Transcript of “Cable Car Cancelled”

Episode:
EP88
Show Title:
Cable Car Cancelled
Cast:
Aaron Horne, Patrick Berry, & John McGregor
Show Length:
20 minutes 26 seconds

Aaron: Oh, so the cable car is a bone of contention for a lot of people out there and again, last night, the Hobart City Council voted "no". They won't go for the latest iteration of the cable car

[intro music]
Going once... going twice... SOLD! You're listening to The Property Pod!

Aaron: All right, guys! Welcome back to The Property Pod, your weekly engagement into real estate here in the Hobart marketplace. I'm your host, Aaron Horne... I am killing it with the intros. There's no doubt, in my mind, that I've got it every time from here on out.

John: Smooth is better.

Patrick: I actually feel it to be repetitive these days and you need to change…

Aaron: Oh, you want to mix it up? [laughter] All right, now that I finally nailed it down, I will endeavor to come up with something new just for you next week, Pat. Watch this space, there'll be something brand new.

Patrick: It would have been good this week with the Olympics and all you could have gone oh... Olympic gold…

Aaron: Ah, damn it. All right, let's start again. Alright, guys! Welcome to The Property Pod. It's a golden week and a golden time; this is a golden opportunity for you to find out all about real estate here in Hobart [laughter] I'm your golden boy, Aaron Horne, and I'm joined by my silver and bronze buddies, Patrick and John. Welcome!

John: We deserve that. [laughter]

Patrick: I stand corrected. You're unstoppable at the moment.

Aaron: You can't bring a good guy down. [laughter] Johnny Mc, let's talk about your attire. For the people out there that can't see, John is in his McGregor tartan.

John: Yeah, the trade bloody boots and hard yakka trousers…

Aaron: Yeah, what's the story? Have you jumped ship and you've joined the…

John: No, it's just one of those comedy varies that started yesterday where everything was outside of my control led me to not having time for a shower this morning... [laughter]

Aaron: I wonder what that smell was…

John: So last night, when we got finished late with an appointment and then we got home and with the bathroom being renovated at the moment, found out that the builders or the builder, he's got these guys in when waterproofing had forgot to strip back the room properly, so you could just physically see the waterproofing coming off the wall, and so when the builders come back, then he's brought his son as well and four of us are just carving into this bathroom trying to get it all prepped ready for Friday for the tilers to come in. So then we're late last night stripping it all back, which is a hell of a job, and then we put the primer on it, heated it, and then this morning, had to get up and put the waterproofing in, so that was just as about to finish that, I got a call from the property stylists who are at the property in Moonah that they're doing this morning,
stuck in the pouring rain and what had happened when they came to get the keys yesterday, they got given unit 20 instead of unit 23 and so I've had to drop the house, drive into Glenorchy, grab the keys, drop them off to Moonah, and then I found out I don't have enough time to get dressed ready for The Property Pod, so I've driven straight up here yeah here we are... [laughter]

Patrick: You know it's only a phone call, John. You can say you run... it's not live... [laughter]

John: Hey, but we've got things to do like you know, anyway...

Aaron: Well, mate, you look like you've got things to work on sort of things, so you might not be cutting deals today, but you might be cutting some pine [Patrick: Yeah, exactly... that is insane...] or something... [laughter]

Aaron: Thanks for that. I'm a golden boy! I've got this this way [laughter] I'm all good. I'm pumped up on Olympic energy and I know you are. You've been all about the Olympics. You've been falling asleep on the couch late at night, [laughter] getting in trouble from your wife...

Patrick: Pretty much every night since it started, I've been up to god knows what time, [laughter] just can't get enough of it. I just love it.

Aaron: All right, it's good.

Patrick: Once it comes around and I'm just all over that [ __ ]

John: It’s once every four years, too, so you've got to lap it up.

Patrick: Well you know what's even better? Next time around, it's only once in every three years and next year we get winter because we've already lost a year, John.

