Why Make it Adelaide?

28 Pages·2017·0.71 MB·English

Make it big
Adelaide
Phase 1
Acknowledge

Make it Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
Adelaide
Australia’s cities have a
bright future. And as a city,
Adelaide has a stake to claim
in unlocking the nation’s
enormous potential for social
and economic prosperity.
The South Australian Government cannot achieve this alone. Business leaders have a
pivotal role to help transform our economy – and the community has a big part to play
in contributions that stimulate the growth and development of our wonderful state.
Deloitte believes this is an opportunity to work collaboratively and to co-create a plan
that delivers a bright and strong future for Adelaide and South Australia.
Let’s shape Adelaide together and build a future where our children – and their children –
can flourish.
This is the first in a series of reports. Deloitte is committed to working with
industry, the community, and government to develop and deliver a set of practical
solutions that help to strengthen the South Australian economy. We welcome
your involvement, encourage you to join in the conversation, and look forward
to working with you on this journey.
Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
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Phase 1
Make it big Adelaide > Acknowledge
is the first of a series across the
themes of Acknowledge, Ask,
Answer and Action. The broader
narrative will act to recognise
South Australia's challenge, seed 
the impetus for change through
conversation, and develop a plan
that outlines where and how we
can take action to accelerate our
economic and population growth.
Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
Vision 03
Executive summary 04
1 Why Make it Adelaide? 06
2 South Australia’s doing it tough 07
3 But not as tough as what you’d think 09
4 Our burning platform 12
5 How do we do it? 16
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Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
‘It’s just like a big country town’
‘God’s waiting room’
‘Everybody’s inside, sitting in the same
chairs they were sitting in last year’
‘Adelaide is small’
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Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
No small matter.
For too long, too many of us have been telling ourselves a set of truths we
hold as self-evident: That you can’t make it in Adelaide. That we’re from
a small city with a small destiny. That anyone with a good idea will leave,
and anyone who doesn’t will be left behind.
What’s worse is that we tell these ‘truths’ to other people.
To our interstate colleagues, who decide not to invest here. To our old
friends, now in the east, who choose not to come home. We tell them
to our kids. And worst of all, they listen.
It’s time to change that.
We know that South Australia isn’t as small as we talk about, that we’re
already a state home to 1.7 million people and a $100 billion economy.
We believe in the city that makes the world’s best wine, built the globe’s
best cricket ground, and hosts the best arts festivals on the planet.
We believe in the grand city, that William Light laid out between hills
and ocean in 1836, a radical city where Catherine Helen Spence demanded
the right to run for office, a growing city where Sir Thomas Playford built
industries for workers and brought workers for industry, and the cutting-
edge city where Don Dunstan set the agenda for the rest of the country.
There’s a big future for all of us.
There’s a job ahead to build that future. And big choices to make it happen.
There’s much we need to do as leaders in business, in government, and in
the  community to make it the big Adelaide we want.
A big Adelaide in ten years won’t have the same industries as in the
past, or even as what we have now. We won’t do business or run our
governments in the same way.
It’s time to lay out a plan for what a big Adelaide will look like and what 
we all need to do to make it there.
The future is what we make it.
And we will make it Adelaide.
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Executive summary
Adelaide’s economy has been offices having moved to the eastern
doing it tough for some time states. Only 5.9 per cent of medium
Since the mid-1980s, Adelaide and South and large businesses in Australia are
Australia’s economy has trailed the rest based in South Australia – well below
of Australia. The manufacturing industry, our population share.
which once provided 1 in 5 jobs in South
Australia, is now much less important. While these problems have been tough
And while the other big manufacturing for the South Australian economy for
state, Victoria, has found new high-powered some time, unless we act now, this is a
engines of growth in the services sector, problem which is likely to get worse. On
we’ve been stuck behind in third gear. current trends, Deloitte Access Economics
forecasts that natural population growth
The focus of the public debate in the space – births over deaths – will fall to almost
has often been limited to the decline of the zero in the longer term, further limiting
manufacturing sector. But the gap which our opportunities locally.
has opened up is driven by more than that.
Big cities are getting even bigger as fast- We have to act now
growing services industries cluster there. to make a difference
This is happening all around the world – This future is not inevitable. Demographics
not just in Sydney and Melbourne. are destiny, but there’s still time for
us to keep more of our young people
Don’t get us wrong – far from what the and to attract more of the world’s best
doomsayers say, Adelaide’s economy and brightest.
isn’t crashing anytime soon. There is still
modest growth. But it’s not setting any land We believe that we can turn it around.
speed records either. Both our population And we’re willing to put a number on it.
and economy have, on average, grown Our aspiration is that we increase the
more slowly than the rest of the country number of people who choose to live
for over 30 years. in South Australia to 2 million by 2027.
To get there, we need to meet the national
The most practical effect of this are the growth rate of 1.4 per cent per year. To
choices that people make about their own be clear, this is not a forecast – things will
lives. The number of young people aged need to change to reach a population of
between 15 and 34 in South Australia is 2 million by 2027.
lower now than it was in the mid-1980s,
despite the fact that the population is Why focus on people? After all, these
around 340,000 people larger. people will ultimately be attracted to live
in this state by better jobs and stronger
We’ve also seen this effect play out in industries. There’s no point pursuing
the make-up of the private sector. The population growth on paper if those
