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Kirstin Ferguson has been appointed to the board of Leighton Holdings as an independent non-executive director, and as part of the construction company's current restructure.
She is currently a non-executive director of SunWater, Hyne and the Queensland Theatre Company, and is completing a PhD in corporate governance. She has also served as an NED with Queensland Rugby Union and as Chairman of the Thiess Advisory Board.
She was the CEO of Sentis before commencing her non-executive career, and a director of corporate services and COO at law firm, Deacons.
Ferguson is a strong advocate for women on boards and in leadership positions, and has previously <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.womensagenda.com.au/career-agenda/leaders/why-you-have-to-earn-a-sponsor/201212091301">shared her advice</a> to aspiring female directors with Women's Agenda.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://www.womensagenda.com.au/" target="_blank">Women's Agenda</a>.
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New female board member for Leightons

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised concerns over supermarket giant Coles’ proposed bid to buy four Progressive Supa IGA stores in Western Australia.
While Coles has recently been under <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/legal/42614-coles-categorically-denies-bullying-suppliers" target="_blank">scrutiny over allegations it has used its market power to bully suppliers</a>, the company is looking to further expand its market share in the west with the acquisition.
The stores, which are located in the Perth suburb of Dianella and the regional towns of Busselton, Halls Head and Bunbury, are not located close to any other Supa IGA stores in at least three of the four local markets.
While the supermarket duopoly is widely recognised across Australia, the Western Australian market also has to deal with the absence of players such as Aldi, Foodworks and 7-Eleven.
The ACCC said in a <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-calls-for-comment-on-proposed-acquisition-of-supa-iga-stores-in-wa-by-coles" target="_blank">statement</a> its preliminary view is that the proposed acquisition may result in a substantial lessening of competition.
ACCC Commissioner Dr Jill Walker said market participants had expressed concerns about losing the differentiated offering of their local Progressive Supa IGA stores.
“The ACCC considers that the differentiated offer of the Supa IGA stores reflects a competitive response to rival supermarkets and provides additional choice to consumers,” said Walker.
“The ACCC is also concerned that the proposed acquisition would remove access to Supa IGA promotions for shoppers in these areas.”
According to the ACCC’s issues paper, the newly acquired stores would be within a few hundred meters of existing Coles stores. 
A Coles spokesperson told SmartCompany the supermarket major is considering the issues raised by the ACCC.
John Cummings, president of the WA Independent Grocers Association, told SmartCompany that while the grocery market in WA is still one third Coles, one third Woolworths and one third independents, 30 years ago independent grocers enjoyed a 54% market share.
“What’s happened is over a period of time Coles and Woolworths have acquired independent stores and increased their market share,” says Cummings.
“I think only two stores have gone broke, the rest were bought by Coles and Woolworths.”
Cummings says the WA Independent Grocers Association has long been opposed to these “creeping acquisitions” which eliminate competitive power from the independents left standing.
According to Cummings, if the Busselton acquisition goes ahead, there will be two Coles stores within about 200m of each other, while there would be a difference of about 500m between the two Coles stores in Bunbury.
In Dianella, Cummings says there will be around 15 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets within a 3-5 kilometre radius.
“I mean, there’s got to be huge competition issues,” says Cummings.
Cummings also says small WA suppliers will be affected by the acquisition, as their deals with IGA stores are terminated.
“A lot of local suppliers will be put off the shelf. You have to be a national supplier to be stocked at Woolworths or Coles,” he says.
Cummings says while Coles will likely pay more than the going market rate to secure the IGAs, due to its market power, it is in a position to potentially lose money on the stores – a luxury which an independent grocer doesn’t have.
“That’s why we have the ACCC to maintain competition laws,” says Cummings. “The ACCC are saying [to Coles], this isn’t going to be as easy as you thought it was.”
This article first appeared on <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/" target="_blank">SmartCompany</a>.
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Coles’ bid to buy Supa IGA stores increases concerns over supermarket duopoly in WA

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A former employee of construction and engineering firm John Holland has been awarded compensation and full redundancy entitlements after the Fair Work Commission found he was unfairly dismissed.
In a case that highlights the importance of workplace policies to support <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/people/42020-mental-health-warning-for-smes-cost-to-business-10-9-billion">employees’ mental health</a>, Fair Work found John Holland was aware the employee was suffering from serious mental health issues and should have taken more care when addressing his situation.
Ronaldo Salazar was employed by John Holland Aviation Services in Melbourne as a licensed aircraft mechanical engineer.
The company terminated his employment in December 2013 for alleged serious misconduct. This came after ongoing disputes regarding his work roster and emails, in which he claimed John Holland management was trying to harm him and his family. Salazar had threatened to take his story to Today Tonight or 60 Minutes and the then prime minister Kevin Rudd.
But Fair Work <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/html/2014FWC4030.htm" target="_blank">sided with Salazar</a> and found it was unreasonable for John Holland to conclude the employee had engaged in serious misconduct when sending the threatening email, as the company had evidence of his illness and the medications he was taking in the form of medical certificates.
Commissioner Ryan found Salazar’s defence of his illness and medication provided a strong reason to excuse his conduct and John Holland should have given more consideration to this and his poor English skills when dealing with him.
Ryan ordered compensation be paid to Salazar as John Holland is no longer operating this division of its business and therefore reinstatement would not be possible.
Workplace lawyer Peter Vitale describes the case as “unusual” as Fair Work found “conduct which might ordinarily institute misconduct couldn’t be treated that way by the employer because the employee had engaged in that conduct while suffering from a mental illness”.
While Vitale says there are a number of other factors which influenced Fair Work’s decision, including some confusion between Salazar and John Holland about his qualifications, he says the suggestion an employer is not entitled to rely on the threatening email as serious misconduct “runs counter to the sort of approach taken by the High Court in relation to anti-discrimination laws in the <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbULawRw/2004/17" target="_blank">Purvis case</a>”.
Vitale says the Purvis case involved a teenager who was expelled from his school on the basis of aggressive behaviour that was due to a medical condition. The student claimed he was discriminated against because of his condition. However, the school argued it was not discriminating against him because anyone else acting in this way would have been treated in the same way. The High Court agreed and said the student’s behaviour should be treated in the same way as the behaviour of other students who do not suffer from an illness.
Vitale says there are parallels with the Salazar case.
“It may be that in the circumstances of an unfair dismissal case, the company should have had more regard to the state of the employees’ health. But it would be wrong to see this decision as a blanket endorsement for the proposition that conduct engaged in while suffering mental health issues should be completely disregarded for potential misconduct by any employer,” he says.
However, Vitale says this case highlights the importance of placing an employee’s behaviour in context.
“In the contest of the unfair dismissal regime regarding a fair go all round, it is incumbent on an employer to look at the nature of the conduct and the extent to which it may be influenced by ill health, and work with the employee and medical practitioners to determine whether or not it is likely to happen again,” says Vitale.
SmartCompany contacted John Holland but the company declined to comment.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/" target="_blank">SmartCompany</a>.
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Fair Work rules dismissal of construction and engineering firm employee with known mental health issues unfair

