Canberra might have lost CHOGM earlier this month, but this week it followed a commendable pattern of behaviour. Get kicked in the guts by the Federal Government, use your brains to do something about it, bounce back. The rest of Australia is mostly unaware of this attribute of Canberra. That is probably because Canberra is used too frequently as a synonym for the Federal Government. It is called metonymy
“”Canberra’s GST horror,” the headline runs. But we would not see headlines like “”Canberra takes CHOGM from Canberra” or “”Canberra hits back after Canberra takes GHOGM from Canberra”.
We have this blurred identity crisis which probably distracts the attention of some businesses outside Australia who see Canberra only as home of the Federal Government with business opportunities limited to supplying the Federal Government. Though this is slowly changing.
The loss of CHOGM (if indeed it was ever seriously contemplated that it would come here in the first place) is unfortunate as an immediate loss to our hospitality industry, but it is perhaps more unfortunate as a loss of opportunity to showcase Canberra to an international audience.
But never mind. This week the ACT Government seized the opportunity. If CHOGM goes to Brisbane, any conference or event booked in Brisbane that week is bound to bounced. So Canberra is to put out the welcome mat. They may not be as big as CHOGM, but they will be more diverse and they will be people who had not thought of Canberra as a destination. They will get a pleasant surprise. And those events that had previously wanted to come to CHOGM but could not, can now come here.
Any city can only take a finite number of events. Sydney, for example, can only take the Olympics in September. As a consequence it has probably lost dozens of small conventions and events in those weeks which have gone elsewhere.
With CHOGM, Canberra will bounce back, despite “”Canberra’s” decision to take it away from us. We might even get some compensation and support for better convention centres, the VFT and a bigger airport from a Federal Government feeling guilty, or at least feeling worried about the marginal seats around the ACT, even if there are none in it.
Cogent evidence of Canberra’s ability to bounce back is provided in this week’s employment figures. And big businesses around Australia should take notice of them.
The national unemployment rate went up, as new people entered the labour force to seek work. The unemployment rate went up even though there were more jobs created in economy. The national unemployment rate is now 7 per cent. In the ACT, the picture is different. Our unemployment rate stayed stable at 5.7 per cent even though the number of jobs in the ACT went up as it did nationally. Our participation rate is 73.2 per cent, 10 percentage points higher than the national figure. We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
This is a remarkable turn of events after our main industry (federal administration) was gutted. Most other places whose main industry is gutted go into a flunk. The reason Canberra has done so well is our high education levels which give rise to flexibility and adaptability. Our younger age profile also helps. Add to that the high grade environment and you have a remarkable city in its own right, not just a home for the Federal Government.