Senate party’s bid for Southern Tablelands’ super city

Only registered a political entity five months ago, The Future Party is already raising a media presence with out-of-the-box policies. Although not running a candidate for Hume, their bid for a NSW senate seat is one that will directly affect Goulburn and surrounds if successful.

Outlined in their policies are plans for a high density charter city, named Turing, to be placed between Sydney and Canberra on the High Speed Rail line. Party leader and founder James Jansson told the Post that the location would fall near Goulburn.

The policy reads that Turing will be a “special economic city” and established as a university town with a mandated high population, subterranean roadways and slightly different immigration rules to the rest of Australia.

It would be developed primarily through private investment and private sale.

“Anywhere south of Goulburn is a potential area. We would prefer to be around Lake George or Lake Bathurst as it’s close to Canberra,” Mr Jansson said.

“It’s quite large - we have plans for a density of 20 to 50,000 people per square kilometre. It would end up being the size of Goulburn...

“People really like living in high-density cities, look at Manhattan, look at Paris... It would create value, create more links between people and create links between services and infrastructure.”

With a sky scraping city built just up the road the effects on Goulburn’s economy would be “fantastic” Mr Jansson believed, although not without risk.

“We believe it will push forward the economy, being a satellite city… it will increase the price of land for Goulburn and be a stop through for both Canberra and Turing,” he said.

“I think with any project there are going to be risks. We think this is a calculated risk.”

With all this focus on the future, what about the present? The Future Party is a strong backer of the high speed rail line and Labor’s NBN.

“The NBN is going to add a lot to the value of rural and regional areas,” Mr Jansson said.

“We believe communication and transportation are the keys to linking people together.”

From space exploration to driverless cars, nuclear power and a bid to make Australia a republic, the sky is the limit for the small group of young scholars.

“We believe that Australia needs a vision which is sorely lacking in modern politics,” Mr Jansson said in a recent Q and A session.

“I totally see us making an impact. We have sufficient members to register and lots of people who are volunteering to help in the coming election and beyond.

“We may not make the senate this time around, but we will grow from this experience. Even if we aren’t successful personally, we hope to swing the debate and have a positive impact on Australian politics.”

For more information about The Future Party and their Senate bid, head to www.futureparty.org.au