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NAME: Tim Altschwager<img src="/images/2014/07/09/Alschwager-Tim-profile.jpg" alt="" style="float: right;">
POSITION: National director – agency, rural and agribusiness.
COMPANY: Colliers International
OFFICE LOCATION: Adelaide
How long have you been in the industry?
About 10 years.
What’s happening in the area you specialise in?
We are seeing a definite increased focus on rural and agribusiness assets, particularly from overseas purchasers.
Describe the most interesting property you have sold?
We recently sold a large portfolio of land planted to hardwood trees, held in the Australian Sustainable Forestry Investors Fund, to fund manager New Forests.
The portfolio comprised a large compilation of prime Australian plantation forestry/farming land holdings, incorporating 68 properties across South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, with a total area of approximately 20,657 hectares.
The sale of such a large holding of prime plantation and farming land was rare and as such, the portfolio attracted a great deal of interest from forestry industry participants and many potential purchasers who were attracted to the holding's ongoing rental stream and potential to revert back to grazing/cropping land.
What are the ingredients to being successful in your job?
Communication and persistence.
What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most? 
The negotiation, and consummating the deal.
Where would you invest a spare $750,000? 
I would invest in run-down rural lifestyle land within an hour of a capital city with sub division potential.
Which football team do you support? 
The mighty Collingwood Pies!
What’s your favourite app or techno gadget? 
Google maps, Garmin GPS and Strava cycling app.
How do you use social media? 
<a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/timaltschwager" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> is a great professional platform for connecting with others in the industry and  building your personal brand.
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In profile: Colliers International's national director, agency, rural and agribusuness, Tim Altschwager

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens has ticked off on a major item on the “to do” list for Australian policy-makers: raise the rate of growth in labour productivity.
In his keynote speech at the 2014 ESAMACE conference in Hobart last week, Stevens presented data showing that labour productivity – the value of output produced per hour of labour time – increased at an annual rate of 2.0% in the three years to June 2013.
This is a large jump compared with the rate of just 0.9% per annum in the preceding five years, the period which saw higher productivity growth added to the “to do” list. Stevens interpreted the increased rate of growth in labour productivity since 2010 as evidence that “a number of sectors are making serious efforts to control costs and lift productivity”.
Labour productivity is up
The argument that the rate of growth in labour productivity in Australia has accelerated in recent years certainly seems robust. For example, looking at slightly different periods than Stevens, <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_H1wGTm98W3RTZNV3JIc2FET2M/edit?pli=1">in a recent study</a>, I have also shown an increasing rate of growth in labour productivity over the past decade. I calculate that annual labour productivity growth in Australia was 1.15% per annum from 2003 to 2008 and 1.45% per annum from 2008 to 2013.
What I believe requires more scrutiny is the cause of the acceleration in labour productivity growth. To be able to think properly about the causes of growth in labour productivity it is important to understand one big fact: labour productivity differs hugely between industries.
The mining differential
Taking an average over the period from 2003 to 2013, I find that, for example, at the top of the list, an hour of labour in mining produced output worth almost $320, whereas at the bottom of the list, an hour of labour in the accommodation and food services industry produced output worth just under $32 per hour (expressed in 2010-11 prices). Levels of labour productivity in other industries were between these amounts.
The huge differences in labour productivity between industries are mainly driven by differences in the capital intensity of production between industries. Workers in mining have their labour combined with much larger amounts of capital equipment than in accommodation and food services, and hence an hour of their labour produces a larger value of output.
That labour productivity differs so much between industries has major implications for how we should interpret the causes of a rise in the Australia-wide average level of labour productivity.
Article continues on the next page. Please click below.
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Ways to interpret the data
One way in which labour productivity can rise is the same as Stevens suggested in his speech. This is if workers within all (or many) industries become more productive. For example, suppose that the value of output produced by an hour of labour in mining increased from $320 to $330 and in accommodation and food services increased from $32 to $33. Then that growth in labour productivity within industries will raise the average level of labour productivity in Australia.
There is, however, a second way in which average labour productivity can increase. Suppose that we take a worker who previously had a job in the accommodation and food services industry and switch their job to the mining industry. That worker used to produce output worth $32 per hour, but will now produce output worth $320 per hour. Hence the average level of productivity in Australia will increase because a worker has been switched from a low-productivity industry to a high-productivity industry.
What I find in my analysis of labour productivity over the past decade in Australia is that it is changes in the industry composition of employment – the second way I described above - that have been the main cause of growth. In particular I find that the increases in the proportion of workers in mining have been most influential.
Between 2002-03 and 2012-13 the proportion of total hours worked in Australia accounted for by the mining industry increased from 1.2% to 3.1%. Because labour productivity is so high in the mining industry, this has the effect of raising the average level of labour productivity in Australia. I estimate that, without this shift towards the high productivity mining industry, labour productivity growth in Australia would have been only 0.2% per annum from 2003 to 2008, and 0.1% from 2008 to 2013. So rather than the higher rate of growth in labour productivity reflecting sectors making “serious efforts to contain costs and lift productivity”, I would argue that most of the acceleration in growth simply reflects a faster rate of increase in mining employment.
A different picture
In fact, far from productivity improving within industries, the opposite has happened in some key industries. Between 2003 and 2013 labour productivity in mining fell from $458 per hour to $238 per hour. This is a massive decline and has had the effect of lowering average labour productivity in Australia. I estimate that if labour productivity in mining had remained unchanged from 2003 then the rate of growth in labour productivity in Australia in the past five years would have virtually doubled to 2.8% per annum.
Acceleration in labour productivity growth in recent years therefore should be seen to reflect a shift in employment to the high-productivity mining industry rather than workers within industries becoming more productive. What does this mean for the future of labour productivity growth in Australia?
In the short to medium term it is probably good news. The mining boom is not over, and while the proportion of workers in the mining industry remains at its current high level, we will continue to get the benefit of having more workers in this high productivity industry. We are also likely to benefit from growth in productivity within the mining industry. The level of labour productivity in mining is currently at an historic low. Falling commodity prices are creating an imperative for cost savings in mining that will drive productivity improvement.
But it is also clear that in the longer-run, we face an adjustment. Once the mining boom slows, and workers shift out of that industry into other industries with lower-productivity jobs, there will be a drag on the average level of labour productivity in Australia. Then we really will need improvements in productivity that come from within industries.
Jeff Borland is professor of economics at University of Melbourne.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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Labour productivity has risen – but it’s not exactly a good news story

