Lord Mayor unveils 20 year economic plan to boost jobs
14/02/2012
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has released a 20 year plan for Brisbane that will see the city capitalise on the global expansion of the resources sector to double its economy by 2031 and support an additional 343,000 workers during the next decade.
The Brisbane Economic Development Plan 2012 – 2031 outlines how Brisbane can drive growth and prosperity beyond the current boom driven by the resource sector’s capacity building projects.
Cr Quirk said there were 177 resource companies headquartered in Brisbane and more global companies would locate key operations if the city grew as a global centre for resource industry technologies and services.
“The global expansion of resource industries is bringing an unprecedented window of opportunity to Brisbane and we are on the cusp of a resource-based economic transformation,” he said.
“This is expected to drive strong business investment and expansion in Brisbane and this plan sets out the economic agenda to ensure Brisbane is in the best possible position to maximise the returns from the current resource boom and deliver long term prosperity for our city and its residents.
“For every direct job created in mining, a further 19 jobs are created across Brisbane in mining-related services and the great thing about these jobs is the majority of them are long-term high value professional services.”
Cr Quirk said a growing resource industry generated opportunities in a wide range of supporting service industries including financial, legal, specialist consulting, research and recruitment services.
He said the capital city was forecast to double its economy to $217 billion by 2031 while global property experts Jones Lang LaSalle recently predicted Brisbane would grow faster than any other established world city by 2020, including top performers like Singapore and Hong Kong.
“As Lord Mayor, the people of Brisbane’s interests are paramount in my mind and I will continue to advocate on their behalf to boost confidence and opportunity and create spending and investment opportunities,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that the challenges ahead are extensive but, by working in partnership with all levels of government, businesses and the education sector, we will be on track to support an additional 343,000 workers and meet our goal of achieving 1.5 million jobs by 2031.”
The plan includes recommendations presented to the Lord Mayor late last year by the Economic Development Steering Committee in the “Brisbane’s Window of Opportunity” report and identifies priorities where Council is working hard to support the city’s successful development.
Projects already underway include the Brisbane is Growth national advertising campaign, a three year moratorium on infrastructure charges for new four and five star hotel developments, a hotel supply taskforce to encourage much needed construction of new stock and the Brisbane Greeters Program to encourage volunteers to show Brisbane to visitors.