To ensure a high quality of life, Australian governments must provide access to infrastructure and services of all kinds.
Access means different things in different sectors. It can be measured using a range of metrics, such as commute times, children per class size, National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results and hospital emergency department waiting times.
Education: Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that education is the bedrock on which great cities grow and prosper. Any measure of quality of life must include access to a choice of high-quality education pathways.
Health care: Affordable, accessible health care is increasingly difficult to deliver but is essential to wellbeing. Australia enjoys a sophisticated, high standard of health care by world standards, but with pressures on affordability.
Water, waste and energy: Apart from during droughts, most Australians in Fast-growing Cities take for granted their easy access to energy, potable water and waste services (garbage collection and processing and sewage treatment). Maintaining these services in a resilient and sustainable way can be challenging and costly. For example, energy prices for households have risen significantly - between 2008 and 2018, they increased by 57%.35
Telecommunications: The combination of NBN deployment and widespread mobile voice and data networks has improved internet access in Fast-growing Cities. Service availability is a significantly lesser issue than service affordability, with 44% of consumers rating fixed broadband as expensive.36 However, it is uncertain whether Australia's Fast-growing Cities are prepared for the introduction of 5G, and delivering globally competitive internet speeds will need to remain a focus due to the rapid pace of change.
Arts and culture: A defining characteristic of Fast-growing Cities is a population size large enough to offset the high fixed costs of cultural, sporting and artistic infrastructure. Historic development patterns mean art galleries, theatres, major sporting stadia and other significant institutions are concentrated in established suburbs in the inner city. To ensure equitable access, the location and development of future institutions should better reflect population distribution and the geographic centre of Fast-growing Cities.
Housing: Access to affordable, good-quality housing is essential to wellbeing. Housing availability and affordability for both renters and owners in Australia's Fast-growing Cities are well-documented challenges, with house prices in cities rising rapidly in recent years.37
For more information about access issues in education, health, housing and arts and culture, refer to the Social infrastructure chapter. To learn more about water and waste challenges, see Water and Waste chapters.