On his third trade mission to India recently, Andrew Barr, Minister for Tourism and Trade, Australia, and Chief Minister, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), covered two Indian cities: Delhi and Bengaluru.
Incidentally, Canberra — the city he hails from — was declared the best city in the world for quality of life, according to the 2025 Oxford Economics Global Cities report. What are they doing right there that rapidly growing cities like Bengaluru can take notes from?
“My experience in the probably 100 cities around the world I visited, both professionally and as a tourist, is that investment in mass rapid transit is essential in making a city more liveable for its residents, and more accessible for its visitors. So, connections from airports to CBDs, connecting major attractions, and major population centres are fundamental,” he said, adding that congestion in big cities occur when the limited transporation space is taken up by individuals in their private vehicles.
15-20 minute city
Canberra sits on a very large geographic footprint, almost equivalent to Greater London, he pointed out, adding that it is the largest inland city in Australia.
“So, its urban renewal journey has largely been about increasing population density, not to sprawl further. The focus has been on creating areas of greater residential and commercial density within key urban centres, transport corridors, and where employment is. The objective has been to ensure that Canberra remains a 15 to 20 minute city. Our public transport investment, our rail infrastructure investment, electrification of our bus fleet, has really focussed on those key transport corridors,” he said.
Mr. Barr further explained that Canberra’s planning and design is that not all employment is located in the central business district; they have a number of different “employment nodes”.
“That has enabled people to be able to have employment and recreation, and housing opportunities in much closer proximity. A feature of Canberra, being a more modern and younger city, is that much of the design was focused on the motor car, but that is changing. The objective is to make the city much more walkable and easier to move around through e-mobility,” he further said.
Quicker travel times on public transportation is a real tipping point for people’s choices, Mr. Barr argued. “Everyone wants to spend more time on things they enjoy, and I don’t think there are many people who enjoy travelling to work,” he said, batting for transit lanes such as bus and cycling lanes.
Other things that can be done include having a little bit more flexibility in terms of core business hours, he said, referring to the peak morning and evening hours when congestion peaks as work timings of the majority coincide. “The solution here is a combination of more infrastructure, more public transport. But that comes with a cost,” he said.
Indian diaspora and tourists
Mr. Barr spoke about why the ACT, in particular, and Australia in general, is coming up with targeted programmes to attract more Indian talent and tourists.
“We have had a focus on the Indian market for some time now, and that’s starting to pay dividends for us. We saw about 4,30,000 Indian tourists visit Australia in 2025, growing between 5% and 10% a year, and the ACT’s market share of that is about 3.5%, which is effectively double our population share. It is driven by a combination of education and tourism. People are visiting their friends and relatives because the largest diaspora community in Canberra now is the Indian community, who represent nearly 5% of all Canberra residents,” explained Mr. Barr.
Andrew Barr speaks about why the ACT, in particular, and Australia in general, is coming up with targeted programmes to attract more Indian talent and tourists.
| Photo Credit:
Tourism Australia
He further said Indian students now account for a little under 15% of the international student market for Canberra, and the city and ACT see a strong flow of students from India and the region, reflecting the visa and work rights arrangements that Australia has in place.
Published – February 28, 2026 08:52 pm IST
