‘We’re too slow’: Perth’s powerbrokers call for action on density, economic diversity

Perth will need to embrace apartment living, diversify its economy, be more aggressive in its pursuit of green energy and shed its “Wait Awhile” approach if it is to compete on the global stage, according to some of the city’s most prominent powerbrokers.

The Powering Perth – The path to global recognition report by RSM Australia, seen by this masthead, comprised feedback from 19 experts across business, property development, arts and culture, education and government.

The research found participants believed Perth would need to carve out its identity, build more density, reduce its reliance on the resources sector and accelerate the green energy transition to position WA as a global powerhouse.

Respondents unanimously agreed the nation’s fastest-growing capital city was at a critical point and had a comparative advantage, but would need to urgently turn its attention to challenges on multiple fronts.

The paper, delivered with WA think-tank Committee for Perth, found the decarbonisation of the state’s burgeoning resources industry to be chief among the challenges to be addressed.

The state government has vowed transition out of coal-fired power generation by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, but does not have a renewable energy target and is the only jurisdiction nationally where emissions are rising.

WA’s top scientist Peter Klinken said he believed there was no jurisdiction better placed to make an orderly transition to renewable energy, but said WA would need to move quicker and be “more aggressive”.

He also stressed the need to diversify the state’s economy, with the resources industry contributing more than $77 billion to the state’s economy last year and supporting 30 per cent of local jobs.

While WA’s economy was the 13th largest on the planet, it ranked 93rd for complexity — placing it between Uganda and Pakistan.

“We can’t continue just taking big rocks, turning them into little rocks and putting them on a ship,” he said.

“My worry is that we’ve taken the Vegemite approach – we spread ourselves too thinly, and we don’t have the same impact.”

The state government has successfully lobbied its federal counterparts to convert Henderson into a $20 billion naval maintenance hub, supporting 10,000 ongoing jobs and building an industry it said could rival resources.

It has also rolled out its economic development framework with initiatives for key growth areas, including international education, primary industries, medical sciences and tourism.

But Wesfarmers chair Michael Chaney said he did not see the state’s “digging and delivering” reputation diminishing any time soon.

The state’s dire housing shortage was a key concern for property developer Adrian Fini, REIWA boss Cath Hart and Landgate chair Kylee Schoonens, with WA’s population having now surged beyond three million.

Fini said he believed WA was a decade behind on the housing supply front, prompting calls for more efficient approvals processes in all three tiers of government.

He urged the state government to ditch its zoning system, plan spatially and utilise lazy government land around transport hubs to pursue apartment developments.

“Put the density where the train line is – we’ve talked about that for 20 years, and nothing’s happened,” he said.

Australasia co-chair of multinational design firm Arup, Kate West, agreed transit-oriented development was crucial.

“With Metronet we have our radial arc going out but what are we doing in that middle belt?” she said.

The state government introduced a pilot loan scheme for low to middle income earners to encourage urban infill around Metronet precincts and close to the CBD in 2022, but it failed to yield interest.

In its first year, just 17 loan applications were approved — less than 6 per cent of the state government’s target.

Schoonens believes more attractive tax incentives and investment conditions are needed to entice build-to-rent developers and make private apartment projects more financially viable.

The Committee for Perth’s latest survey found 48 per cent of respondents believed Perth needed more density, a position that received particularly strong support from those under the age of 30.

City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas declared it stood ready and willing to take that on, with ambitious plans to grow its 33,000-strong CBD residential population to 90,000 by 2050.

Zempilas also wants to see a food and beverage precinct in the CBD — either on the now largely vacant King Street or in the Hay Street Mall.

Optus Stadium chief Mike McKenna said he believed the city centre’s woes could be addressed by a housing injection, as well as the deregulation of shopping hours and the completion of the new ECU city campus.

“The city centre is way too dead and quiet,” he says.

Fini declared a need for greater transport connections in the city and cycling corridors, and expressed frustration about the apparent lack of progress on the kind of landmark the city was crying out for.

The Aboriginal Cultural Centre was dubbed WA’s answer to the Sydney Opera House, but Fini pointed out little had happened at the site since the project was announced more than two years ago.

“I don’t know what we’re waiting for – these things can be built quite quickly if the passion and desire is there, but it seems to have stalled,” Fini said.

RSM Perth managing partner Alasdair Whyte said he believed the report would elevate conversations to drive the change needed to put the city on the map.

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