Anyone who has prowled for a parking spot at a suburban train station, arrived at a hospital emergency department to face a day-long wait or simply gazed up at the rapidly changing skyline didn’t need this week’s Australian Bureau of Statistics numbers to tell us Perth is becoming a big city.
According to the ABS, Perth is Australia’s fastest-growing capital city, with an average of 220 people arriving every day during the 2022-2023 period.
Perth’s population is growing - and fast. But are we ready for our “big country town” to get even bigger?Credit: WA Tourism
At this rate, we will hit the three million mark by the end of the decade and pass Brisbane to be Australia’s third-largest city.
We used to describe Perth — with a mix of affection and embarrassment — as a large country town.
Now that the idea of Perth as a sleepy stretch of paradise stretched out along the Indian Ocean is the faintest of memories for anyone caught up in a traffic snarl on the Mitchell or Kwinana freeways that now seems to last all day.
Along with everyone else I’ve screamed with frustration at the steroidal sprouting of the city, such as on that blistering Sunday morning in January when I drove to Coogee Beach and had to turn around and go home because there was not a single parking space in sight.
Despite the growing pains, there is part of me that is exhilarated we are now living in the kind of city everyone complains about but doesn’t want to leave.
We go to places like London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney to experience the rush of humanity, the clash of cultures, the colour, the noise, the energy and the excitement.
Young people in particular have traditionally fled sleep-inducing Perth to live in a great metropolitan centre and relish in the hustle and bustle, even if it costs a fortune and leaves them drained and dreaming of home.
Now we don’t need to get on a plane to be dropped into a major metropolitan melting pot. Just head into the city when there is an event at the Perth Arena or head out to Karrinyup Shopping Centre and you will encounter the mix of annoyance and excitement of living in a throbbing city.
“...if big Perth is just an inflated version of small Perth — an empty, uninteresting centre occupied during work hours then abandoned for soulless suburbs — give me that sleepy country town.”
Recently, I felt an intensity I’ve never experienced in Perth when I arrived at the Crown for the opening night of the Tina Turner musical, which coincided with the second performance of P!nk at Optus Stadium.
The Crown parking lot was bursting at the seams, music fans and gamblers spilled over into the surrounding streets looking for somewhere to leave their vehicles, and the train station was flooded by a pink-clad army marching toward Optus Stadium.
It was insane — I needed Google Maps to find my car afterwards — but it was the controlled chaos we love about a big city.
But is this what we want for Perth as it leaves behind its big country town status and joins the ranks of Sydney and Melbourne, accruing the glamour that comes with size (no need to apologise for our city anymore, because it is where everyone wants to be)?
The Tina Turner/P!nk traffic jam happened because of Perth’s woeful public transportation system.
I adore going to megacities like London, Paris and New York not because I’m driving around in them (God help me!), but because I get around on foot, or I jump onto subways and buses.
I love the idea of a big Perth — make that a huge Perth! — but if that means a greater city spread and more SUVs fighting for shrinking space on our roads, I will find myself yearning for the days when we would tell foreigners that kangaroos were hopping down the Hay Street Mall.
And will Perth grow in the way that those of us who love the idea of finally living in a big city have long dreamed about?
Soaring house prices are pushing newcomers further and further into the outer reaches of the metropolitan area, which leads to more and more cars on the roads and all the horror that entails.
The mayors of our two metropolitan centres, Basil Zempilas and Hannah Fitzhardinge, are working hard to draw people into their respective CBDs, Perth and Fremantle, but they will have to pick up the pace if they are going to play a role in giving us vibrant urban centres worthy of a great city.
Our screens are awash with multi-layered futuristic cities in the Blade Runner mould. I wish! The big Perth we are facing is even more dystopian, an endless sprawl up and down the coast as new arrivals seek their slice of heaven, with the respective CBDs far too expensive and impractical.
And what about the cultural mix? When millions of migrants poured into the United States during the early part of the 20th century, they brought with them their culture and their energy, giving New York and other American cities a vibrancy and creativity that, sadly, is now threatened by the post-COVID exodus.
I worry here that the thousands of people pouring into Perth will simply add to the mining industry monoculture that provides us with the good life but narrows down what our city and our state could be, especially at a time when the government is anxious to diversify our economy.
By allowing the city to sprawl, it will cause that energy to dissipate as those with different kinds of experiences dissolve into the suburban blandness oozing in all directions.
That’s if the new arrivals can find housing, of course. This week’s ABS figures confirming that Perth is exploding has caused an equal and opposite reaction from those who believe we need to slam on the brakes so as not to exacerbate the housing crisis and stretch even further services such as schools and hospitals.
While I am equally concerned that the competition for housing is creating all kinds of heartache and distortions, I am happy to endure the growing pains knowing it will eventually yield a city as interesting as those we make a beeline for on our holidays.
I want to be able to jump on light rail running along South Street to Fremantle to allow me to get to Murdoch Station and into the city without the worry of soaring parking fees, I want to be able to shop into the night and eat a first-class meal, see a great show and have a coffee afterwards, and I want the streets to be buzzing to all hours of the night, just as they do in Barcelona or Berlin.
I want Perth to grow and grow, so I don’t feel impelled to get on a plane to experience the thrill of a bustling metropolis.
But if big Perth is just an inflated version of small Perth — an empty, uninteresting centre occupied during work hours then abandoned for soulless suburbs — give me that sleepy country town.
At least I won’t be impelled to endanger my life on the Kwinana Freeway, which new figures reveal is Australia’s third scariest
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