Australian city achieves great success – Südtirol News

The town of Quilpie is located in the Australian outback in an unknown location – surrounded by red earth and scattered vegetation. The municipal council had a special idea to attract urgently needed workers: it decided without further ado to provide plots of land for free – if the interested parties agreed to build a house on a plot of 1000 square meters and live there for at least six months.

The council hopes to attract at least a few families to the remote village in southern Queensland. But then inquiries flooded the authorities.

Local media recently reported that more than 250 applicants from Australia, but also Great Britain, New Zealand, India and Hong Kong had applied in just under two weeks. However, only Australian citizens and residents of Australia will be eligible for the A$12,500 scholarship.

ABC quoted Justin Hancock, who had the idea for the initiative, that investors also reached out, as well as builders, craftsmen and painters who were looking for work and wanted to help build homes. “It would have been a huge success for us if we could move five families to the area. But seeing that interest was overwhelming.”

Mayor Stuart Mackenzie said there are currently about a dozen job offers in Quilpie, from bank clerks to bartender. “We need people who want to work here in the area, but we don’t have enough homes to house them.”

The surge in property prices during the coronavirus pandemic is mainly explained in large parts of Australia – due to record low interest rates and long shutdowns in the biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Most inquiries came from Brisbane, less than 1,000km to the east, which shows that many Australians are now looking for affordable housing in smaller cities. A free plot of land will be at hand.

From: APA / dpa