Melbourne risks becoming 'a backwater like Adelaide': Brumby

[ynotsfables]

Unfortunately Adelaide is a backwater and will most likely continue to be one, it is due to geography and lack of natural resources. Sad but true.

What is more unfortunate is that Australia is also a backwater and is falling further behind the rest of the world. Apart from BHP (which is not totally Australian anyway) there are no large global companies based in Australia, no large manufactures, not Hi-tech or bio-tech or life science companies, No world class service providers. No great inventions, developments and science breakthroughs come from Australia. The world doesn’t fly in our Aircraft, nor ride on our trains our use our computers or software, hospitals do not use our equipment, corporate decisions are not made in Australian offices. Our best and brightest minds usually end up in the US or UK. We are not even a large market for suppliers.

For all intents and purposes, Australia does not exists, it is a backwater. All we are good for is supplying other countries with raw material so they can add value and provide the world with the goods and service it needs.

All this petty squabbling is the sign of a very immature country. The quicker Australia get serious with research and development the better, as the rest of the world is leaving us behind.

Dude do you work for the Victorian state Government ?
Come on man that's nonesence.
If what your saying is right we might as well shut down this web sight and go home.
The thought of counter arguing what you have written exhausts me.

[rhino]

The thought of counter arguing what you have written exhausts me.

My thoughts exactly.

[TooFar]

Exhausts you, or maybe too hard??? For most of it short history Australia’s wealth came from farm exports, now it is mining.

We do not produce and sell any high quality goods or services in any descent quantities to anyone, including ourselves. The only quality Australian product you can find in decent numbers outside of Australia is wine.

Successive government have failed the country badly. Look at our current account deficit. When was the last time we had consistent trade surpluses? If it was not for primary producers, Australia would be a 3rd world country.


In regards to SA, Thomas Playford new we had issues with geography and natural resources. That is why he established a large manufacturing base. Unfortunately, we have now been priced out of that market and no one has really came up with a suitable plan B.

[Adelarch]

dare someone to post this article on s/city, a surefire way to pick a huge fight lol :wank:

It's true. Adelaide really is better than Melbourne
Jim Schrembi
The Age
Feb 12 2008


There has been much debate of late about how much better Melbourne is than Adelaide, which is the capital city of a state to the west of Victoria the name of which momentarily eludes me.

This topic pops up every now and again when the media experiences what is referred to here as a "very slow news day", but which is known in Adelaide as a "mega-major news day of earth-shattering proportions".

Jumping on the "Bash Adelaide" bandwagon has long been one of our most popular pastimes, next to latte sipping, pony-tail cultivation (men only) and trying to work out precisely how many crooked cops we have "working" for us.

To be honest, I used to have a monthly ticket on this bandwagon. There's that gag. Q: What's the best way to see Adelaide? A: Through a bomb sight. I wrote that joke with a government arts grant. Unfortunately, I'm no longer qualified to bag Adelaide. Why? Because, in a moment of spiritual weakness, I actually went there.

The very first thing you notice about Adelaide is that it's hard to notice. The city does have a skyline, but in order to see it you literally have to be standing right in front of it. You have to admire this. While other cities keep trying to out-do each other by building bigger and bigger towers, Adelaide is perfectly relaxed. It does not suffer from Skyscraper Envy, a fabulous term I just invented.

The people are relaxed, too. They're not in a hurry to get anywhere. You can tell this by the verified fact that Adelaide has the slowest traffic lights on earth. According to official census statistics, 43% of married couples in Adelaide met, courted and got engaged on street corners while waiting for the lights to change.

And the natives are friendly as hell. The acid test of this is when engaging in discourse with the security staff at girlie bars. Example. One establishment in the centre of the city offers something called a "mega strip". Precisely how this differed from a "regular strip" or, indeed, a "mini strip" was unclear, so I asked.

They said they didn't know - and they kept to that answer even though I pressed them for about 20 minutes. Then they told me to please move on lest they press my head into the nearest garbage can. Now that's polite.

The reason for all this politeness may have something to do with the fact that, all throughout Adelaide, there are these big, weird signs that actually say "Polites". They're all over the place, and at night they are lit up. Everywhere you go: "Polites". It's surreal. Where did these signs come from?

But that's not the real question. The real question is: if Adelaide is such a crummy dump then how come it has better public transport than Melbourne?

While we lament the lack of night-time safety on our trains, in Adelaide every train after 7pm has security personell on board. Can you believe that? And Adelaide doesn't have any peak-hour problem with bike congestion because while off-peak bike travel is free, during peak hour riders have to buy a ticket for their bike! If Adelaide people are so dumb how come they came up with that before we did? Hmm?

And get this. In Adelaide they have regular public transport buses that - drive you straight to the airport! And you know how much it costs? I'll tell you exactly how much it costs. A lot friggin' less than it does here.

