Region On The Cusp Of A Golden Era

Newcastle Herald

Saturday November 22, 2003

GREG WENDT

THE Newcastle-Hunter Region is on the cusp of a golden era that could make it the most liveable place in Australia.

What lies ahead is a period of growth bigger than steel ever brought, driven by people searching for a better place to live and learn.

In 30 years the Hunter may have to lock the metaphorical gates to region because there will be no more room inside.

The Hunter has two attributes that have the potential to attract the masses: a lifestyle that appeals to over-40s looking for a place to set down roots for good and well-regarded tertiary education facilities.

This championing of our region's future has come not from a parochial insider but from a man who was born and bred in country Victoria. Harold Mitchell, who unveiled his vision to members of the Newcastle Business Club during a recent lunchtime address, is chairman and chief executive of Australia's largest independent media agency, Mitchell and Partners, chairman of the National Gallery and a philanthropic supporter of the Australian Opera

``I know people up there will think `Who's this smart arse in Melbourne giving his vision for the Hunter' but I think it's bloody obvious what you've got and you should use it," Mr Mitchell said.

Mr Mitchell has challenged civic leaders to look to the 800-year-old city of Montpellier, in France, as a shining example of an old region re-inventing itself.

``The Hunter can reinvent itself successfully again, as it has done in the past, and it can become the heart of Australia," Mr Mitchell told the business club audience.

``The Hunter has always had a special place in the hearts of all advertising people. You can put it down to outstanding marketing, well ahead of its time.

Mr Mitchell praised the trailblazing efforts of Professor Cyril Renwick, who in 1956 established the Hunter Valley Research Foundation and encouraged advertising and marketing firms in Sydney and Melbourne to include Newcastle in their campaigns and use it as a test market.

``Cyril Renwick looked for a marketing plus for your region. He did two things. One, he didn't call it Newcastle, it was the Hunter Region, and so its character changed and he produced figures to prove how it was a microcosm of the rest of the country," Mr Mitchell said.

``It stopped being just an individual city of blue-collar workers; it had heart and soul, families, vineyards, light and colour and Newcastle became the test-market city of many major products before they were launched Australia-wide.

``Cyril Renwick was able to look to the statistics and prove that the Hunter was the place to be.

``Thirty years on, the figures aren't as rosy and my suggestion is to look carefully at the next 30 years and where you can ride the wave of success.

``You know the battles that you have: 20 years ago the median age was 30, at the moment it is 37 and by 2030 it will be 43; unemployment is 10.3 per cent compared with 7.2 per cent for NSW in total; median weekly individual income in Newcastle is $310, some 20 per cent lower than all of NSW at $386; the population is static to reducing and the Hunter has a lower level of university graduates than the Australian average.

``But there is good news. Tertiary students have increased dramatically, in the two-year period to 2001, by 15 per cent to 73,000."

The Hunter was, Mr Mitchell said, uniquely placed to realise the benefits of an ageing population and an influx of tertiary students.

``There is a golden era ahead if you recognise and grab it," he said.

``The fact is, the 40-plus (generation) is the new pot of gold. And quite simply, the Hunter has a greater representation of people 40-plus than the Australian average.

``Those people like living in the Hunter, and why not, it's a great place to live. And what we know is the 40-plus, and soon the 50-plus, will be the driving force of Australia.

``They have more, they spend more, they will be better-retired, happier and healthier than any other older generation before them and, in fact, the younger generation to follow them.

``Already that is evident: the average weekly household expenditure in Australia is $780, in the Hunter it is just above that at $782.

``Here in the Hunter, they have more weekly money to spend and lower household, fuel and power costs than the rest of Australia.

``There are lower housing costs and monthly loan repayments $872 compared to the rest of NSW at $1049 and lower weekly rental of $145 compared to $171 for the rest of NSW.

``You have better weather than almost any capital city.

``So where to from here? I think that you have to re-invent yourself again, just as you have done in the past and successfully at that."

COMPARISONS between the 800-year-old city of Montpellier and Newcastle may not be immediately obvious but Mr Mitchell said Novocastrians should grasp the example set by what is now France's fastest-growing city.

