Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese will be formally appointed his party's official spokesman on cities, as the opposition moves to tackle the phenomenon of "drive in-drive out" suburbs and assert role for federal politics in urban policy.
And Labor will also create a "National Urban Policy Dialogue" involving Mr Albanese, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, frontbenchers shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and environment spokesman Mark Butler, as well as key stakeholders from business, industry, academia and other levels of government as it works on new policies for "productive, sustainable and liveable cities".
In what is believed to be the first appointment of its kind, Mr Albanese revealed that he would take on the additional responsibility in a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Mr Albanese said the current Coalition government had followed its conservative predecessors and "declared urban policy is a matter for the states", with actions such as dismantling the Major Cities Unit in Mr Albanese's old portfolio on its first day in government, walking away from the Urban Policy Forum and cutting public transport funding.
But Labor, he said, must construct a positive agenda in opposition to be ready for the challenges facing major Australian cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, both of which are projected to have populations of 8 million by 2060.
The 2013 State of Australian Cities Report had identified strong population growth in the middle and outer rings of our cities, Mr Albanese said, but the decline in manufacturing and rise of knowledge-intensive industries meant jobs growth was in and near central business districts.
"For the first time in decades, population and jobs growth are not geographically aligned," he said.
"We are witnessing the rise of a new phenomenon – drive-in-drive out suburbs where people live but cannot find work . . . allowing this trend to continue is a recipe for entrenched inequity and economic stagnation.
"More and more Australians are travelling further to work in areas where they cannot afford to live. We must reverse this trend now or watch increasing urban sprawl and traffic congestion rob workers of time with their families."
He said the Abbott government had no minister responsible for cities and that the "roads-only approach" to infrastructure investment, which Prime Minister Tony Abbott had argued would leave space for states to invest in rail, had "already collapsed".
Tackling the challenges facing Australia's cities required national leadership, Mr Albanese said, outlining 10 steps that could be taken including:
- integrated public transport and roads
- tackling housing affordability and lifting housing density;
- promoting jobs growth by investing in research precincts in the "middle rings" of cities, around hospitals and universities
- decentralising jobs growth by promoting second and third CBDs
Mr Albanese said a future Labor government would pick up where the former Rudd-Gillard governments had left off, including by re-establishing the Major Cities unit and working more closely with the states through the COAG process.
He also committed Labor to proceeding with planning for high speed rail from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra.