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Heightened competition among home lenders has prompted the banking regulator to issue a reminder of what constitutes prudent lending, but its suggestion that loans being generated by mortgage brokers should come in for scrutiny has not gone down well in some quarters.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released a draft prudential practice guide on residential mortgage lending in May, with <a href="https://www.apra.gov.au/mediareleases/pages/14_11.aspx" target="_blank">retiring chairman John Laker</a> saying that “in this environment, APRA is seeing increasing evidence of lending with higher risk characteristics and it does not want this trend to continue”.
Residential mortgages constitute the largest credit exposure in the Australian banking system and APRA has made it clear it wants to ensure prudential lending standards are maintained.
Lending standards apply to the loan origination process, the risk appraisal of the borrower and to the style of mortgage product – including standard mortgage loans, <a href="https://theconversation.com/reverse-mortgages-need-a-rethink-if-theyre-the-new-age-pension-26433" target="_blank">reverse mortgages</a>, home equity lines of credit and interest-only loans. APRA’s draft – which is still the subject of consultation – also provides guidance on hardship loans, “stress-testing” of loan exposures and on mortgage insurance.
The draft has triggered controversy among mortgage brokers, however, because the guidelines encourage banks to scrutinise loans that are originated by brokers. The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia has questioned whether broker-originated loans are more risky than bank-originated ones.
Mortgage brokers generally assess the financial situation of borrowers, recommend mortgage loan products and lenders, and then manage the application process. It is common in Australia for banks to pay mortgage brokers upfront or ongoing fees for this “origination” of a loan.
Their remuneration is generally tied to the loan amount and is payable by the bank to the broker either upfront or over time. As a result, there could be an incentive for brokers to advise consumers to borrow a higher amount than they might need. Another common practice is for borrowers to be directed to interest-only loans, to be used in combination with a mortgage offset account.
As well as new loans, brokers also help consumers refinance existing mortgages often to purchase additional property. In this process, houses are revalued and consumers can take the opportunity to reduce their equity in a property – in effect, withdrawing cash.
Lenders are happy to originate loans at loan-to-value ratios of 80%, which implies equity funding of 20%. The risk of a mortgage loan decreases over time as the borrower builds up equity. Interest-only loans and loans made with the intention to cash out equity maintain the risk to the lending bank at a high level.
The recent global financial crisis has shown that real estate values and home loan defaults are closely related. Economic downturns can trigger house price devaluations and cause mortgage defaults.
Australian house prices have grown by double-digit percentages in recent years, and some people argue the property market is ripe for a correction. Some home owners would face negative equity if double-digit decreases were to occur and could have incentives to default on their loans. Such a scenario was realised in the US during the GFC, when there was a dramatic increase in default rates.
But the interests of brokers and banks are not necessarily aligned when it comes to the consideration of borrower risk. A broker may have a low incentive to consider risk if they are paid regardless of what happens to the loan in the future.
APRA says that “experience has shown that commissions paid upfront tend to encourage less rigorous attention to loan application quality”. Trailing commissions, which are paid over time, are on the other hand more likely to provide incentives for brokers to retain and monitor customers, it says.
APRA wants to encourage banks to link broker remuneration to mortgage delinquency risk.
There is limited academic research on the issue of whether broker-originated loans are more risky, partly because of the difficulty of accessing this information.
<a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/REST_a_00387" target="_blank">The research that is available</a> does confirm that broker-originated loans are more risky, but it also shows that about three-quarters of this additional risk can be explained by observable information such as higher loan to valuation ratios or lower credit scores.
In response, banks could charge higher risk borrowers an increased mortgage rate, or alternatively, reduce the remuneration it is prepared to pay the broker originating the higher risk loan.
<blockquote>
An economic shock affecting property prices or borrowers’ ability to repay could cause tremors in Australia’s financial system.
</blockquote>
This research is important because it highlights the need for a bank to include this sort of information on risk into its pricing, provisioning, capital and stress-testing calculations – something APRA aims to encourage with its guidance note. It is reasonable to include this cost differential in mortgage pricing and/or broker remuneration.
The current APRA initiative supports the resilience of the Australian financial system and are in line with actions by regulators in other countries, including the US. But more needs to be done.
Australian banks are exposed to mortgages to a larger degree than their international counterparts, with a high allocation to these loans versus other banking products. This means an economic shock affecting property prices or borrowers’ ability to repay could cause tremors in Australia’s financial system. We need to think of creative ways to limit the exposure of Australian lenders to mortgages.
This could occur, for example, by encouraging the internationalisation or diversification of bank assets, something that could be supported by further development of financial market instruments such as covered bonds, derivatives, insurance policies and asset securitisation.
Harry Scheule is associate professor of finance at the <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/" target="_blank">University of Technology, Sydney</a>. He is a regional director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals. His expertise is in the area of banking, financial risk measurement and management, insurance, mortgages, prudential regulation, securities evaluation and structured finance.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>.
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To tackle risk, address how mortgage brokers are paid