John: Oh, that's true!

Aaron: Yeah, so yeah, next year, there's a...

Patrick: Winter, next year.

Aaron: Yeah, winter world cup.

Patrick: Like February or something really early in the year...

Aaron: So, where is that? Do you know, though? I can't remember that.

Patrick: I just thought it was really cool. Olympics just keeps giving [laughter]

Aaron: Well, speaking of giving, how amazing is it, there are little Tassie
swimmer superstar Ariarne Titmus winning gold, did you guys clock the celebration of her coach? [laughter]

Patrick: And I think anyone... oh you missed it, John.

John: No…

Aaron: What? You haven't seen the guy going ultimate warrior on the pole?

John: No... [laughter]

Aaron: Ah, you've got to see it.

Patrick: He's been doing too much reno's if he's not saying... [John agrees] You literally have to open up your phone and it just sits there.

Aaron: All right, you open it up there and have a quick look at it now while me and Pat talk Olympics. Yeah no, around Titmus, a Tasmanian born in Launceston, left at the age of 15 to go and kind of say, "look, I'm gonna make a real crack of this" really try and go for gold, and be the best in the world and... [Patrick: ...smashed it]

Aaron: ...smashed it.

Patrick: Absolutely smashed it!

Aaron: I saw…

Patrick: John's just watching the video, every one [laughter] I guess he's just waiting with those ads [laughter]

Aaron: So yeah, that's gone viral over the last few days and people have been making memes saying, you know, when someone shows up to a party with a cob life, that's the celebration...

Patrick: My favorite one having kids was Monday, the first day back at school, I was like... "yeah, baby!" [laughter] See you later, kids! You'll get that when your kid's a bit older. [points to Aaron]

Aaron: I'll keep that in mind; I'll remember that. No, so it's crazy, the Olympics are really in full swing and it's amazing to see...

Patrick: ...John for the rest of the episode. Well done, mate.

Aaron: It's amazing to see a little Aussie butler, get up there, and win gold and speaking of little Aussie butlers, Pat. I know you saw the ABC, I don't know if it was a Twitter war or…

Patrick: I don't know if you saw this, John, but you probably didn't see that…

John: Yeah, I haven't seen all the good stuff lately at all.

Patrick: ABC Hobart put up this photo of Ariarne and it was like an issue from Brisbane or from Hobart. It was like Brisbane or Hobart because she's trained in Brisbane and became successful in Brisbane, but, she was born in Tasmania and it started this twitter or this comment war on Facebook between ABC Brisbane and ABC Hobart and it was just hilarious [laughter] and then like ABC Darwin's like chiming in, "well, she did the last three months of training with us" so does that mean she's from Darwin?

John: Yeah yeah, because that's where matt's the most…

Patrick: And then Adelaide chimes in and Adelaide's like "ABC Australia, the kids are fighting again. Can you sort it out, mum?" [laugh] like everyone's all these different ABCs from around the country and just like all feeding into these comments--it was very good.

Aaron: It was very amusing, very amusing…

John: So, I guess the media controllers who do the twitter account are just waiting for a moment like this where they could just run with it…

Patrick: I'll tell you what. Some of those people that run social pages are just amazing, [John: yeah, I know. Absolutely] you know if your brother gives up comedy shows, he should just take residency on some corporate company's Instagram page because that would be golden. [laughter]

Aaron: All right, boys, let's jump into some stuff that's going on in our local place--marketplace. We've been discussing a local here, Tasmanian, but let's jump into this Hobart--the cable car. It's come up again, it's been a bonus contention for years and he's actually found out by doing a little bit of research here, that it dates back all the way to 1895. So this is... [John: oh really?] There's been an idea to put a cable car for over a century. There's this guy, the self-proclaimed professor, William John Hackett. He was the first to be recorded suggesting a form of aerial transport up the mountain. But through all that time, it's been an idea and it's always kind of come up--what's the word?--

John: ...for discussion?

