Inquiry into Productivity in Australia

Our submission is concerned with a single term of reference within the Inquiry:

(b) objectives for a multi-decade national settlement strategy to achieve a more balanced distribution of population between cities and regional Australia, with a view to enhancing economic resilience, productivity and social cohesion;

Our position is clear: the Abundant Housing Network Australia wholesale opposes the creation of a National Settlement Strategy. Such a strategy is flawed from first principles, and its proponents lack both evidence of its alleged benefits and viable methods for its implementation.

The Inquiry should find it telling that those lobbying for decentralisation almost exclusively live in our major cities—rather than in the places where they believe other people should be forced to live.

The inquiry should consider first and foremost the revealed preferences of both decentralisation advocates and ordinary Australians. Both overwhelmingly choose our existing large cities because these places are, and will remain for decades to come, the nation’s great engines of opportunity and prosperity.

To increase productivity, we should harness the power of the cities we have, and empower people to live and work within them should they choose. That is the recipe for a productive Australia—a society that is free and open, not one that is closed and centrally planned.