Mayor's global vision to revive Melbourne

Source: PRNewswire

Two of China's largest companies will set up their Australian headquarters in Melbourne and newly elected Mayor Nick Reece says he will aggressively pursue more big foreign corporate players in a bid to help revive the city.

Mr Reece, a Labor Party member, said China generated $2.5 billion in visitor spending in Melbourne over the past year, despite overnight visitors to Victoria collapsing to just 47 per cent of the 2019 total last financial year after the pandemic and political tension with Australia.

One of China's largest companies, Rockcheck Tewoo Corporation, a steel, financial services and investment con-glomerate, and Sinopec, one the world's largest oil refining conglomer-ates, have confirmed plans to set up their Australian headquarters in Mel-bourne.

Sinopec this month signed a cooperation agreement with Australian fuel retailer JASBE and plans to roll out up to 400 petrol stations across the country over the next three years.

"I would expect Rockcheck Tewoo and Sinopec are both looking for a Collins Street address or somewhere in the central city," Mr Reece said yester-day.

They join Chinese companies, leading mobile game developer QingCi, which has opened an office in Collins Street, and tea drink chain Hey Tea, which has opened a new store in Melbourne Emporium on Swanston Street and has at least two more city stores expected to be rolled out shortly.

"It is not just for the Chinese tourists, we want to bring it to local customers too, we use real milk, real tea, it's a healthy drink, we are trying to get that message out," Hey Tea and W Cosmetics franchise owner Violet Goa said.

In 2019, Chinese tourists made up 38 per cent of all international overnight spending in Melbourne, with 664,000 visitors staying a total of 17.3 million nights in the city.

Chinese tourists spent $7.6 billion in Australia last financial year, just 77 per cent of June 2019 levels, according to Tourism Research Australia.

Mr Reece visited China last year and said tourist numbers were bouncing back after working with the Chinese consulate general to help secure the return of lucrative group tours.

He said the return of Chinese tourists could deliver up to a $1 billion boost to the city which was flattened by the pan-demic.

Melbourne's CBD office vacancy rate hit 19.8 per cent this year, the highest level since 1995, and 1725 businesses closed their doors between 2019 and 2022.

He said the city was working with 10 Chinese businesses to set up their headquarters in Melbourne, as the newly elected mayor continues to pursue global companies from China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, claiming the city would offer a range of support.

He predicted further projects from China would create up to 71 new full-time jobs, with $1.05 million to be invested and generate $13.2 million of economic benefit.

"I'm going to be very aggressively pursuing Chinese and Indian companies to establish headquarters here," he told The Australian Financial Review yesterday. "Greater Melbourne has the greatest Indian diaspora in the country and Melbourne has the biggest Chinese population - 30 per cent of residents speak Mandarin in their homes," he said.

Mr Reece also took aim at the Alban-ese government's plan to rein in migration through enrolment caps, which last week was torpedoed by a Coalition-Greens deal to block the laws. Labor has not ruled out relying on existing mechanisms, leaving the education sector in a state of confusion.

"We want more international students in Melbourne, not less," Mr Reece said.

"[Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese's plan to cap international students is wrong-headed and [Opposition Leader Peter] Dutton's plan is even worse. It's an example of policy being made based on talkback radio in Sydney.

"Egon Zehnder could not design a better pipeline than international students for talent. They are the rivers of gold for our nation." Victorian Tourism and Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said Chinese tourists were returning, but it would be a slow recovery.

"China has been slow to come back for everyone. It is recovering, but it is a long way from fully recovered. It's going to be a long time before we see the sort of numbers out of China we saw before the pandemic," Ms Mariani said.

Mr Reece was elected the Melbourne mayor this month. The former deputy mayor, Labor staffer and journalist at the Financial Review, had been acting as mayor after Sally Capp stood down from the position in June.

He beat out Greens candidate Roxane Ingleton, the pro-business candidate Arron Wood and former AFL footballer Anthony Koutoufides, among others, in a hotly contested race.

Mr Reece, who has Liberal Party member Roshena Campbell as his deputy, has promised a 10-point plan for business that includes freezing council rates for a year, streamlining planning processes, offering tax relief and incentives for foreign corporates and creating a special economic zone that includes an off-the-plan stamp duty exemption and a tax holiday on foreign buyer land tax.

