Having just moved back to Melbourne on a characteristically wet and cold June weekend I thought the fact the streets were empty had something to do with the Queen’s birthday and the weather.
Not so. I had arrived in a city on the brink of collapse; a post-apocalyptic nightmare in which the survivors were obviously hauled up in bunkers somewhere. I was in mortal danger of being eaten by the now cannibalistic mobs roaming the streets.
When I arrived in my apartment the heat worked, as did the television but the bad news came during the broadcast that had somehow gone to air.
The news said that following the bushfires, the bashings of Indian students and now the rampant outbreak of swine flu in the state, the world could soon be under the impression that Victoria is too dangerous a place to do business.
Or at least that’s what the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry said:
“It remains to be seen whether swine flu will have a broader impact on Victoria’s reputation as a safe place after the bushfires and the violence against Indian students.”
The message from VECCI Chris James to the Herald-Sun and the TV stations was an odd one.
Apparently we have to stop the perception that Melbourne is city considering pulling down the shutters for business despite the fact that nobody mentioned it but him.
Mr James goes on:
“It is down to perception rather than reality, but sometimes perception can feed into reality and we really need to make an effort to be seen to be open for business.”
Indeed, it’s just I must have missed all the “closed: we give up” signs on all the shop windows this morning.
To be fair to James he’s probably taking a swipe at some of the more ludicrous reactions to the bird flu outbreak, like the decision by Swimming Australia today to cancel a swim meet in Melbourne despite Health Minister Nicola Roxon indicating there no real need to do so.
Despite all the craziness of bird-flu and attacks on Indian students VECCI might do better to grab hold of this story. In short Melbourne has once again been ranked as one of the world’s most livable cities by Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2009 Liveability survey. Number three to be precise behind Vancouver and Vienna.
While these liveability rankings can be a byword for boring (I know where I’d visit tomorrow if I had a choice between Vancouver at number 2 or Madrid at 39), it is at least a pleasant reminder that I haven’t moved back to a city that’s hit the ‘bring your own canned food’ stage quite yet.
Plus my apartment doesn’t come with a bunker.
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