The Multifunction Polis (MFP) was a controversial scheme for a
planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
in
Australia proposed in 1987 and abandoned in 1998. From the Greek word "polis", meaning "city", it was imagined as a place where work and leisure, lifetime education and intercultural exchange, research and manufacturing would be uniquely integrated.
The MFP was intended to have an initial population of 100,000, though some modelling was done on the assumption of a population up to 250,000. Futuristic infrastructure and modern communications were expected to help attract high-tech industries.
[
] Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
investors were targeted as an important source of funds, with an emphasis on
Japanese investors.
[Hawke/Keating Government believed Multi Function Polis needed different name, Cabinet papers reveal](_blank)
''The Advertiser'', 1 January 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
Several possible locations were put forward and in 1990 a site at
Gillman, north of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, was selected. The proposal generated noisy opposition in Australia, with some critics claiming it would open the way for a Japanese settlement on Australian soil.
The MFP, at least as originally envisaged, never eventuated.
History
The Multifunction Polis was first proposed in January 1987 by the Japanese
Minister for International Trade and Industry (MITI),
Hajime Tamura
(5 May 1924 – 1 November 2014) was a Japanese politician. He held different cabinet posts and served as the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Early life and education
Tamura was born in Matsuzaka, Mie Prefecture, in 1924. In 1950, he ...
, at the ninth
Australia-Japan Ministerial Committee meeting in
Canberra.
A concept paper produced by MITI a month later said the Multifunction Polis would "become a forum for international exchange in the region and a model for new industries and new lifestyles looking ahead to the twenty-first century". More than 100 Australian and Japanese companies signed up to the MFP Joint Feasibility Study.
Site proposals were received from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the A.C.T. In 1990, the MFP Joint Steering Committee (chaired by
ANZ Bank chief executive Will Bailey) awarded the project to the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
in Queensland, but after the state's premier,
Wayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss (26 February 1951 – 10 November 2014) was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996, becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics, Goss was a solic ...
, declined to consolidate the land under a public corporation, the Joint Steering Committee switched its choice to Gillman, near
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in South Australia.
By that time, however, some potential Japanese investors had lost interest because of the negative publicity in Australia and repeated delays with the feasibility study. Others were discouraged by the choice of little-known Gillman for the site, rather than a location with strong appeal as a resort.
The Multifunction Polis project failed to attract the required investment, particularly after the
bursting of the Japanese economic bubble in the early 1990s, and Australia's Federal Government withdrew funding in 1996. In 1998, the Premier of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
,
John Olsen
John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...
, officially announced the MFP's demise.
The cost of the failed project to the Australian taxpayer was said to be $150 million.
Denis Gastin, chief executive of the MFP Joint Secretariat, said the loss of the project was an embarrassment to the nation: "It's an international embarrassment that we deliberately sought and captured international attention for a project that we did not deliver. South Australia had a chance to do something that would make the nation take it more seriously but what history shows is it bit off more than it could chew."
Opposition to the Multifunction Polis
The MFP proposal was attacked in Australia by critics on the Left, who likened it to Japan's colonial experiment in
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
, and critics on the Right, who saw it creating an exclusive Japanese enclave.
The controversy boiled over during the Federal Election campaign of March 1990.
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
leader,
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the pa ...
, declared that a future Coalition Government would abandon the project. Peacock shared the "enclave" fears of
RSL president
Alf Garland and others.
[
] The following day, ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' newspaper ran a headline titled ''Peacock a 'danger in the Lodge'.
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
leader Bob Hawke accused Peacock of delivering a "massive, full-on insult" to Japan. The ALP went on to win the election.
Current status
Development eventually did proceed several kilometres further east at another northern Adelaide suburb, formerly called The Levels, where a pre-existing campus of the
University of South Australia
The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...
was located. The South Australian Government, in conjunction with developer Delfin Lend Lease, proceeded along lines similar to those proposed for the MFP, although that name was dropped due to the controversy that had surrounded it.
The area is now occupied by
Technology Park Adelaide
Mawson Lakes is a residential suburb in the City of Salisbury, Adelaide, Australia. Named in honor of Sir Douglas Mawson, it has a census area population of 10,872 people. The suburb is located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide around 12  ...
and the suburb of
Mawson Lakes.
Technology Park features mostly high-tech industrial businesses, and the adjacent Mawson Lakes is a mostly residential development set around several artificial lakes. It features a mix of low and
medium-density housing
Medium-density housing is a term used within urban planning and academic literature to refer to a category of residential development that falls between detached suburban housing and large multi-story buildings. There is no singular definition of m ...
, nearly all of modern design. There are also numerous shops, cafes, restaurants, a hotel, and office-based businesses in Mawson Central (the business district of Mawson Lakes). All homes and businesses in the area feature recycled water for use in toilets and lawn watering, and a home management system which controls lighting, air-conditioning, and security installations. The layout of Mawson Lakes and Technology Park is designed to encourage residents to cycle or walk rather than drive, and there is also a centrally located bus and train interchange. Many educational and recreational facilities exist adjacent to Mawson Lakes, including a campus of the
University of South Australia
The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...
and a golf course.
See also
*
Garden Island (South Australia)
Garden Island is an island in the Australian state of South Australia located about north-west of the capital city of Adelaide in an estuary system within the Adelaide metropolitan area which drains into Gulf St Vincent. It is notable as be ...
References
{{reflist, 2
History of Adelaide
Proposed populated places
Politics of South Australia