CITY OF ADELAIDE PLANNING

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on the latest investigations into which is Australia's most liveable city and how cities are best planned?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:22): I thank the honourable member for her question. The last two weeks have seen recognition of Adelaide as the most liveable city in Australia and this is an endorsement of South Australia as being the best state for planning our city's future. It is probably a ringing endorsement of our planning minister, I would have thought, as well.

On 25 March, the Property Council of Australia released a survey of 5,200 Australians about the liveability of their cities and how their governments performed in urban policy. For the second year running Adelaide was the winning city. Adelaide is seen as an affordable place with a good standard of living, as well as being clean, well maintained and unpolluted. Last week also saw the Property Council launch a campaign to improve cities across Australia.

I am pleased to say that, in his speech to the National Press Club, the CEO of the Property Council of Australia, Peter Verwer, said that South Australia is the only jurisdiction to have integrated city planning and target setting right—the only jurisdiction in the nation. This is an endorsement of both the 30-year plan and also South Australia's Strategic Plan.

In addition, yesterday the COAG Reform Council released its review of capital city planning systems. This report assessed the approach of city planning systems to managing population, economic growth, addressing climate change, improving housing affordability and managing urban congestion. South Australia is way ahead of the pack. We were assessed as being consistent with 10 out of the 12 criteria. The next best cities were Brisbane and Canberra, which were only ranked as consistent with five out of the 12 criteria.

While these accolades are welcome, the government intends to keep striving to further improve our city. Among the areas where Adelaide did not perform as well as some other cities in the liveable city category were having a vibrant cultural entertainment scene and having economic opportunities. The survey also highlighted the types of housing development Adelaide residents want for the future, with a high level of support, interestingly, being for the conversion of old industrial sites to apartments and townhouses, which is good news for the Bowden, Brompton and other developments.

We have recognised that we do need to make our city centre more vibrant; that is why we have made this a central priority. We want to make sure that our young people do not feel the need to go interstate or overseas to get a great job or to live in an exciting city, and that is why we have put this as one of our top seven priorities. Last week the announcement of a new design-led development system for the city was aimed at doing just that and, as the Deputy Premier advised the house last Thursday, we are already seeing the dividends of that new approach.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!