Recently the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) voted Melbourne as the most liveable city, not only in Australia, but in the world.
What prompted the agency to qualify Melbourne as the most liveable city was based on some criterias like: the friendliness of its people, the moderate cost of living, great social interaction, the love and participation of its residents to sports and cultural activities, the good transport facilities, its cultural diversity, the parks, orchards and many flower gardens. It is also true that metropolitan Melbourne is not yet overcrowded; there are still lots of spaces between the suburbs and many scope for new dwellings.The buoyant economic activities and consumption patterns of the Melbournians are striking which can make believe that unemployment is low. Most people of Melbourne live in very nice houses with at least 3 bedrooms and drive new cars. One can see more luxury cars like BMW and Mercedes in Melbourne than in Sydney. However all must be taken in proportion because Melbourne's population is a bit more than half that of Sydney.
This statistic denotes that Melbourne is not as overcrowded as Sydney as mentioned earlier. Reports show that 1,500 people are moving to Melbourne every week. With such a trend it is anticipated that there will me more social and economic activities which, on paper, will be beneficial to the Victorian economy. This, however, remains to be seen in view of the downturn in the manufacturing with the closures of Ford, Holden, SPC and Toyota which, according to some analysts, might affect up to 25,000 jobs directly and 1 million indirectly.
The principal drawback in Melbourne is the weather. Melbourne is reknown for a very versatile weather; it might shine in the morning and rain at noon, be hot in the afternoon and very cold at night.There is virtually no seasons in Melbourne as there can be up to five types of weather in the same day. While this unpredicted weather might be very annoying for the visitor, those living in Melbourne do not find any inconvenience, live with it as they are used to it, and perform their social, professional and other activities as per normal. This is amazing, hats off.
The other problem in Melbourne is the "fragile" economy in a globalised one with firce competition from Asian countries. Melbourne grew from the gold rush from 1851 to 1896 when it is reported that a total of 61,034,682 oz of gold was mined in Victoria.Gold was first discovered in Australia on 15 February 1823.
Melbourne was the capital of Australia before the establishment of the satellite city-capital, Canberra.
While Canberra was (still is) the political capital of Australia, Melbourne was the main manufacturing and service city of Australia. It was only years later that most service industries moved to Sydney leaving Melbourne as the heart of manufacturing in Australia.
Melbourne has enjoyed economic fortunes for many years as most manufacturers were investing in Melbourne where semi-skilled and low-skilled labour were abundant. Most migrants were going to Melbourne where it was much easier to obtain a job even though illiterate or unskilled.
The fortune of Victoria today hands on a knife edge with the demise of manufacturing. Closure of factories, and lost of jobs in the thousands. This will eventually plunge the state in an economic slowdown and maybe into recession.
The fallout of a recession will cause harm to those directly affected and indirectly to those industries such as retail, housing and services as people will be careful with spending and investments. Those directly affected might find it hard to continue meeting their mortgages especially those couples with children attending school. A loss or reduction of income and a change of lifestyle will eventually follow as a consequence.This will indeed be a sad situation as the people of Melbourne are hardworking, caring, family oriented, enjoy life and so friendly.
Lets hope that Melbourne will not become, if the recession hits the state, the most unliveable city of Australia.
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