And I'll come right out and say it: Adelaide has better beaches than Melbourne. You catch the train to places with weird names such as Glenelg or Grange or Semaphore and you're a short walk from these endless, placid, stress-draining stretches of sand. It's magic.

Here's the brutal truth: Melbourne has a hang up about Adelaide, but Adelaide does not have a hang up about Melbourne. Melbourians may love their anti-Adelaide sound bites, but ask the average Adelaidian what they think about Melbourne and the typical response is something like: "It's OK"; or "nice town"; or, "isn't that where all the crooked cops live"?

[rhino]

Very refreshing!

[Norman]

The Airport point is very interesting, the trip to the Airport with Public Transport here is probably the cheapest in the country.

[Edgar]

Lol, and am I right that you can actually get to the airport from Tea Tree with the O-Bahn in just one trip?

[AG]

Lol, and am I right that you can actually get to the airport from Tea Tree with the O-Bahn in just one trip?

Yep, with the J series of bus routes.

[Edgar]

Lucky if you live around the eastern area (towards the CBD) of Henley Beach Road, because you can go to the city, or the J O-Bahn buses all the way to Tea Tree, or, vice versa all the way to the airport!

Henley Beach Rd has the best bus network in my opinion

[Tyler_Durden]

So among the three of four things that he was compelled to mention about Adelaide were the price of the Airport Shuttle Bus and the price of putting a bike on a train? Wow, he must have loved it here. To be honest what he described in that article sounded very much like a backwater, if a nice backwater.

PS. Sure we may have security on trains after 7pm but it's a lot easier to fund when there are only about two or three trains operating that late at night.

Here's the brutal truth: Melbourne has a hang up about Adelaide, but Adelaide does not have a hang up about Melbourne.

If only he knew.

[Bulldozer]

I'm not sure of what your perception of a "global" company is, but many global players have a presence in Australia. BAe Systems, Thales Defence, Rio Tinto, Macquarie Holdings, Santos, Qantas as well as BHP Billiton.

I think TooFar means SA-based companies. As far as that goes, it's pretty hard to go past Clipsal - one of the world's largest suppliers of electrical fittings. Until a few years ago, News Ltd. was still based in Adelaide (Rupert Murdoch started building his empire here). Then there's other companies you may never have heard of, but have their products used all over the world like Maptek (mapping and surveying software and systems), Codan (radio communications), Minelab (metal detectors) and Krix (leading speaker manufacturer). You've probably seen the work of Rising Sun Pictures if you've seen any Hollywood blockbusters in recent years... Batman, Superman, Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, etc.

So not large multinational corporations, but definitely world players and leaders in their fields.

Inventions / developments - Howard Florey pionnered the use of penicillin. Where would medicine be today without it?

SA has more Nobel laureates than any other state.

So Australia does exsist. As someone said previously, we have the 17th largest economy. Not bad for a country of only 22 million(ish) people.

The sixth most traded currency as well - we account for about 2% of the global economy, yet 4-5% of global currency trade.

[TooFar]

Unfortunately Adelaide is a backwater and will most likely continue to be one, it is due to geography and lack of natural resources. Sad but true.

What is more unfortunate is that Australia is also a backwater and is falling further behind the rest of the world. Apart from BHP (which is not totally Australian anyway) there are no large global companies based in Australia, no large manufactures, not Hi-tech or bio-tech or life science companies, No world class service providers. No great inventions, developments and science breakthroughs come from Australia. The world doesn’t fly in our Aircraft, nor ride on our trains our use our computers or software, hospitals do not use our equipment, corporate decisions are not made in Australian offices. Our best and brightest minds usually end up in the US or UK. We are not even a large market for suppliers.

For all intents and purposes, Australia does not exists, it is a backwater. All we are good for is supplying other countries with raw material so they can add value and provide the world with the goods and service it needs.

All this petty squabbling is the sign of a very immature country. The quicker Australia get serious with research and development the better, as the rest of the world is leaving us behind.

What a load of rubbish!

Lack of natural resources? We have the worlds biggest uranium deposit, the worlds biggest opal deposits, large oil and gas reserves (Australia recently signed an agreement to supply LNG to China worth $35billion), iron ore and coal are being exported and diamonds and gold also bring in a healthy income.

I'm not sure of what your perception of a "global" company is, but many global players have a presence in Australia. BAe Systems, Thales Defence, Rio Tinto, Macquarie Holdings, Santos, Qantas as well as BHP Billiton.

Inventions / developments - Howard Florey pionnered the use of penicillin. Where would medicine be today without it? The windmill (for water pumping purposes), heart pacemaker, letter sorting machine, utility vehicle, solar water heating, black box flight recorder, inflatable aircraft escape slides to name but a few.