市长的全球愿景振兴墨尔本

中国两家最大的公司将在墨尔本设立澳大利亚总部，新当选的市长尼克·里斯（Nick Reece）表示，他将积极吸引更多大型外国企业，以帮助振兴这座城市。

尼克·里斯是工党成员，他表示，尽管在过去的财政年度，因疫情和澳中关系紧张，赴维多利亚州的过夜游客数量仅为2019年的47%，但中国游客在墨尔本的消费仍达到25亿澳元。

中国最大的公司之一——从事钢铁、金融服务和投资的综合企业洛克克德（Rockcheck Tewoo Corporation），以及全球最大的炼油企业之一中国石化（Sinopec），已确认计划在墨尔本设立澳大利亚总部。本月，中国石化与澳大利亚燃油零售商JASBE签署合作协议，计划在未来三年内在澳大利亚建立多达400家加油站。

“我预计洛克克德和中国石化都会选择柯林斯街（Collins Street）或市中心的某个地点作为他们的总部，”里斯昨天表示。

这些公司加入了已经在墨尔本发展的其他中国企业，比如领先的手游开发商青瓷游戏（QingCi），其办公室设在柯林斯街；还有喜茶（Hey Tea），这家茶饮连锁品牌已在斯旺斯顿街的墨尔本Emporium商场开设了一家新店，预计近期将在市区再开两家门店。

“我们的目标不仅仅是中国游客，也希望吸引本地顾客。我们使用真正的牛奶和茶，这是一种健康饮品，我们正在努力传递这一信息，”喜茶和W Cosmetics的特许经营商维奥莱特·高（Violet Goa）说。

2019年，中国游客占墨尔本国际过夜消费总额的38%，当年共有66.4万名中国游客在墨尔本停留了共计1730万晚。

根据澳大利亚旅游研究机构的数据显示，上个财政年度，中国游客在澳大利亚的消费达到76亿澳元，仅为2019年6月水平的77%。

里斯去年曾访问中国，他表示，通过与中国总领事馆合作以恢复有利可图的团队旅游项目，游客数量正在回升。他称，中国游客的回归可能为这座因疫情而受重创的城市带来多达10亿澳元的经济助力。

墨尔本中央商务区的办公室空置率今年达到19.8%，为1995年以来的最高水平，2019年至2022年间，共有1725家企业关门。

他表示，墨尔本正在与10家中国企业合作，帮助他们在墨尔本设立总部。作为新当选的市长，他将继续吸引来自中国、印度、印度尼西亚和越南的全球企业，并承诺提供一系列支持。他预计中国的进一步投资将创造71个全职岗位，吸引105万澳元的投资，并带来1320万澳元的经济效益。

“我将非常积极地吸引中国和印度的公司在这里设立总部，”他昨天对《澳大利亚金融评论报》表示。“大墨尔本地区拥有澳大利亚最大的印度裔社区，而墨尔本的华人数量最多——30%的居民在家中讲普通话。”

里斯还批评了阿尔巴尼斯政府通过限制学生入学名额来收紧移民的计划，该计划上周被联合党和绿党的协议阻止。他表示，这一政策给教育行业带来了混乱。

“我们希望更多国际学生来到墨尔本，而不是更少，”里斯说。“[总理安东尼]阿尔巴尼斯限制国际学生的计划是错误的，而[反对党领袖彼得]达顿的计划更糟。这是以悉尼的广播电台节目为依据的政策决策的例子。”

“没有比国际学生更好的优秀人才来源了。他们是我们国家的‘黄金河流’。”维多利亚州旅游与工业委员会首席执行官菲丽西亚·马里亚尼（Felicia Mariani）表示，中国游客正在回归，但复苏速度缓慢。

“对于所有人来说，中国的回归都很慢。虽然在复苏，但距离全面恢复还有很长的路要走。我们还需要很长时间才能看到疫情前的中国游客数量，”马里亚尼说。

里斯本月当选为墨尔本市长。这位前副市长、工党职员以及《金融评论报》的记者，自今年6月萨莉·卡普（Sally Capp）辞职以来一直代理市长职务。

在一场竞争激烈的选举中，他击败了绿党候选人罗克珊·英格尔顿（Roxane Ingleton）、支持商业的候选人阿伦·伍德（Arron Wood）以及前澳式橄榄球员安东尼·库图菲德斯（Anthony Koutoufides）等其他对手。

里斯的副市长是自由党成员罗希娜·坎贝尔（Roshena Campbell）。他承诺实施一项包含10点内容的商业计划，其中包括冻结一年市政税，简化规划流程，为外国企业提供税收减免和激励措施，并创建一个特别经济区，该区域将享受新开发物业印花税豁免和外国买家土地税免税政策。

Source: The Australia Financial Review; Patrick Durkin