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GUEST OBSERVATION
What are the risks in the economic outlook for Australia?
Typically, prognosticators take a scenario-based (aka “story-telling”) approach to answering this sort of question. And usually these scenarios end up as a litany of woes about what the future holds (such as weak productivity growth, unfunded fiscal liabilities, and highly unfavourable demographic trends).
But for most economists gathering at the Joint Econometric Society Australasian and Australian Conference of Economists Meeting in Hobart this week, the more natural approach to answering this question is to consider formal econometric analysis of the macroeconomic data.
Without going into the gory details of how to do this, I want to provide a sense of what such analysis says about the short-run and long-run risks in the economic outlook for Australia.
I consider two key indicators of economic activity: output growth and inflation. The short-run risks are captured by statistical distributions for these indicators, while the long-run risks relate to possible changes in these distributions.
Short-Run Risks for Australian Output Growth
The graph below plots output growth for Australia and the United States.
Click to open in new window:
<a href="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/51838/area14mp/xrcxbypn-1403487244.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/51838/width668/xrcxbypn-1403487244.jpg" alt=""></a>
Source: James Morley
It’s clear from the graph that output growth for both countries has been much less volatile since the mid-1980s. Economists, who like to label everything as “Great” (e.g., the “Great Depression” and the “Great Recession”), refer to this stabilization as the “Great Moderation”.
Even a casual glance at the graph makes it clear that the Great Moderation was not a myth, as has been asserted by some commentators, but is very real. Yes, the US economy had large negative growth rates in 2008. But since then, output growth has been stable, if lacklustre. Australian output growth also remained stable throughout this period.
The reasons behind the Great Moderation are highly contested. But at least a couple of leading explanations suggest it should persist in the future. The most compelling explanation is that the economy now faces “smaller shocks” due, in part, to a changing structure towards services and away from manufacturing (although the reduced volatility occurs within services and manufacturing, not just due to their shifting importance).
Also, monetary policy likely played some role by stabilising inflation, leading to fewer movements along the “Phillips curve” (i.e., the short-run link between inflation and output). Note, however, that US output growth remained stable after the global financial crisis, despite the US Federal Reserve facing a “zero lower bound” constraint on interest rates. So a paramount role for monetary policy in stabilising output growth is doubtful.
Consistent with the visual impression in the graph above, formal tests suggest the statistical distribution for Australian output growth has remained fixed since the mid-1980s. Based on this distribution, the short-run outlook has real GDP growing at a 3% annualised rate, with a standard deviation of 1.5 percentage points for year-on-year growth summarising the risk in this prediction. In words, output growth could well be 1.5% or 4.5%, but there is a low probability that it will be less than 0% or greater than 6%.
Notably, a major recession along the lines of what happened to the United States in the global crisis is extremely unlikely based on this distribution, although other statistical modelling suggests the probability of some sort of recession for Australia is less remote, but still small, at close to 15% over the next two years.
Short-Run Risks for Australian Inflation
The graph below plots inflation for Australia and the United States.
Click to open in new window:
<a href="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/51839/area14mp/kc5x29v5-1403487244.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/51839/width668/kc5x29v5-1403487244.jpg" alt=""></a>
Source: James Morley
This graph shows that Australian inflation has been lower and less volatile since the early 1990s, especially in comparison to the 1970s. This pattern of stabilisation roughly mirrors that of US inflation, also plotted in the graph, although the timing is a bit later in Australia.
The stabilisation of US inflation in the early 1980s coincides with major changes in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy at the time, while a link to monetary policy for Australia is strongly supported by the anchoring of inflation expectations (such as the measure also reported in the inflation graph based on the difference between yields for 10-year nominal and real Australian government bonds) at the start of the inflation-targeting era in the early 1990s.
Consistent with the visual impression in the inflation graph and similar to output growth, formal tests suggest a fixed statistical distribution for Australian inflation in recent years, albeit since the early 1990s only when inflation targeting was put in place.
Based on this distribution, the short-run outlook has inflation at a 2.5% annualised rate (exactly the midpoint of the RBA’s target range), with a standard deviation of 1.3 percentage points for year-on-year inflation summarising the risk in this prediction. In words, the headline inflation rate could well be 1% or 4%, but it is unlikely that it will be much more extreme than that.
A major recession might push Australian interest rates to the zero lower bound, along the lines of what has happened in Japan, the United States, and Europe. However, if the RBA were to follow similar unconventional policies to those conducted by the Federal Reserve in recent years, the US experience suggests that inflation volatility should remain contained.
Long-Run Risks for the Australian Economy
The main long-run risks for the Australian economy are that the statistical distributions of output growth and inflation could change in some fundamental way, as they have in the past.
Given the reasons for the past changes discussed above, it seems unlikely that output growth and inflation will return to their pre-Great Moderation patterns. A downside of this is that long-run output growth now appears to be lower than it was in the 1960s and 1970s. Furthermore, there is always a risk that long-run output growth could fall further.
It is notable that the average growth rate for the Australian economy was as high as 5% in the 1960s when worldwide productivity growth was high, but has only been 2.8% over the last decade. At the same time, average growth has been reasonably steady since the mid-1980s. So an imminent end to economic growth, as might be suggested by the most dire scenario-based analysis, is quite unlikely.
The key point is that to really understand the risks in the economic outlook, it is important to step back from a story-telling approach, no matter how compelling, and take an objective look at the data. Doing so provides some encouraging bounds on the likely risks for the Australian economy.
James Morley is professor of economics and associate dean (research) at <a href="https://www.asb.unsw.edu.au/" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Australian School of Business</a>.
Professor James Morley will present an assessment of risks in the outlook for the Australian economy for the “Chief Economists Session” at the Joint Econometric Society Australasian and Australian Conference of Economists Meeting in Hobart on 1-4 July. James Morley receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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Understanding the risks to the Australian economy through data

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NAME: Elliott O’Shea<img src="/images/2014/07/02/oshea-july-2-PFOFILE.jpg" alt="" style="float: right;">
POSITION: Senior negotiator, near city leasing team
COMPANY: JLL
Office Location: Brisbane
How long have you been in the industry?  
I have been in the industry for almost four years starting with Raine &amp; Horne Commercial based in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. During this time I specialised in sales and leasing in the near city areas.  I have recently joined JLL's near city leasing team as a senior negotiator.
What’s happening in the area you specialise in?
Brisbane’s near city leasing market is working out of a challenging 12-24 months in which weaker demand and contractions throughout the market have led to high vacancy rates. However, 2014 has started on a positive note with general sentiment in the office market on the improve and renewed activity in the sub-1,000 square metre office leasing market.
Describe the most interesting property you have sold.
A small retail centre in Brisbane’s fringe suburb of <a href="/news">Red Hill</a> presented a challenging investment sale with an eclectic mix of local tenants all on month to month tenancies.  I was given the task of resetting the leases before marketing the property for sale.  We ended up successfully completing the transaction late 2013 with a local investor in what was a challenging but fulfilling appointment.
What are the ingredients to being successful in your job?
I believe honesty and persistence are equally important characteristics to have.
What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy meeting and working alongside people with a wealth of experience and knowledge in the property industry and overcoming the day to day challenges that this job continually throws up.   
Where would you invest a spare $750,000?
I would invest in a range of diversified property investments.
Which football team do you support?
Queensland Reds
What’s your favourite app or techno gadget?
My Android phone.  
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In profile: JLL's senior negotiator, near city leasing team, Elliott O'Shea