So Australia does exsist. As someone said previously, we have the 17th largest economy. Not bad for a country of only 22 million(ish) people.

Get your head checked Too Far...

I guess you struggle a bit with comprehension.

My first paragraph is referring to Adelaide and SA. There is some LPG but minimal oil in this state. Not much money in Opals and Uranium has yet to produce significant revenues.

Now let’s go to paragraph numéro deux, the key word here is based, not global. Sure there are many branch offices and outposts, but apart from a few resource companies and Macquarie, Australia lacks global companies. And significantly no global technology companies.

Having spent the last 10 years living and working in the technology industry in the UK, US and Canada, I have seen firsthand how insignificant Australia is on the world stage. Look at Canada, a country about 1/3 larger, yet boast significantly more hi –tech companies. For Example RIM (makers of Blackberry’s) Bombardier (Aerospace & defense, plus makers of the new Glenelg Trams), Nortel, CAE (makers of most of the worlds Flight Simulators), Cognos, Coral, Celestica (software), Bell (Aerospace), SPAR (Makers of the Space Shuttle mechanical arm). Now compare that to Australia. What is Australia’s largest technology company? I cannot even think of one. I can’t recall ever encountering an Australian made hi-tech product outside of the country.

This is a damning reflection on previous governments and their lack of effort in promoting research and development. Those inventions you list, how much revenue are they bringing into the country?

Yes, Australia may have the 17th largest economy in the world, but it is more from luck than good management.

[frank1]

I guess you struggle a bit with comprehension.

My first paragraph is referring to Adelaide and SA. There is some LPG but minimal oil in this state. Not much money in Opals and Uranium has yet to produce significant revenues.

Now let’s go to paragraph numéro deux, the key word here is based, not global. Sure there are many branch offices and outposts, but apart from a few resource companies and Macquarie, Australia lacks global companies. And significantly no global technology companies.

Having spent the last 10 years living and working in the technology industry in the UK, US and Canada, I have seen firsthand how insignificant Australia is on the world stage. Look at Canada, a country about 1/3 larger, yet boast significantly more hi –tech companies. For Example RIM (makers of Blackberry’s) Bombardier (Aerospace & defense, plus makers of the new Glenelg Trams), Nortel, CAE (makers of most of the worlds Flight Simulators), Cognos, Coral, Celestica (software), Bell (Aerospace), SPAR (Makers of the Space Shuttle mechanical arm). Now compare that to Australia. What is Australia’s largest technology company? I cannot even think of one. I can’t recall ever encountering an Australian made hi-tech product outside of the country.

This is a damning reflection on previous governments and their lack of effort in promoting research and development. Those inventions you list, how much revenue are they bringing into the country?

Yes, Australia may have the 17th largest economy in the world, but it is more from luck than good management.

The only thing i agree with is that Adelaide is in a bad geographical location. Not enough rainfall, too close to Melbourne, small under used shipping port and airport (shipping goods to Adelaide more expensive), economically cheaper to set up industry/business in Sydney and Melbourne.

Who cares though. Considering that Adelaide has only a bit over a million people, i think it does quite well for itself in terms of attracting events, business. Adelaide does enough to make cities like Melbourne feel insecure about itself and constantly compare itself to Adelaide e.g. THIS WHOLE ARTICLE

[crawf]

Such as our growing and vibrant festival scene aswell as other things

[Shuz]

The only thing i agree with is that Adelaide is in a bad geographical location. Not enough rainfall, too close to Melbourne, small under used shipping port and airport (shipping goods to Adelaide more expensive), economically cheaper to set up industry/business in Sydney and Melbourne.

Who cares though. Considering that Adelaide has only a bit over a million people, i think it does quite well for itself in terms of attracting events, business. Adelaide does enough to make cities like Melbourne feel insecure about itself and constantly compare itself to Adelaide e.g. THIS WHOLE ARTICLE

I'm very suprised that you seem to believe that Adelaide is in a bad geographical location. Sometimes, I even find it hard to believe why Adelaide isn't utilised more as a central hub to the rest of Australia. The fact that we are only an hours flight from Melbourne, and 1.5 from Sydney is great for business, it enables quick accessibility and convienience. The rainfall is as good as it gets compared to the rest of South Australia (although pathetic compared to our deluged eastern cities) Nonetheless, we are in the 'wettest spot' of the driest state, which helps with sustainability, and the fact that we are bordered by hills and sea, has (to an extent) limited Adelaide's urban sprawl east-west, although badly counter-acted by surplus sprawl to the north and south.

Industrially, Adelaide is convienient by road and rail, but undoubtedly worst of the capitals for shipping convienience. Commercially, we have the airspace convience (as mentioned before) and sufficient road connections to the East.

These are the points in which we should be highlighting and concentrating our thinking towards.