and third best worldwide.
The reason why contains a big lesson for the Gold Coast as it navigates through its growing pains.
Its residents are contented, though not, as one might expect, because of the bloated public sector salaries they enjoy. Rather, studies repeatedly point to the bush city’s innumerable green spaces.
The nation’s capital was planned when something called the “garden city movement’’ was in vogue. More than 100 years later, as other cities become entombed in concrete, Canberra suddenly looks a place apart.
The Gold Coast, with its coastal setting and lush mountain fringe, should not be bested on this front.
But our city has not been subject to anything like the same kind of urban planning. Where Canberra has the minutely dictated order, the Gold Coast has the after effects of a big bang-style birth, our city bursting quickly into life in every possible direction.
Increasingly, that breakneck growth is stoking conflict over our city’s green spaces.
Every time development encroaches, another small part of the Gold Coast’s liveability is chipped away.
There is always a compelling reason for building on such sites.
Council has this week heard of plans to hive off a small portion of the Burleigh Golf Club to build a retirement village.
The arguments in favour are strong – local old folk need somewhere to live in comfort, only a tiny sliver of the golf club would be lost, the club plays a vital role in the community and its finances would be shored up.
Most councillors are thus in favour, but it is a mistake.
A similar situation loomed at Helensvale, where the local golf club has shut down, leaving a swath of valuable land lying fallow.
There were murmurings that the land might be used for housing.
Again, there would be arguments in favour. There is huge demand for new homes in the area and Helensvale is blessed with excellent transport links.
But the golf club is also valuable green space that, in conjunction with the adjoining primary school and nearby reserves, supports a population of koalas.
Mercifully, the council is in favour of finding a new operator and the land will continue to be used as a golf club.
We find the same pressures at work on The Spit. The argument in favour of the proposed cruise ship terminal is almost overwhelming in a city so dependent on tourism. And yet, it represents another chipping away at unspoilt land.
Moves to develop such areas are often bitterly regretted in later years. The Gold Coast Show’s former Parklands home, swept away to make room for the athletes of the Commonwealth Games, remains much lamented.
Debates of this nature have reached something of a fulcrum at Bundall, on what is fast becoming a notorious site by the turf club.
As with all enduring controversies, sensitivity envelopes the very language used – the site has been christened “Black Swan Lake’’ by those who wish to keep it as it is, and labelled the uglysounding “borrow pit’’ by those who favour filling the waterway in.
It is a debate that has become unruly on both sides.
The Mayor, Tom Tate, has displayed a petulance unbecoming of his office, regularly taunting his opponents via social media.
Many on the other side of the debate have succumbed to hysteria, with one individual from northern New South Wales even emailing death threats to the turf club.
But step away from all the madness, the letters of protest to this newspaper from as far away as the United States, the elusive Latham Snipe and petty disputes over the origin of rubbish bins, and what do we really see?
The swans and the snipes (if indeed there are such) will quickly find lodging elsewhere. Take a look at the Gold Coast from the Q1 viewing deck and you will see that we are not short on waterways.
But for the locals it is one less place to stretch the legs, clear the mind and suck in a welcome lungful of fresh air.
This column spoke to some Gold Coasters who live nearby to find out why they are so attached to the area as it is.
For Surfers Paradise resident Chris McGill, it is “a perfect place to de-stress and be at peace with the world.”
“There are no set visiting hours, you just go whenever you choose,” he said. “I love the native wildlife, they could entertain me for hours ... and it’s just a hop, skip and jump from our city centre. It is impossible to leave without a smile on your face.”
Carrara resident Karen McCarthy had similar sentiments.
“As a retired person it has given me a reason to get up every day to visit and walk amongst the birds and wildlife,” she said.
And it is not just the wildlife. “I have met some wonderful people who share the love of this beautiful spot,” she said.
There are good and strong arguments for filling the lake to help the turf club.
Just as there are good and strong arguments for helping the elderly at Burleigh, welcoming cruise ships, accommodating Commonwealth Games athletes or building more social housing. Each argument in favour of development, taken in isolation, is hard to oppose.
But look at the bigger picture, look at what is happening as our city grows. What is really going on is that our green space is being slowly chipped away, piece by piece.
A similar thing happened in Sydney, which is now slipping steadily down the very same liveability indexes that Canberra ascends.
The Gold Coast can hope to supplant places like Canberra at the top of all those lists in years to come. But it will only happen if we heed the lessons of other places.
We can and should continue to grow our city. But we can be a lot smarter about how we do it.
We should ringfence our green spaces and build up rather than out. Just as Canberrans today salute the city planners of their past, future generations will thank us for it.
THE SWANS AND THE SNIPES WILL QUICKLY FIND LODGING ELSEWHERE – BUT FOR THE LOCALS IT IS ONE LESS PLACE TO STRETCH THE LEGS, CLEAR THE MIND AND SUCK IN A WELCOME LUNGFUL OF FRESH AIR