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Governor Glenn Stevens' July Statement:
At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.5 per cent.
Growth in the global economy is continuing at a moderate pace, helped by firmer conditions in the advanced countries. China's growth slowed a little earlier in the year but remains generally in line with policymakers' objectives. Commodity prices in historical terms remain high, but some of those important to Australia have declined.
Financial conditions overall remain very accommodative. Long-term interest rates and risk spreads remain low. Emerging market economies are once again receiving capital inflows. Volatility in many financial prices is currently unusually low. Markets appear to be attaching a very low probability to any rise in global interest rates over the period ahead.
In Australia, recent data indicate somewhat firmer growth around the turn of the year, but this resulted mainly from very strong increases in resource exports as new capacity came on stream; smaller increases in such exports are likely in coming quarters. Moderate growth has been occurring in consumer demand. A strong expansion in housing construction is now under way. At the same time, resources sector investment spending is starting to decline significantly. Signs of improvement in investment intentions in some other sectors are emerging, but these plans remain tentative as firms wait for more evidence of improved conditions before committing to significant expansion. Public spending is scheduled to be subdued. Overall, the Bank still expects growth to be a little below trend over the year ahead.
There has been some improvement in indicators for the labour market in recent months, but it will probably be some time yet before unemployment declines consistently. Growth in wages has declined noticeably. If these and other domestic costs remain contained, inflation should remain consistent with the target over the next one to two years, even with lower levels of the exchange rate.
Monetary policy remains accommodative. Interest rates are very low and for some borrowers have edged lower over recent months. Savers continue to look for higher returns in response to low rates on safe instruments. Credit growth has picked up a little, including most recently to businesses. Dwelling prices have increased significantly over the past year, though there have been some signs of a moderation in the pace of increase recently. The exchange rate remains high by historical standards, particularly given the declines in key commodity prices, and hence is offering less assistance than it might in achieving balanced growth in the economy.
Looking ahead, continued accommodative monetary policy should provide support to demand and help growth to strengthen over time. Inflation is expected to be consistent with the 2–3 per cent target over the next two years.
In the Board's judgement, monetary policy is appropriately configured to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with the target. On present indications, the most prudent course is likely to be a period of stability in interest rates.
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Strong expansion in housing construction underway: Glenn Stevens' July statement

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GUEST OBSERVATION
"We are in the coal business. If you want decent hospitals, schools and police on the beat we all need to understand that." – <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/unesco-slams-great-barrier-reef-management-youve-got-eight-months-to-fix-it/story-e6frfkw0-1226381188474" target="_blank">Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, June 2012</a>.
It was a rare moment of unscripted truth in Australian politics, which summed up decades of national policy.
The Premier was responding to United Nations report on the health of the Great Barrier Reef, warning that it could be listed as a World Heritage site <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/danger/" target="_blank">“in danger”</a> unless Australia stepped up its protection of the reef, particularly from increased port development. (The World Heritage Committee is due to discuss it again at a meeting <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-courting-danger-with-the-great-barrier-reef-20411" target="_blank">in June this year</a>.)
Newman was not just articulating Liberal National Party policy; keeping Australia in the coal business has also been core to Labor’s economic policy for many decades, going back to the “no regrets” approach of <a href="https://apo.org.au/commentary/our-lost-history-climate-change" target="_blank">the Hawke/Keating years</a>.
<img src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/43769/area14mp/pdr4v67g-1394673302.jpg">
Australia has massive coal resources, as this 2012 map shows. <a class="source" href="/news" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Geoscience Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CC BY</a>
It’s not hard to see why the bipartisan consensus on coal persists. Coal is the <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/tradematters/qld" target="_blank">biggest export earner for Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/tradematters/nsw" target="_blank">New South Wales</a>, and our second biggest nationally, worth <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/trade/trade-at-a-glance-2013/trade_performance_at_a_glance/part03_australias_trade_and_economic_statistics" target="_blank">A$41 billion in 2012</a>.
So here’s the surprising part. Over the past year, Newman has been asking Queenslanders to come up with a 30-year vision for the state, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM1rYlhjGVg" target="_blank">beyond politics, and beyond the next 10 elections</a>. It will be a genuine reflection of our collective aspirations for the future.”
Nearly 80,000 people have had their say – and in the draft plan currently under review by the state government, coal doesn’t rate a mention.
By the people, for the people
The Queensland government’s <a href="https://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/">Queensland Plan</a> is significant because it’s among the most extensive public consultation processes ever undertaken by an Australian or state government. A leading American planning consultant and adviser to the Premier, <a href="https://www.nxtconsulting.com/team">Steven Ames</a>, describes the effort being made to hear views from across the state as a “virtuous circle”:
"Bottom line, the more engaged the public, and the more aware the government of public perceptions, the more effective and long-lasting outcomes that can be expected." – Ames, correspondence with the author.
Launched early last year, there have been major summits in Mackay and Brisbane, dozens of workshops and <a href="https://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/journey/">hundreds of meetings across the state</a>, as well as online surveys and discussions, all feeding into a <a href="https://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/journey/public-review-working-draft/assets/qld-plan-working-draft.pdf">draft 30-year plan</a>. The final plan will be <a href="https://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/next-steps/">released in mid-2014</a>.
Subtitled “Our working draft created by Queenslanders, for Queensland”, the <a href="https://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/journey/public-review-working-draft/assets/qld-plan-working-draft.pdf">44-page draft plan</a> distills all that community consultation into nine key subjects: education, community, regions, economy, health and well-being, environment, people, infrastructure, and governance.
More thorough than any public opinion poll, the draft Queensland Plan shows that Queenslanders want regional development and livable communities, but importantly they want these to be innovative, sustainable, and supportive of emerging industries.
Surprisingly, “coal” is nowhere to be found in the draft Queensland Plan. Instead, people have expressed a clear preference for developing agriculture, ecotourism, education, research and development, and alternative energy.
Among the top 35 goals outlined are that “We protect the environment” and “We invest in and adopt sustainable and renewable solutions”. Asked “What does success look like?” in achieving that latter goal, Queenslanders have said “Renewable energy will be the norm.”
An animated summary of the draft Queensland Plan and what Queenslanders say they want.
Article continues on next page. Please click below.
<hr class="system-pagebreak">
Envisaging a different future
For so many people from such a coal-reliant state to envisage a generational shift away from coal is remarkable.
<img src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/43771/area14mp/8f84wdp6-1394673904.jpg">
Coal mines operating in Queensland (shown in red) and coal deposits (shown in yellow). Map created using interactive tools on 13 March 2014. <a class="source" href="https://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Australian Mines Atlas</a>, <a class="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CC BY</a>
But it mirrors some other shifts in public sentiment and behaviour, in which ordinary Australians have moved ahead of politicians – sometimes catching federal and state governments off-guard.
Even a few years ago, who would have confidently predicted the recent trends in rooftop solar power? Certainly not major power companies like AGL, which have <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/massive-losses-hit-energyaustralia-as-demand-falls-solar-soars-67443" target="_blank">reported hits to their profits</a> as more Australians try to control their rising power bills by going solar. Between March 2011 and the end of 2013, the proportion of Australian homes with solar panels more than doubled <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/three-million-sleep-under-solar-rooftops/story-e6frg90f-1226852425006" target="_blank">from 7.5% in March 2011 to 16%</a>, representing more than 3 million people.
However, imagining a future without significant coal export revenues will be harder for political leaders from both major parties.
For instance, even while the Gillard government was introducing a carbon tax, it went to great lengths to reassure its heartland about the future for coal, with Climate Change Minister <a href="https://www.climatechange.gov.au/ministers/hon-greg-combet-am-mp/media-release/gillard-government-supports-coal-mining-jobs" target="_blank">Greg Combet declaring in 2011</a>: “I can assure coal miners that their industry has a bright future under a carbon price.”
Will politicians listen?
Campbell Newman has shown himself to be a commendably unorthodox political leader in conceiving and championing such an inclusive, forward-thinking process as the Queensland Plan.
Campbell Newman invites Queenslanders to have their say on the state’s future.
So now the question is whether both sides of politics will heed the sentiment so strongly articulated in this bold 30-year community vision for Australia’s leading coal state.
Ultimately, it is a vision that neither the Liberal National Party nor Labor can ignore.
The alternative, as the people have rightly identified, leaves us dependent on the hope that Asia’s major coal consumers will never clean up their own industries. It’s <a href="https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/research/stranded-assets/Stranded%20Down%20Under%20Report.pdf">a risky strategy</a>, as <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/iea-casts-doubt-future-queensland-mega-coal-mines-51236">more analysts</a> are warning, particularly as our region’s economic powerhouse and main Australian market, China, has announced its own <a href="https://www.bna.com/china-outlines-environmental-n17179882762/">“war on pollution”</a> – much of it generated by burning coal.
John Cole is executive director, Institute for Resilient Regions at University of Southern Queensland.
John Cole is a member of the finance management committee of the Queensland Trust For Nature, a not-for-profit organisation that buys private property to protect at-risk ecosystems and secures management solutions through commercial contracts on privately-owned land. He was a delegate at the Queensland Plan Brisbane summit in November 2013, participated in a recent online "webjam" as an expert on balancing environmental protection and economic development, and remains actively involved in the Queensland Plan process. However, all opinions in this article are his.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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Queensland, Australia’s biggest coal state plans for life beyond coal

