Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In preparation for Australia's hosting of the G20, the G20 (Safety and Security) Complementary Bill 2014 will ensure that the Queensland G20 Act validly applies to Commonwealth places at the Brisbane Airport. Brisbane's rapidly growing global reputation as a city of opportunity—indeed, as Bernard Salt said, 'the aspirational capital of Australia'—was affirmed by its selection as the host of the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit, the principal forum for international economic cooperation and decision-making. Over the days of the event, Brisbane will become the capital city of the world, with leaders from the world's most influential economies gathering in our city.

Approximately 4,000 delegates and 3,000 domestic and international media will converge on the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for the summit—they will be welcomed and won over by Australia's new-world city. Brisbane is an economic powerhouse of the Asia-Pacific region, with innovation and an entrepreneurial heart. It is a city that draws world leaders, international business and investment. It has defied the recent global downturn, and is a leader of Australia's economic growth.

Brisbane offers a potent combination of a business-friendly, stable political environment and a young, educated, multicultural society with stunning surroundings, cultural sophistication and enviable climate. Brisbane is a magnet to growth industries as well as to major events like the G20 and is a home to internationally renowned scientists and research centres. Brisbane ranked in the top 7 most liveable cities in the world at the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize and has been named one of the top 10 Asian cities of the future by the London Financial Times fDi magazine. A world-class destination for conferences and business events, with first-rate facilities, event services and venues, Brisbane has benefited enormously from ongoing investment in multimillion-dollar infrastructure.

Brisbane will become the ninth host city of the G20 Leaders Summit, joining the elite ranks of cities such as London, Toronto and Seoul. The event brings together leaders and finance ministers from countries which account for more than 85 per cent of global economic output. They will be joined by key officials from the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund. The many attractions of Brisbane include rich cultural and leisure opportunities, friendly locals, affordability, accessibility, alfresco dining and a breathtaking natural backdrop of national parks and island escapes in the picturesque Moreton Bay. With a diversified economy that embraces, rather than depends on, the mining industry, Brisbane is well placed to build on its other strengths in education, tourism, retail, professional services, construction, and IT.

The G20 is an important development in Brisbane's history, and the November 2014 summit will have a long-lasting legacy as important as other game-changing events for the city, such as the Commonwealth Games and Expo '88. Brisbane is already well advanced in leveraging the G20 summit to help position the city as a strong investment, conventions and study destination. The 'Choose Brisbane' campaign, launched in March 2013 by Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, uses G20 images and messages to remind business decision-makers in Asia and Europe that Brisbane is a city significant enough to host the world's leaders. The next phase of the campaign, already seen by two million people in Asia, was launched in Hong Kong in September last year. Research conducted by the Colmar Brunton group shows the campaign has been highly successful in generating positive perceptions of Brisbane in Asia. The campaign was seen by nearly half of all business decision-makers surveyed in Hong Kong. For those who saw the campaign, the likelihood of them considering Brisbane as an investment opportunity doubled from 24 per cent to 47 per cent.

As the G20 summit draws closer, Brisbane Marketing will continue campaigns and messaging to evolve Brisbane's positioning as a serious player in the Asia-Pacific. The campaign was rolled out to Europe in June and to China in September. Marketing has been seen by more than 160 million people around the world online, as well as on billboards and in print—more than 3,000 billboards around the world, and online and print advertising in high-profile business publications. This advertising, with the words 'Brisbane: The 2014 G20 Host City', features a number of 'heroes', including US President Barack Obama and other world leaders; cervical cancer vaccine pioneer Professor Ian Frazer; Brisbane artist Michael Zavros; Shanghai news anchor and Asia Pacific Screen Awards host Chen Lei; BG Group's Catherine Tanna; Phil Larsen of Halfbrick Studios, the developer of the highly-successful Fruit Ninja app; as well as Chinese-American artist Cai Guo-Qiang.

Almost 60,000 people have visited the Choose Brisbane website. This is Brisbane's opportunity to showcase itself as the closest Australian capital city on the eastern seaboard to Asia, ideally placed to become an economic powerhouse in the region. The economic benefits to the city are expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, with an upsurge in trade for local shops, hotels and restaurants along with increased international media coverage of Brisbane. Brisbane is working to ensure the anticipated 3,000 visiting media will be equipped with information to maximise media coverage and return visits by family and friends and is hosting pre- and post-summit media familiarisations to get stories about our city published worldwide. International experience from previous summits suggests Brisbane can expect an upsurge in interest as an international business and meetings destination as a result of the G20.

Other benefits arising from the city's improved international image are expected to include more foreign investment and increased tourism as a result of hosting the summit. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk stated that networking between countries provides new business and research collaborations which can generate innovation, ideas and drive the research agenda for years to come. In Brisbane's case, this could be in areas such as education, the digital economy, hotel development, and the event management and convention business. Already an extra 20 conferences have been booked for Brisbane this year by comparison to 2013, adding an extra $50 million to the city's economic worth.

In 2010 the University of Toronto measured the benefits of previous G20 and G8 conferences. They found that the host city received benefits in the short-term from tourism, accommodation, plane fares and 'advertising'—both written stories and direct advertising. In the longer term, the economic benefit comes from business investment. The authors of the study, Jenilee Guebert and Shamir Tanna, from the University of Toronto found the economic benefits were bigger for the cities with a lower international profile. In general the benefits are much greater for the smaller communities and cities that lack the global visibility and infrastructure that the capital cities of the past several centuries have developed.

Brisbane already plans to boost its $114 billion economy to a $217 billion economy by 2031 and will be able to link trade benefits from the G20 conference to its biennial Asia Pacific Cities Summit, which it last hosted in 2011 and will again in 2015. The global spotlight will be on Brisbane during the G20 Leaders Summit and the city is ready to shine. I commend this bill to the House and extend a warm welcome to Brisbane to all delegates.

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