It had, in the past 40 years, nearly doubled its population to 250,000 and become a university education ``capital", with 60,000 tertiary students.

``Your university is one of the best in Australia, with a medical school, so build on that," Mr Mitchell suggested.

``In Montpellier they put a free tramway around the city; how clever is that? They kept the centre of the city alive, made a fuss of the old buildings. The old city is still there and it's magic and they have a wine industry.

``Australia is crying out for two things that Newcastle can provide: a place for the over-40s to spend the rest of their lives happily and still not be too far from their families and, secondly, tertiary education.

``I can't tell you how to do it, but I can tell you the targets. I would say how do you take the 73,000 tertiary student numbers, out of a population of 562,000, up to 25 per cent, like Montpellier did? That means doubling the number of your university students."

Montpellier has three universities and one of the world's oldest medical faculties, founded in 1220. It has numerous technical colleges and the area's economy is witnessing unprecedented growth focused around three key areas of excellence: biomedicine and pharmaceuticals, information and communication technologies, agronomy and plant biotechnology.

Other things that Montpellier had done to make the city more attractive were to: beautify the town centre; market it as a weekend retreat for tired Parisiennes; develop the restaurants and nearby wine region; create a niche as an arts-rich regional centre (including establishing festivals and increasing the size of their already substantial art gallery and museum by three times); build a tram system around the town offering free travel; and save and refurbish old buildings.

``Put simply they made it a wonderful place to be for students, young and old people," Mr Mitchell said.

``Newcastle and the Hunter has a university and a flourishing arts scene, a wonderful art gallery.

``And you will get Sydney people selling their homes in Mosman for $1.4 million and then buying something here for $400,000, living and spending the rest of their lives in a very liveable place.

``People are moving here; to Newcastle, Port Stephens. Solve the big issues for the region jobs, health, education, housing and the environment and recognise that big cities like Sydney are straining at the seams and don't work too well.

``Look at the strength of the United States: five per cent of the world's population but 25 per cent of the world's wealth.

`They have major cities like New York and Chicago which are too big but they have 50 cities with a population of around one million.

``And that one million population should be the target for the Hunter."

The Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Cr John Tate, said he found Mr Mitchell's presentation stimulating, particularly the comparisons to Montpellier.

``I have been aware for some time of the benefit of our university and medical school, our TAFE colleges and our schools as the opportunity to advance our city," he said.

``We have wonderful chances for education here and the idea that we attract students from Australia and overseas to come to our city to study, there should be new enthusiasm to keep pursuing that.

``Using our education and health sectors to attract students to the city is something I support; you get a blend of the older population and the young."

``I think there is a clear assertion here that we can do it and do it well. While we know some of those things it doesn't hurt when people like Harold Mitchell come to town and reinforce them."

``The 40-plus, and soon the 50-plus, will be the driving force of Australia. They spend more, they will be better-retired, happier and healthier than any other older generation before them and, in fact, the younger generation to follow them."

Mediterranean flair

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE

Situated midway between Spain and Italy on the French Mediterranean coast.

With a population of 250,000 (25 per cent or 60,000 are students), it is France's eighth largest and fastest-growing city.

A centre of art and culture, it has a 2000-seat opera house and hosts the Radio France Music Festival and Montpellier Dance Festival.

Its elegant, 800-year-old historic centre also revels in its modern architecture, in the Antigone quarter and Port Marianne.

From the Camargue to the Cevennes, the city has kilometres of Mediterranean beaches on its doorstep, mountains and countryside close by and the magnificent regional vineyards, attracting Parisiennes for weekends.

It is a university city and has one of the world's oldest faculties of medicine, founded in 1220. It has three universities and several technical colleges.

It has a critical mass of education, research and enterprise. Montpellier Technopole manages 12 science, business and logistic parks attracting biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.

Getting around Montpellier is easy; southern France's first tramway is fast and free, integrated with bus services and park-and-ride schemes linking the city and its suburbs.

© 2003 Newcastle Herald

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