Property developer One Living, backed by former Macquarie banker turned investment manager Chris Green’s investment firm, has unveiled plans to bring more institutional capital into housing to help address the national supply crisis.

The New York-based investor has focused his firm, GreenPoint Partners, on addressing the supply shortage hitting middle market housing in Australia.

It is backing the new One Living business to develop more than 1000 units along the eastern seaboard. The new firm is starting with a development on Mona Vale Road, on the border of Mona Vale and Pymble, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with around 140 apartments planned. They are eyeing off more sites across the city.

With cost pressures rising in the industry, One Living’s model is to be a vertically integrated developer-builder, so it can respond directly to the housing gap by removing the cost inefficiencies embedded in traditional residential delivery.

“We are building a platform designed to operate at scale and starting in a market where there’s a clear need for quality, attainable housing,” One Living joint managing director Joseph Scuderi said.

“It’s that missing middle – it’s that attainable end of housing… that’s what most Australians invest into and what Australians can actually afford.”

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="798dfa93-4941-4db6-a696-31e9dc18e81c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.31.50%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=mKBqi5C_DmeiXS.AtJkcR8LQIxqCqmFi" />

GreenPoint Partners brings years of experience assembling and scaling real estate operating businesses across major markets. And Green sees a big opportunity in Australia.

“For its size, sophistication and importance to the community, Australia’s living sector has remained largely under-institutionalised, which represents significant opportunity,” Green said. “GreenPoint identified that gap, assembled the right team, and is backing One Living to build a platform that is aligned to market needs.”

Green said being a builder-developer would give the company the capacity and flexibility it required to deliver reasonably-priced homes.

“We want it to be at that attainable level; not super high end luxury but at that attainable level,” he said.

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="74a5344a-4b26-4d4a-ada3-056b1220be77" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.32.15%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=vY8hXHO4reBMdO8ZXMWCNtGZJofUPQ3j" />

&nbsp;

One Living will undertake a component of affordable housing in its schemes, which it will own and operate, and it could also run build-to-rent on some sites.

Green praised local policy settings.

“The NSW government is being very supportive, strategic and pragmatic in terms of how do we generate more supply of housing,” he said. “We think it’s actually positive for development and the bit that’s been lacking at that attainable level is that it’s lots of relatively small private developers, whereas we want to create an institutional platform.”

One Living is also&nbsp;looking at high-density projects and could take on more institutional funding in the future.

“The way we will be able to achieve economies of scale is through size,” Green added.

Joel Robinson

One Living enters Sydney's new apartment market with Northern Beaches site acquisition

It's been several years since there's been an opportunity to buy a brand new townhome in Melbourne's coastal suburb of Mordialloc. Even apartment developments in recent times have been few and far between in the area.

Local developer LDS Property identified the gap in new housing, securing a site on White Street, directly opposite&nbsp;Woodlands Golf Club Mordialloc. They've recently launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-townhouses/wm-residences-mordialloc-102-white-street-mordialloc-vic-3195">WM Residences</a>, just 13 townhouses which they have already started building.

Projects by Buxton Director Heath Thompson, who is selling WM Residences, says the townhouses x that perfect middle ground be

"Mordialloc residents have had limited options to downsize within the suburb, often forcing them to look elsewhere despite long-standing ties to the area," Thompson says.

"With very little comparable new supply coming to market, projects like WM Residences are well placed, particularly as buyers look to capitalise on current conditions amid constrained supply."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6109]

The development, designed by regarded architecture firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/ewert-leaf">Ewert Leaf</a>,&nbsp;adopts a deliberately restrained architectural approach, focusing on simplicity, durability and liveability rather than overt design gestures.

The boutique scale is central to the offering. With only 13 three-bedroom residences, each home is configured to prioritise functional layouts and everyday use, supported by private terraces and secure two-car garages.

Ewert Leaf’s design response leans into a calm, neutral material palette. Interiors are defined by oak flooring, white walls and soft finishes, creating a consistent and understated backdrop. The approach avoids trend-driven detailing in favour of longevity, with an emphasis on natural light and spatial clarity.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6110]

Beyond aesthetics, the homes are designed to meet contemporary performance expectations. Each residence targets a minimum 6-star energy rating, incorporating double glazing, comprehensive insulation and all-electric Bosch appliances.