Aaron: No, that's not what I was going for…

John: After debate? Debate?

Aaron: Yeah, that's deeper...

Patrick: Golden boy... [laughter]

John: He's down to silver

Patrick: That's his first gate tap [laughter]

Aaron: No, so the cable car is a bone of contention for a lot of people out there. There's a bunch of people I heard on the radio this morning... a bunch of people saying like, "yeah, it should go ahead". A lot of people obviously protest against it and again last night, the Hobart City Council voted "no". They won't go for the latest iteration of the cable car. I just wanted to ask you, guys, as agents working in the Hobart marketplace, what's your thoughts on the cable car? This could be controversial, we'll find out whether you lose fans from this.

Patrick: I'll jump in. I was pretty much for it, obviously, you know in real estate, we want to see our city grow and our city expand to be a greater experience for everyone and I think tourism plays a large part in that. So for me, obviously, cable cart and tourism all go hand in hand. [Aaron: for sure] I think I still am pro cable car, but over the time, I've started mountain biking and I use the mountain a lot more than I used to and you quickly discover how many people are up there every single day just bushwalking and just experiencing it. It's not just tourists; there are so many locals that use it. So I guess, it really now comes back to: can more locals experience it easier with such a thing being there? or you know, should it be left the way it is? And you have to find your own way on the mountain and that's what makes it special [Aaron: Yeah, that's fair enough] But I think I still am, but I can understand why the council has voted it down because it's incredible... like there's always more people that vote against things than put in positive...

Aaron: Especially in Hobart…

Patrick: Look at any company that gets a review. If you do something bad, you're bound to get a bad review, but you have 50 people do something good, and you only get one good review so... [Aaron agrees] I think it's a bit the same with this. The people that don't want it are going to be a lot louder than the people that do because they take the time to write the objections and put in the submissions and that type of stuff, so I can understand the council's probably scared to say "yes". Right, so I think it was 7-3--the vote was last night.

Aaron: It would take a brave group of councilmen or principles to approve something like this. Again, and as it says 100 years where it's been kind of proposed. Another bit I read was there was a guy that had been given a slither of land way back in the 1900s, he was giving his clitoral land. His great great relative in the 90s tried to claim, "oh well, there was no kind of exit clause on when that sliver of land was gone so I'm claiming it" so they had to do this full investigation and in the 1930s, it did kind of say like, "no, it's not your land anymore, buddy". So people have been trying to get this off the ground for ages and ages. Do you have an opinion, John? Do you feel like it's a good thing or a bad thing? It's something that should go ahead?

John: My opinion at the moment, I'd be happy for it to just not go ahead at the moment and I guess it's only because I'm going to think of it very from a selfish perspective at the moment because i don't have enough skin in the game for it, so I'll just do it as a purely selfish individual perspective is that... I can get up the mountain no trouble because I've got a car. And I don't see the necessity to have to build and although when you look at all the different mountains around the world, where they've done it well, it integrates into there pretty well and you don't really see it anyway, so I'm assuming that's sort of the design that they're going for…

Aaron: A lot of the argument is the scar on the side of the mountain and I think the organ pipes are one of the major issues that would kind of cut through there and cause a major issue with that…

John: And I wonder, though, because in essence, the only time in which we can't get access to the mountain is during too heavy snowstorms…

Patrick: So, then all of this week…

John: Yeah, so that's when obviously the cars would be exceptionally useful to continue that tourism aspect. Yeah, I don't know, like at the moment, I'd still say no, just probably a little bit more of a conservationist element for maintaining its look and appeal, but my opinion would be open change if the economics of it was justified exceptionally well that would really fund more beneficial projects along the way, like a lot of the time, if the extra funds that could be generated for it can actually go into assistance in other conservation areas around Tasmania, like it might serve us a greater good… That's probably a bit more suede, but at the moment, yeah, I'd probably be more inclined to vote "no".

Aaron: Yeah, you're happy to sit on the fence.

