WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MELBOURNE?

I have just had the great pleasure of a trip to Melbourne with some business mates and our wives to indulge in some fun and noise at the Melbourne Grand Prix and, boy can Melbourne put on a show!

OK, I know its way bigger than here, but they just love to show their city off and to make the absolute most of any event both for the enjoyment of locals and visitors, and also to wring every dollar out of the opportunity to further grow their economy.

From the moment you leave the plane, easy to read brochures and maps ensure every visitor is exposed to every opportunity for fun and interest that Melbourne has to offer. Downtown, well-informed volunteers, (often elderly who otherwise would be short of company and things to do) offer advice to visitors on places to go and how to get there. Their bright jackets add to the colour and make them easy to find and they are real ambassadors.

Not to miss any opportunity each map asks the reader, “Love Melbourne, then why not live here?” and goes on to detail help offered by local government to professionals, tradespeople, business owners and investors and how to obtain free visa sponsorship and other aids to starting up there.

Although the scale is bigger than here, it is the attitude and intention to help that characterises this approach. Compare that with what is on offer here. A quick visit to our local council information centre will inform visitors of the need to bilk them out of every possible penny for development contributions, complex town planning rules, resource consents and so on all designed cunningly to grow the economies of other parts of NZ at our expense.

And, by the way it was such fun to be involved in some petrol burning fun just for once in these carbon-saving days. The big local news was the massive increase in CO2 from the bush fires made worse by the green lobby stopping undergrowth clean ups in the State Parks and preventing bulldozers from getting in and creating firebreaks!

Come on Northland!