The project’s location supports a walkable coastal lifestyle, sitting within close proximity to Mordialloc’s foreshore, Main Street retail strip and the train station. Local cafés and dining venues, including Suburbia Deli and Hendriks Café, are within a short walk, reinforcing the area’s established neighbourhood character.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6116]

While <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/mordialloc-vic-3195">Mordialloc</a> is often defined by its beach and pier, the project taps into other areas of day to day living, offering easy access to local food, casual dining and transport, rather than positioning itself purely as a lifestyle retreat.

WM Residences reflects a continued trend across Melbourne’s coastal suburbs towards smaller-scale, design-led townhouse developments, particularly on infill sites where proximity to amenity is already established.

With construction commenced prior to its market entry, the project aligns with a growing preference among buyers for developments with visible progress and defined delivery timeframes.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134646]

WM Residences fills gap in Mordialloc townhouse market

&nbsp;

Developer GURNER™ Group has revealed $1.65 billion in residential sales nationally across the 12 months to December 2025, driven largely by the continued momentum of its Docklands wellness-focused precinct, Elysium Fields.

The sales result was generated across seven projects in Victoria and New South Wales, headlined by Elysium Fields, GURNER™’s $2.75 billion mixed-use precinct planned for Harbour Esplanade in Docklands.

The project has recorded more than $500 million in sales across the first three towers, equating to around 580 apartments sold.

The first tower, Helios, has now sold out of its 240 private residences, with GURNER™ preparing to release a premium penthouse collection comprising 15 three-bedroom penthouses in coming weeks.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370975]

Elysium Fields is being developed on the long-held 20,000 sqm Docklands site at 208-226 Harbour Esplanade, which had remained undeveloped for more than two decades prior to GURNER™ taking over the project around four years ago.

Construction has now commenced across four towers ranging between 18 and 30 storeys, with Hamilton Marino and Maxcon appointed as builders.

Once complete, the precinct is expected to comprise around 1,100 residences, alongside retail, hospitality and public realm uses integrated throughout the site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370981]

Designed by Fraser &amp; Partners in collaboration with GURNER™ Design House, the project has been positioned around the developer’s broader focus on wellness-led residential living.

“We don’t sell apartments. We create a true luxury lifestyle that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere in the market today,” Founder and Executive Chairman Tim Gurner said.

“To deliver that requires an extraordinary level of detail, coordination and discipline across multiple verticals, from design and hospitality through to wellness and service.”

“We’ve always believed that living extends far beyond the physical residence. It’s about how you feel the moment you arrive, how you live day-to-day, and the ecosystem that supports that.” 
[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370977]

The project’s design places a heavy focus on landscaping, wellness amenities and biophilic design principles.

Plans include around 3,700 sqm of landscaped gardens and open space throughout the precinct, alongside a retail and dining offering spanning approximately 5,000 sqm.

The broader public realm strategy centres around what GURNER™ describes as the “Path of Life”, an urban forest and landscaped pedestrian environment intended to connect the various buildings and wellness spaces across the precinct.

The apartments themselves will incorporate a range of wellness-focused inclusions, including purified air and water systems, circadian lighting, antimicrobial surfaces, and optional in-home wellness upgrades.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370980]

Gurner said the company’s experience through its Saint Haven wellness clubs had directly informed the residential offering now being incorporated into Elysium Fields.

“We’re seeing a clear global shift toward longevity, performance and proactive health,” Gurner said.

“Our role is to deliver that in a way that feels seamless, highly private and beautifully resolved within the environments we create.”

A large component of the wellness offering is planned through the resident amenity and health facilities proposed within the precinct.

That includes plans for bathing and recovery facilities spread throughout the towers, incorporating mineral pools, saunas, steam rooms, flotation therapy, red light therapy and wellness lounges.

The developer is also seeking approvals for what it describes as a “reverse ageing medical clinic” within the precinct.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370978]

According to project information released by the group, the proposed facility would include cryotherapy, IV infusion therapy, infrared and dry saunas, PEMF beds, MRIs, DEXA scans, brain scans and blood analysis services.

Within the first tower, Helios, residents will also have access to a dedicated amenity offering known as the Sky Private Club.

The upper 15 levels of the building will include private lounges, dining spaces, rooftop amenities and optional private wellness studios integrated within residences.

The Helios tower itself comprises 260 apartments ranging between 60 sqm and 300 sqm, including a collection of penthouses.

That includes a planned two-storey penthouse spanning around 600 sqm with uninterrupted bay views.

The Elysium Fields precinct is being delivered in partnership with Digital Harbour Holdings, a consortium that includes the Liberman family, which controls the development rights across the Docklands site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144441 project_image_fid=370979]

The sales result comes as GURNER™ continues expanding its national development pipeline beyond Victoria.

“We have a strong pipeline across Australia and are now focused on scaling into key markets including New South Wales and Queensland, while continuing to build on our Melbourne base,” Gurner said.

“We currently have more than $3 billion in the market, growing to over $5 billion by October, and expect to materially outperform last year in the 2026 calendar year.”

The result also reflects the continued strength of the upper-end apartment market in Melbourne, particularly for owner-occupier-focused product with large-scale amenity and lifestyle offerings.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=144441]

Record result anchored by the Group’s “utopian” Elysium Fields precinct – defying market headwinds in Docklands.

Elysium Fields drive Gurner to $1.65 billion in apartment sales over 2025

National Australia Bank (NAB) will fund <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/palmera-residences-gold-coast-18-garfield-terrace-surfers-paradise-qld-4217">Palmera</a>, a $1 billion, 52-level luxury residential tower being developed by Central Equity in one of the Gold Coast’s most tightly held coastal locations at Northcliffe.

The project, launched recently by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/central-equity">Central Equity</a>, one of Victoria’s largest private residential developers, comes at a time when construction funding for large residential developments has become increasingly competitive as lenders tighten exposure to the sector.

Multiplex has been appointed the builder, and construction is now underway.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365784]

Since its first project, Central Equity has delivered more than 85 residential developments with a combined end value exceeding $8 billion.

Palmera reflects Central Equity’s growing focus on the Gold Coast luxury apartment market and continues a relationship between Central Equity and NAB that dates back to the late 1980s, when the bank funded one of Melbourne’s earliest inner-city residential towers at a time when high-rise apartment living in the CBD was largely unproven.

“NAB’s funding of Central Equity’s $36 million CBD development in the late 1980’s to the financing of the billion-dollar tower today highlights the long-term relationship between the two organisations in delivering major residential projects” said Central Equity Founder and Chairman Eddie Kutner.

He said NAB’s early support was instrumental in helping establish the company’s development model.

“When we commenced our first residential tower in the late 1980s the concept of funding off-the-plan apartments was still largely untested in Australia,” Kutner said.

