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survey released today by recruiter Talent2 has found that Brisbane and the Gold Coast top the list of cities that Australians would like to work in. Fairly close behind was Melbourne. Sydney....well it was a whole 8% lower than the "place to be".
Sadly, in the current climate of rising housing prices, troubled public transport systems and the like, it's not surprising that people are thinking of relocating. I have thought about living in Canberra from time to time, but embarrassingly for me (and any resident who might care in Canberra perhaps) the place wasn't even mentioned in the survey. Darwin had the lowest number of votes at 2%, so I suppose you could just fill in the blanks as to where the ACT landed.
One doesn't want to put too much emphasis on surveys such as these, because there is a whole range of other factors to consider amongst the applicants: age, marital status, income and so on. Being a born and bred Sydney girl, however, I must admit I was a little saddened by the statistic that if they were given the opportunity, 63.5% of respondents from Sydney would move elsewhere.
It's a confusing result, given only last year Sydney was voted Australia's best city in terms of quality of life in the 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey and has achieved similar results in years previous.
The Talent2 survey suggests a couple of major reasons as to why so many might want to bail out - one, advances in technology and two, Sydney's ever-growing bad reputation for things like an unreliable public transport system, to name just one area of concern.
I would argue that reason one is more likely the case than reason two, however even this sort of statement is problematic. No matter where you live, there are positive and negative factors, which are always left to individual assessment. Though we have a multitude of technological gadgets and software at our fingertips, that doesn't necessarily mean we all want to pack up and head for the hills. They might offer us greater flexibility and choice, but it doesn't mean we would automatically be happier some place else.
Though Melbourne does offer a great social experience and hosts some of the most popular sporting events in the world, the scenery doesn't come close to the beauty of our Harbour and heritage listed Sydney Opera House. Sure, it's expensive to live in Sydney, but it's not exactly cheap to live in places like Perth either. And - OK, while I have a soft spot for the National Capital and its rugby league team - us Sydney folk have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world on our doorstep.
So cheers to Sydney - a fine place to live!
Read more here:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Sydney-ranks-high-in-quality-of-life-survey/2005/03/15/1110649161914.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18031650-643,00.html
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Sydney - a nice place to miss
Sydney is a pretty city in parts, so I can understand why it does well on these types of surveys.
But it's also a really annoying city - it's an arrogant, self obsessed city, it's glitz and glam, cliques and careers, but not much substance. The beaches are OK, but Bondi is a traffic nightmare, and Coogee is always covered in cigarette butts, and yeah you can go further north, or further south, there's only so long you can spend on the beach without getting a melanoma.
I always miss Sydney when I'm away, because I grew up here, so I get that little flutter when I come back home. But it only takes a week or two for it to begin to annoy me again. I think this weird love/hate relationship I have with the city is because I feel that it's lost something precious that it used to have in the 80s and 70s. I left for much of the nineties, to live in Canberra and then in Mexico city, and when I came back something weird had happened.
Before it seemed to be have been full of art gallery openings, theatre nights and poetry recitations, of community meetings and BBQs on the weekend where people would talk of where Australia was going and how working together we were going to make a difference in the world. Everyone seemed to get involved in a sporting, or social or community organisation, and everyone seemed to have more time.
Now it seems like it's all house prices and big screen TVs, and people trying to out do each other in afflueza bouts. No art, not culture and no community, except little pockets like Norton st, or the Marrickville Community Centre.
Canberra is the opposite - nothing much to look at, but peel back the cover and there's stacks going on at the community level, which is where the heart and soul of a city really resides. Don't feel embarrased about thinking of moving to Canberra, it's a great place to live, Sydney on the other hand, well I'm here, but I'm not sure why.
Sydney in a league of its own?
Thanks for your insight into your impressions of Sydney. It's always valuable to hear someone's view who has lived in different parts of the world and can offer a comparison, as I can't.
I would, however, say that the "affluenza" syndrome is not unique to Sydney, I think you find it all over the place now. But yes, Sydney does seem to suffer quite badly. Perhaps someone who currently lives in another state can offer insight into this.
And thanks for your wrap of Canberra - I agree with you there too!
Sydney vrs Melbourne? or Sydney vrs Shanghai?
Nothing boils the blood in Australia quite so much as a good put down of someone else's city. I know as one who grew up in Adelaide and has endured a lifetime of pitying looks from friends who think they know what Adelaide is about. So you know - it may not have grown as fast as the rest of Australia, but it is a damm good place in which to live.
As for Sydney versus Melbourne - that comparison has long been outdated by the one that really matters - in shorthand form perhaps Sydney versus Shanghai. Like it or loathe it, Sydney is Australia's international business city and the centre of the finance industry - perhaps our most globalised and vital business sectors. To my mind Sydney scores well where it matters - the attractiveness of living here to a footloose globalised workforce and the innovativeness of our firms.
Government is another matter. Sydney had a visionary transport system in the 1930s but today it does not have the infrastructure of a leading global city. The innefficiencies this introduces into business of all sorts costs us dearly. Sydney's great institutions are also sadly under-funded by politicians that do not understand the linkages between scholarship, art and culture and a thriving knowdge economy. Just one example - the state library's priceless records are not avaialable online.
Asia's great cities meanwhile are transforming under a weight of investment in infrastructure, education, science and the arts. We will all be poorer if Sydney continues to slip behind.