Adventures in Oz

The Presidential trip to Australia is one of the highlights of the Presidential Year and 2009 was no exception.

The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Annual Convention was held in Darwin in the Northern Territories, well within the Tropics, with high temperatures and humidity albeit at the end of the Australian summer.

From our arrival at the airport, and PIA bus to the hotel and conference centre on the edge of the harbour, we found the place beautiful and energetic.





At the convention hotel, we were met by our “buddy” Jane Jose, a senior planner in Sydney, who subsequently received one of the PIA President’s award for a visioning process in Sydney. She and an excellent event organiser, Larissa Hansen, took me through my programme.

This involved my presentation on the Global Planners Network (GPN) international capacity initiative, managed by the RTPI, discussions with colleagues from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the Pacific Islands on the GPN, and attendance and contributions to events concerning Eco Towns and Affordable Housing.

The President of the PIA is Neil Savery, the state and territory planner for Canberra, whose dry sense of humour was typical of the Aussies. He opened the convention in shorts, open neck shirt and long socks with garters, acquiring the nickname “Akela”.




In his closing speech, he featured an unfortunate incident when my M & S underwear, sent to the laundry at my hotel returned, much to the delight of my wife, as Pierre Cardin for a waist of around 28 inches. Those of you who know me will be aware that my underwear could probably be used as a sail for a 21 foot schooner but sadly I did not recover them! The mind boggles as to the reaction of the unwitting recipient...

Returning to more serious matters, the Australian Institute has around 7,000 members, but there are separate Territorial bodies with their own resources and this structure is also paralleled in Canada.

The country has recently suffered floods and terrible fires but two issues particularly resonated with the UK planning environment.

Firstly, the limits imposed on new development by shortage of infrastructure, especially water supply. I was amazed at how many rural properties rely solely on rainwater, collected during the rainy season, for all their annual water needs – perhaps we should be more ambitious in requiring surface water storage to be a feature in all new development.

Secondly, there are issues surrounding the integration of the indigenous population, the aborigines. The parallels here concerned our UK investment in our own disadvantaged communities, although the aborigine claims for land occupied by them for hundreds of years does not compare. I will write a fuller report on lessons in communication and engagement, but the need for a common language and respect for history drew direct parallels.





Finally, we spent a great deal of time with the Lord Mayor of Darwin, Graeme Sawyer. He wished to learn from the UK experience in a number of areas – affordable housing, tall buildings, the impact of new arts and cultural buildings on the city economy and, most significantly, how to secure optimum benefits from the recent discovery of oil and gas, just offshore from the city.
He may visit the UK and, if so, we will direct him to Aberdeen regarding oil, show him alternative technologies, such as wind farms, that might be funded by oil, but will remain after oil runs out. We will also show him the impact of arts facilities on the local economy.

We left Australia impressed by the number of dual qualified [planners MRTPI and PIA, and by the warmth (and healthy competition) between the two nations.

Martin Willey