While Tasmania’s capital has made the cut as one of Australia’s top three most liveable cities, it is
still hard to find a job according to those who live here.
The Property Council of Australia today released the latest results from My City: The People’s Verdict
– a national poll, measuring our cities against 17 attributes that make a city liveable.
The survey, now in its fourth year, surveyed 5,400 people across 10 cities, asking them to rate their
home towns on the issues that matter to them and the results reveal a change in the liveability
scores of many of our top cities.
Property Council Tasmanian Executive Director Mary Massina said the poll provided the people’s
verdict on their own cities – a report card for governments on how liveable our cities are.
“This is particularly relevant with the upcoming March 15 state election and the October local
government election,” Ms Massina said.
“The 546 Hobartians polled identified our attractive natural environment and a good range of quality
affordable housing as our most positive attributes, both coming in second place nationally, while
safety for people and their properties came in third place.
“However, Hobart continues to take the wooden spoon for employment opportunities, with the city
being viewed as having the worst employment and economic opportunities of all the cities surveyed.
“Health and education also fared badly in Hobartians’ assessments, with our capital coming in third
from the bottom in terms of good schools and other educational facilities and second from the
bottom for good health care services.
“In essence the people’s poll showed the dual nature of our capital city – it’s a great place to live but
you need a job or at the very least the opportunity to have one, along with confidence that there will
be good schools and health system when you need to them.
“That is why the Property Council’s Election platform, A Contest of Ideas, concentrated on seven
game changers which directly affect the liveability of our cities in creating jobs and investment.”
Ms Massina said the report also showed an overwhelming majority of Australians supported Federal
Government action to improve our cities, particularly housing affordability, proving it was not just a
state issue.
“Overwhelmingly, Australians are clear they want the new Abbott Government to step up and take
action on housing supply and affordability – they don’t want buck passing to the states,” she said.
“The My City survey makes it clear we need a nationwide effort to boost the performance of our
cities to meet the challenges of the future – those being population, housing, infrastructure and a
strong economy.”
The Property Council’s My City: The People’s Verdict report is available at
www.propertyoz.com.au/mycity
Property Council Tasmanian Executive Director Mary Massina