Patrick: Would you potentially use it, experience the mountain more though if there was the option to ride a cable car or you still wouldn't go up the mountain?

John: Oh well, I usually only ever go up if, you know, having friends visit interstate and then the little journey up, but inevitably, I would... It's the same with part of the enjoyment of going up to MONA for example, is going up the Ferry and along the river because it's a completely different experience rather than just driving so invariably, I'd most absolutely use it just as you suppose like at the Stanley nut. They've got that you can either walk up a really steep really hard or you can ride in comfort and I guess and the thing is because that option is available that's why it's become such a strong draw card and you know, to visit the top of the mountain, the cable cars could very well do that as well, and I suppose, that's where the argument comes in economically. Yeah, I know it's a very non-opinion, but my opinion at the moment would be "no" unless they can make it the... I haven't looked at it too much, but if there was a really strong economical argument, well then I'd probably be swayed.

Aaron: Well yeah, I guess looking at it from the side of tourism thing, things are really slight, like obviously, it wouldn't be made right now, but things are slowing down with the COVID outbreak that's happening across mainland Australia, so yeah, another shot in the arm for tourism at the moment would be these travel vouchers which they've discussed bringing back so Peter Guttmann's come out this past weekend I think he was in Launceston having a chat and he's come out saying that they're going to go for a third round of make yourself at home tourism vouchers... you guys crossed this?

Patrick: I wasn't part of the first two rounds because I'm never organized enough to get on a website quick enough... [laughter] So, they're always gone before…

Aaron: Well... [Patrick: you had some luck getting with them]

Aaron: Yeah no, I did get some. We went and used them. We went to Mole Creek and visited a beautiful little kind of BNB thing, took our son there but speaking of the issues that I had with the website, I believe the new system that they're planning on doing will have a more of a ballot type -register your interest kind of vote, rather than being like get on here at this time and watch the internet crash, [laughter] so the idea is for it to change but looking at it, so the the new one would be a 7.5 million dollar voucher run. Last year when they did run, the scheme did generate 27.5 million dollars worth of extra funding into the sector so it was what you, I guess, would say is successful got people in Tassie-- getting out and about and getting to see their local area and give the shot in the arm to the tourism sector.

John: And so that wasn't that they gave 25 million dollars away. That was that they rejected every money because it encouraged people to spend more while they're away, while they're out effectively

Aaron: Yeah, so yeah, spend this and do this experience and you'll get this ex back. So it was a calculated kind of expense the government put out, but yeah, as he injected 27 million dollars into the sector. The one thing that really sucked last time was that they were really specific on the days you could use them sort of thing so, how many people have opportunities to go on holidays, Monday through Thursday the other day you could use them.
John: Not gonna happen...

Aaron: So, I think--don't hold me to this, but I think the next set might be available to use on weekends. I believe that maybe…

John: Which kind of makes sense, doesn't it? The idea that you'd give these grants and then limit them to Monday to Thursday because in the end for the businesses, it's not going to matter when the income generated: be a Monday or a Sunday, provided the businesses you know, the income could be produced like why would it matter?

Aaron: Hopefully, the first one was a really good test case to say like, "yes, they kind of worked; we got a good approach on them". There were lots that went unused which was frustrating for all the people that tried to get on them and didn't get a chance to do it, so they were like, "oh, I wanted to get one but I didn't get one" people got them and then just held on to them sort of thing. They weren't transferable; there was no way you could kind of sell them on. So, I think hopefully, last time was a good test case. They worked out like, "okay yep, we've got this. That works right now, let's do it on the website"

John: Yeah and hopefully then, they'll get a larger proportion of people that actually get to utilize it because obviously, people have probably gone, "I'll take that voucher" like, "Oh crap! No, I can't go Monday to Thursday, we'll stuff it"

Aaron: Exactly, yeah, I thought I'd be able to use it, I didn't get a chance to, so yeah, no bueno.