“NAB recognised the opportunity early and supported the project when others were uncertain. That relationship has now continued for more than 37 years across many developments.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365771]

Central Equity was established in 1987 when Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank precinct were still dominated by warehouses and commercial buildings. Fewer than 100 residents lived in Southbank at the time, and large-scale residential development in the inner city was not widely considered.

Recognising changing demographics and lifestyle preferences, the company began developing high-rise residential projects designed to bring permanent residents into the city centre.

Central Equity has provided accommodation for approximately 40,000 residents across Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank, while also incorporating supporting infrastructure including essential lifestyle facilities like retail spaces, childcare facilities and neighbourhood activity centres.

Central Equity has spent many years assembling the Palmera development site on the corner of Garfield Terrace and Frederick Street in Northcliffe, creating a supersite of around 3,300 sqm.

The developer said the Palmera apartment tower reflects its long-term view of the Gold Coast as a growing and increasingly diversified economy.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108274 project_image_fid=365768]

Supported by infrastructure including the light rail network, major road upgrades expanded education, hospital and medical facilities and continued expansion at the Gold Coast Airport with more international and domestic flights.

Positioned in the tightly held Northcliffe precinct, the 52-level tower will deliver 347 apartments, targeting buyers seeking a high-end coastal lifestyle, from downsizers to interstate investors.

Designed by Marchese Partners with interiors by DBI, Palmera has been conceived as a next-generation residential offering, featuring a collection of oversized apartments, with premium three-bedroom residences offering sweeping northern views stretching from Surfers Paradise through to Burleigh Heads.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=108274]

NAB funds $1 billion Surfers Paradise apartment development, Palmera

Two years after completing one of the newest developments in North Sydney, developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aqualand-australia">Aqualand</a> is turning its attention to the rapidly evolving St Leonards apartment market.

The developer, which completed AURA by Aqualand on North Sydney's Walker Street, has lodged plans for a 5,918 sqm site at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/33-37-herbert-street-st-leonards-nsw-2065">33-37 Herbert Street, St Leonards,</a> seeking approval for a pair of residential towers rising above a shared podium opposite Royal North Shore Hospital.

The proposal forms part of the broader transformation underway across the St Leonards-Crows Nest precinct, where former industrial and commercial sites are increasingly being redeveloped into high-density mixed-use projects tied to major transport infrastructure.

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2cc428cf-fe70-4cac-9cd5-264ad53af62c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.56%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=otKSnHtbjAvAddOnovyXQMgcAwE6DMe1" />

According to the planning documents, the site sits “within the St Leonards–Crows Nest Strategic Centre, identified by the NSW Government as a key area for accommodating future jobs and housing across Sydney.”

The proposal has been designed by fjcstudio, formerly FJMT Studio, and is being progressed through the State Significant Development pathway due to its scale and affordable housing provision.

The scheme would comprise 413 apartments, including 46 affordable housing units, alongside retail and commercial uses fronting Herbert Street. The project would also include communal open space, landscaping, a swimming pool, gymnasium, children’s play areas and podium-level resident amenities.

Planning documents show the development would consist of a part-13, part-39 storey tower form positioned above a four-storey podium.

“The development comprises a unified podium that activates the street interface, and two setback towers to accommodate new housing supply while maintaining an appropriate human scale at ground level,” fjcstudio noted in its Design Report.

The northern and southern towers have been shaped to respond to the surrounding skyline while also limiting overshadowing impacts to nearby public open space, particularly Talus Reserve.

The design report said the differing tower heights were intended to “contribute to a varied skyline while responding to the surrounding built form context and solar access considerations.”

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="36da62dc-ff9e-41f2-a7e3-7be38373751c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.45%E2%80%AFAM_0.png?VersionId=Mo6Rp2r.XRLTzIfg_PEEpw8NepDH8UBs" />

The site sits directly opposite Royal North Shore Hospital and within walking distance of both St Leonards Station and the new Crows Nest Metro station.

While the site itself sits just outside the formal Crows Nest Transport Oriented Development boundary, the planning documents repeatedly reference its alignment with the broader TOD objectives reshaping the Lower North Shore.

“The site is located adjacent to St Leonards Station and in close proximity to Crows Nest Metro which is within the Crows Nest Transit Orientated Development Accelerated Precinct which has been identified by the NSW Government to support housing delivery,” the Design Verification Statement noted.

According to fjcstudio, the project has been designed to respond to the broader transition occurring across St Leonards, where increasing residential density is being concentrated around transport infrastructure and employment hubs.

“The broader precinct is undergoing significant change, with a mix of existing mid-rise buildings and newer high-density developments,” the report stated.

“Recent and approved projects indicate a consistent shift toward taller built form, typically organised as tower-and-podium typologies with more active ground levels.”

The proposal includes close to 6,000 sqm of retail and commercial space across the ground floor and podium levels, designed to create a more activated street edge along Herbert Street.

Aqualand’s plans would also introduce a landscaped podium shared between the two towers, with communal open space in the form of a podium rooftop designed to support resident interaction and improve urban greening outcomes. The scheme would also introduce pocket parks at the northern and southern ends of the site, including a landscaped area at the corner of Herbert and Ella streets designed to improve pedestrian amenity and soften the streetscape.

&nbsp;

The proposal is being progressed through the NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority pathway, which was introduced to accelerate housing supply across the state. The application was declared State Significant Development in April 2025 following an expression of interest process.

<img alt="Aqualand" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="faf6d97d-2671-454f-b85a-fe1c6a7be608" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%209.51.49%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=diVd28OBVr5.YV.7prrOz.uAanwwwm7a" />

St Leonards has been particularly active with new developments in recent weeks. Developer SP Setia’s <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-sp-setia-targets-st-leonards-skyline-with-40-storey-tod-tower">plans for a new 42-storey tower</a> recently went on exhibition through the same pathway, while <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-stockland-plans-52-storey-538-apartment-st-leonards-tower">Stockland’s 52-storey tower proposal</a> was also recently unveiled.

Aside from the St Leonards project, which is expected to take around nine months to move through the approvals process ahead of a potential 2027 launch, Aqualand is also preparing to launch Boronia, a new apartment project in Roseville comprising around 111 apartments on Larkin Street.

The developer also has approvals in place for the next stage of the Barangaroo precinct, which will feature new residential, retail, hospitality and community uses, alongside a new metro entry across the five-hectare site.

More than 50 new retail destinations are planned for Central Barangaroo, alongside a 270-metre-long boulevard connecting Hickson Park to Nawi Cove. Together with Harbour Park, more than 50 per cent of the precinct will comprise public open space and parkland.

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