economy is now heavily reliant on small people don’t have good jobs or their
and medium enterprises and private kids don’t have good futures.
companies, with many corporate head
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However, the return of strong population In addition to these sectors where we can
growth will be the most robust indicator surf the waves of global growth, we think
of sustainable improvement to our state’s there are four other sectors specifically for
economic health. The reality is that both South Australia to focus on. These sectors
public and private capital chase where build on our existing strengths to grow
people choose to live – as we’ve seen as services sector jobs:
a headwind for Adelaide. Ensuring our
existing jobs continue to be based in • Defence industries
Adelaide and that we’re able to attract • Creative industries
the best and brightest will be ever more • Health and medical industries
reliant on scale in the future. • Professional and information
technology services.
Our future
The star of our economy will be a new In addition to these eight cylinders,
Two things we’re not doing engine of growth firing up, fuelled mainly South Australia needs to continue to
by new private sector investment. In honour develop other sectors. Improvement
of our industrial heritage, like a V8 Monaro, in global markets could spur growth in
This isn’t the first time someone
we think there’s eight cylinders. None of mining, particularly further developments
has written a report about the
these sectors will come as too much of a in copper and iron ore.
economic future of South Australia.
surprise, but they shouldn’t – we’re most
These reports generally take one
likely to succeed in the future by leveraging We think that the time is right to link a plan
of two approaches.
the competitive advantages that we have now. for population growth to the acceleration of
these industries, and further underpinning
One approach they take is to offer
The third instalment in Deloitte’s Building this transition to a growth economy will
a silver bullet. Some hero single
the Lucky Country series looked at industries be the advantages presented by our city.
project or industry which will solve
where global growth is strong and Australia Adelaide’s liveability, cost effectiveness
all of our problems. That’s not what
has a significant advantage against our and access to the attributes that make
this report will do. The truth is, the
competitors. Four out of the ‘Fantastic our nation so attractive to the world are
scale of South Australia’s economy
Five’ sectors offer significant global growth now continually recognised. But let’s not
is surprisingly large – there’s over
opportunities for South Australia: just pat ourselves on the back for these
800,000 jobs and $100 billion in
accolades, let’s use them to accelerate
product every year. Even the largest
• International education our growth and attract and retain the
single project will inevitably be just
• Energy and gas people we need to ignite these cylinders
one part of a broader story of our
• Tourism and ensure Adelaide’s place as a globally
state’s prosperity.
• Agribusiness. competitive, mid-sized city at the heart
of our state.
The other thing they say is that
In fact, South Australia’s performance in
the future comes down to the
each of these sectors is already at least a Let’s be positive about the size and
South Australian Government,
solid ‘not bad’. We’ve grown fairly quickly strength of our economy and make
either as the saviour or to stop
in each – but there’s still a lot of room for the right investment decisions over the
messing up. And the Government
growth. To take one example, our share of medium term to facilitate this growth.
has an important role to play,
tourists and international students is below After all, over the next decade, South
making sensible investments in
what you would expect from our share of Australia’s gross state product will
infrastructure, industry and our
the national population (which, not to labour cumulatively be worth more than a
cities and towns, educating our kids
the point, isn’t really what it used to be). trillion dollars – let’s demonstrate that
so they have better skills to do the
we can make the right decisions, push
best jobs, and creating an economic
In each of these sectors, we believe we through our risk averse culture and
environment that supports private
must identify opportunities to lead the rebuild our corporate sector.
investment. But it’s a supporting
nation, not come middle of the pack.
actor – it shouldn’t be seen as the star.
The sixth Building the Lucky Country Over the balance of this year we aim to
report, What’s over the horizon? Recognising facilitate discussions with the key players
opportunity in uncertainty finds that South in each of these domains to develop
Australia is particularly well positioned to a plan that outlines where and how
benefit from a third Asian boom, due to we can accelerate our economic and
our premium food and wine exports, population growth.
as well as success in retail, wholesale
trade and transport.
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Make it big Adelaide P hase 1|Acknowledge
1 Why Make
it Adelaide?
Why are we doing this? We see the next five months as an
We believe fundamentally that South opportunity to work collaboratively with
We want
Australia can have a stronger future, these key stakeholder groups to develop a
but we need to act now to secure it. plan that creates an Adelaide in which our
to work children can choose to flourish in. This will
For Adelaide to compete on a global stage help us to form a set of practical solutions
we need to accelerate population growth we can all own and deliver to drive our
together to
in our state and retain talent to support state forward.
the growth of our key industries.
create an Following this consultation process,
We see business and community leaders we will create a plan which lays out these
as having a pivotal role to help transform practical solutions and what we need to
Adelaide in
the South Australian economy. With our do to get there.
strong links to the business community
which our in Adelaide, we believe that Deloitte is How can I get involved?
best placed to facilitate and become The future of South Australia is everyone’s
the catalyst for action – government responsibility. We want you to join us on
children
cannot do this alone. this journey.
flourish. What does the process look like? We will speak to key stakeholders
We are working on practical solutions to within the business community and
the problems that are before us, and want government, as well as engage the wider
to engage with industry, government and South Australian community, to help us
the community to be part of this journey. formulate a robust plan to grow our state.
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