Canberra will celebrate its centenary in 3 years’ time. Canberra is a living breathing and vital example of what regional development can achieve. From an idea to avoid Sydney-Melbourne parochialism, as a location for a national capital, it is now our largest inland city and by far the largest in the Murray Darling Basin.
It is an example that an exceptional standard of living, in a beautiful city, can be built and maintained on the western side of the Great Dividing Range.
Although its foundations will always be with the government sector, it is now not only a city of public servants. Over half of Canberra's jobs come from outside government, and it has vibrant education and information technology sectors.
The city is a proud and beautiful capital of our nation. With one of the strongest regional rugby sides in the world, and a finalist league team, it has developed its own unique culture that has increased the colours in our national tapestry.
What was here before Canberra; sheep paddocks, a river and an idea. Nothing wrong with these things but the power of the idea and the courage to follow it through has built this city.
Where now are the ideas to build the other cities away from the current dominant troika of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne? Will we be happy when Brisbane starts at Byron Bay and concludes somewhere near Noosa, creating our own version of Los Angeles?
How many more should we stack up on top of each other in Sydney and Melbourne and how many more millions do we think Sydney and Melbourne needs.
When cities become too big the cost of upgrading infrastructure can be prohibitive.
A new road in a green field site can be quickly and relatively cheaply built but stopping Parramatta Road to build another Parramatta Road is a costly and lengthy task.
The first Gateway Bridge (now the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridge) over the Brisbane River cost $140 million in 1985. Twenty-five years later, a mirror copy, right next to it cost $1.8 billion. At that rate of growth the next version will cost over $10 billion in another 25 years.
Think of the roads, rail and airports this could build at a new site if we had the courage that built Canberra today. Where is the major city on our North West coast? Where is the major city between Darwin and Townsville?
Market forces did not create Sydney, vision did. In fact it would have folded very soon after the ships arrived, in misery and starvation, had there not been the strength of conviction to see it prevail despite the dubious motives.
Congestion in Australian cities would be less of a problem if we spread our population more evenly across a nation that is bigger than Western Europe, and where the best watered areas have a minor proportion of the population.
A new city needs a proactive policy to develop it and the Coalition has put up such policies. We have committed to strengthening zone tax rebates to encourage families to move to remote areas with real economic potential. We have proposed giving Australians a tax advantage for investing in the infrastructure and transport corridors that can drive development across our nation.
If ever a city can be a vision for how Australia can advance regional development, then Canberra is it. The major city of Australia’s inland is Canberra. Let's make sure it is not another 100 years before we show such vision again.