John: I think one of the things we didn't see is that just little things along with tourism and generating activity, didn't Brighton get the approval for a brand new…

Aaron: ...not approval, my friend. They have opened up a brand new facility. It opened at the end of June. It is a six million dollar sporting facility at the home of the old Brighton Football Club where the robins play. It looks amazing!

John: I love that kind of stuff because it's the same one where they did the huge update for KG5 and Glenorchy. I mean, it has to be able to invite that and have a much greater experience for both the spectator sport, like the teams and all that stuff, like it's brilliant...
Aaron: It kind of takes away, you know, you go to the old footy club, you take your kids along, and it's that stinky smell of the... [laughter] I'm gonna say euron in the corner of the room because it's just this room that had no breath-ability and it's just kind of like, "what's that smell that?" oh, you don't [laughter] want to know something, but that's the old vibe of an old footy club is that really musky crappy rooms to be able to get these... [Patrick: ...state-of-the-art] facilities that are kind of really coming. Looking into it, it's a two-story building with a gym club rooms, male and female change rooms, function space, dining areas, and a commercial kitchen, so I've seen the Brighton City Council have been saying, you know, like soon, we'll be taking bookings, you can kind of have your 50th, your 30th, your 21st, you can have all your things coming. You could have a wedding there if you're kind of that way inclined.

John: Well, we have business hosted numerous client nights at the New Town Hockey Center which can still do it, you know, so they're awesome venues for us…

Aaron: Which was another one. That kind of got a real boost when it was kind of developed from being like, "oh, look. We've got one little pitch here", Now there's three amazing things, it's used kind of every night of the week, yeah AFL nights. It's used for so much other community stuff and yeah, functions galore.

John: Yeah yeah, and I only hope that by revitalizing the local footy clubs in different areas, it actually just encourages people to re-engage with it, on a much grander scale. Again, because you've actually got a more comfortable experience for both spectators and players, so rather than, like you said, you're inviting everyone to the wii smelling change rooms. It's like, you know, what it's just a little bit better these days... [laughter]

John: Oh, and you've got gone are the days, I suppose, where everyone's just stuck in the car, you know, tooting their horn which just sucks for Tassie because I think we all know like you've got those cold mornings, it's not pleasant at those times of the day. It's not a pleasant time to watch.

Aaron: I have memories of going back to being a wee little kid. I was tiny. I had tiny little stick legs that kind of had no fat on them and you go out there for your like nine o'clock game and the frost is still on the ground [laughter] and you'd be so scared to get bumped and hit the ice. It was like being a mighty duck, it was so scary. [laughter]

Aaron: So yes, shout out to the good facilities. Parents can now go and be warm and watch their kids run around on the icy stuff hot pies. Look, I've got a bunch of real estate stuff here, but we've been talking for the length of an average show so yeah are we happy just to say this is a community episode? Just have a yarn. It's been a fun one, we looked and learned a little bit about Tassie and we want tourism to boost, we're really happy for a little bit of development that's going on and look, we hit a hot topic with the cable cars. So, this is going to go viral before you know it.

John: Absolutely, yeah. And we've got opinions. [laughter]

Aaron: I'm a gold medalist. You guys are silver and bronze.

John: I'll take it.

Aaron: And it's been a fun little recording [the other two agree] Thanks to everybody…

Patrick: Thanks, guys!

Aaron: ...that's been out there listening.

John: Thank you.

Aaron: All right!

[extro and disclaimer]
You have been listening to The Property Pod, recorded and edited by 4one4 Media House in conjunction with 4one4 Property Co. This podcast is general information only and the thoughts and views expressed are the opinion of our panel and listeners should always seek to use their own investigation into any topic we discussed to ensure they fully understand their own situation. It does not constitute and should not be relied on as purchasing, selling, financial, or investment advice or recommendations, expressed or implied, and it should not be used as an invitation to take up any agent or investment services. No investment decision or activity should be undertaken on the basis of this information without first seeking qualified and professional advice.