The Interknot allows this to be typed and read, it allows others to vent their spleen, cry their angst and share their dreams, hopes and why the hell nots. Such is the joy of freedom of speech, however we all fail from time to time. We may forget that whatever rights we have to freedom of speech, we shouldn't allow speech that suffers from freedom of thought.
Where is Albany's place in the world. Well it depends on your view I guess and who knows who's right, there's extremes and opposing sides and somewhere in between is the truth.
Should Albany have a 5 Star Hotel?
Be hard to find anyone who thinks we shouldn't but to be fair, if you're a local living in a major city, with a 5 Star Hotel nearby how often would you stay in it? Would you stay 4 or 5 times a year, a week at a time? You might stay there, you might never but more than likely you won't stay there long nor often and long.
Their trade is the passing trade, not so much the locals. Which most people would think but perhaps wrongly some also believe "build it and they will come" which is fine in a Kevin Costner fantasy film but if that's all it took, we would have a 5 Star Hotel now & for a very long time.
Toowoomba, Ballarat, Bendigo. All eastern state centres, cities that have populations 3 times Albany's population. Its passing trade and tourist trade using accommodation are all far greater than Albany's. All have 90,000+ residents compared to our 30,000 and a bit.
Not one has a 5 Star Hotel.
The smallest city I could that did have a 5 Star Hotel actually has 2 and one of them is a Hilton.
Yes, Darwin. Population of over 120,000 and a passing professional trade and tourist trade that will dwarf Albany during off season.
OK, maybe not 5 Star, go 4.5 stars. That's Toowoomba. 4 star, that's Bendigo & Ballarat.
It seems to be, you need a big population, you need big passing trade in professionals (during the week) and tourism during the week and weekends.
Albany is a sensational place. Its a city by name but in essence its still a small country town by the seaside, with a small population, a 10 year growth rate of under 7%. The fundamentals just aren't there.
Airlines services - 2 regular big jet flights out of Albany at reasonable prices. Who wouldn't say no. Again, the ones who'd say no would be the operators. When one local said "If they dropped the fares 60% people would race to fill the plane". He is absolutely correct. At that price you'd want to run because the most likely result is the plane will not run a second flight such is the high loss. It suggests the profit margin is over 60% and after cutting it there is still profit. So, if anyone thinks there's a 60-80% profit margin on plane flights then its time they bought a plane.
Flights on the Perth-Albany run are not going to reach the peaks some locals think. The airlines have to run on business case fundamentals. They'll need a particular margin & yes I know there are times when the plane is nearly empty, but they have to run that flight with the regulated agreement. If it happens a lot, it affects their bottom line. Deregulating seems logical, however when you can't even get 2 airlines to place a tender for a regulated market, how will you get them in a deregulated one where their turnover is split with a competitor.
The best thing would have been to see the smallest jet possible, makes the flight time shorter and the flight smoother in the air. Problem is, on the current numbers it wasn't viable. In a conversation I remember saying "When Albany's population hits 100,000 a lot of these problems will solve themselves, although other problems will no doubt pop up. You will be more likely to have the critical mass for a jet service"
The reply I got was "But we have 100,000 people living in the surrounding shires so it should happen now"
Hmmm...yeah well to reach those numbers you'd have to include Denmark, Walpole, Mt Barker, Cranbrook, Jerramungup's population and you'd still be well short. Now more often than not, country people heading to Perth need to drive because in Perth they need their car to get to a lot of different places and to bring home things they need. Generally in these cases, its not carry on luggage size goods. I can't see a farmer driving from Walpole to Albany to catch a plane to Perth where they'll have to hire a car for the duration and then freight down any goods. The point is, when the City of Albany has 100,000 people its getting between Toowoomba & Darwin. A lot of the country will be able to get more in the way of goods in Albany.
In any case, whatever the crucial number is on the J Curve, we're well below it for a 5 Star Hotel and a regular well priced Jet Service.
What Albany should be focusing on is industry. Wealth creators that provide jobs and revolving income to feed family and businesses they buy goods and services through. Tourism is great and should be encouraged at every point, but as a service industry its not going to be the powerhouse of economic drivers setting the growth agenda for the next 50 years.
We have no mines, no oil rigs, no gas fields and our Agricultural sector is suffering worse than some other adjoining or nearby shires despite the higher rainfall. The Forestry industry is still going and at end of 2015 the wood chip prices may have hit rock bottom and a gradual rise may be on the cards. That and several players have left the district and some plantations are being returned to pasture. But it will not regain the very artificial and unsustainable growth it was showing on the outside in the years before Timbercorp & Great Southern Plantations imploded in spectacular fashion.
And its interesting to see whenever the Planning topic is raised, its to do with in town pursuits like big hotels, air flight services, tourism and a number of other very city or inner city centric themes.
No one mentions how the LPS1 has reduced opportunities for farmers to diversify their property to stay viable compared to the old LPS. Its to protect land zoned as Priority Agriculture, yet there's an enormous number of farms that are under 400 acres and therefore unviable. They can't be subdivided and sold, because that's being deliberately opposed by the council. For the most part rightly so for now. However they're stuck, can't farm profitably, can't diversify and if they can buy more land its in some places 4 times the price it was 10 years ago. Not viable.
So to get through, increasing numbers of farmers are getting off farm work, the farms are essentially turning into massive hobby farms and no one lives on the farms during the week. I do, but many of my neighbours don't. So on a bad hot day in summer, when I'm working at home I'm also on fire watch knowing none of my neighbours are closer than 30 mins away in an emergency.
What's an answer? Allow 400 acre farms to build rentals on the farm. They can be lower income than town, or higher with the inclusion of 5 acres per rental. This allows the farmer to stay on the property because he/she know has passive income coming from the farm allowing them to work on farm. In Michigan, north of Detroit it was very common for a 100 acre paddock to have as many as 6 rental houses. If you had that rate, or even less, they'd be the highest performing paddocks on the farms
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