I'm most skeptical of the Western District becoming its own thriving and independent CBD.
Granted I was lucky when I lived in Sydney, I was able to afford to live close enough to walk everywhere. I hated driving though, the traffic mainly but always fearful of accidentally turning onto a toll road. I'm still dismayed about the governments insistence on big toll highway projects.
Sydney and Melbourne’s populations are both growing way too fast for the Governments to keep up with infrastructure, schools, hospitals, etc. even if they were competent... (The Federal Government sets the skilled migration rate, which is unusually high compared to other OECD countries, but the states have to pay for the infrastructure. At the same time, there’s huge slack in the employment market with up to 20% unemployed or under-employed).
I’m so glad my family moved away from Sydney when I was a baby... If you can find a good tech job, life is much better (and cheaper) in Brisbane.
Finding one job is easy. However what's the contingency if that job goes (bust, relocate, get fed up with the politics, etc)
People seem to flock to major tech hubs because they are more likely to be able to find a replacement job. There's less competition for jobs in Brisbane, but there's fewer jobs available, and it's harder to leave one job on Friday and start a new one on Monday.
The plans to create a CBD in the west are centered around the new airport to be built in 2026. Seems pretty ambitious as this will likely serve smaller domestic flights.