The National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA) calls for urgent investment in growth areas to increase national productivity
“It’s a form of public cognitive dissonance that somehow the 50,000 houses built in paddocks every year are invisible or not deserving of infrastructure investment,” NGAA CEO Bronwen Clark told the Senate Select Committee’s inquiry into Productivity in her opening statement. She made clear the growing disconnect between where population growth is occurring and where investment is prioritised – making the case that Australia’s productivity will continue to decline unless it starts investing in its fastest growing communities.
Newly released data shows Australia’s growth areas are now home to more than 6 million people and generate over 12% of national GDP, a scale of population and economic contribution that makes their continued underinvestment impossible to ignore.
The economic contribution of outer metropolitan suburbs has the ability to extend well beyond traditional industrial roles such as logistics, warehousing and manufacturing.
Growth areas are home to skilled professionals whose productivity is being wasted, not because of a lack of capability, but because of where they live. Each day, too many residents are forced into congested commutes of more than two hours, while others are locked out of suitable work altogether, constrained by childcare responsibilities and poor transport connections that keep jobs physically out of reach.
This “spatial leash” is not just limiting individual opportunity; it is holding back Australia’s economic performance.
The NGAA is calling for a clear, staged approach to addressing this challenge.
Recommendation 1: Formal classification of growth areas at a national level, embedded in ABS and Centre for Population data systems. This would enable consistent data collection and a clearer understanding of economic, workforce and infrastructure conditions in outer-metropolitan areas.
Recommendation 2: Prioritise infrastructure investment. The Federal and State governments must coordinate efforts to urgently prioritise infrastructure investment in growth areas to close long standing deficits in transport, utilities and essential services, allowing these communities to catch up to where they should already be.
Recommendation 3: Place-Based National Infrastructure Investment Framework. For long term financial sustainability, develop place based investment to unlocks the productivity potential that already exists in growth areas, bringing jobs closer to where people live and enabling families to participate fully in the economy.
Read NGAA CEO Bronwen Clark's full opening statement below.
