Article written by Claire Stroebel.
It's an age-old debate in South-East Queensland, which city is better? Logan or Brisbane?
I'm guilty of verbally bashing Logan myself, and I don't know where it came from. I wasn't born in Brisbane, my family immigrated to this country over 25 years ago. So, there's no debate there on whether it's nature versus nurture, this rivalry is an ingrained societal norm, at least in Brisbane. I don't like going to Logan.
All joking aside, why? There's nothing wrong with Logan. It has its ups and downs, like Brisbane. It has its good suburbs and its dodgy suburbs. There is ultimately no real reason for us to dislike Logan, or vice versa.
I'm starting to think that it's a class rivalry.
I'm not saying that Brisbane is inherently better, but Brisbane is the capital of Queensland, it's bigger, it's taller, there's a ton of shopping, it's green, it's pretty. But it's wrong to associate size and looks with quality. Not only is there no statistical basis for it, it just doesn't make sense. Good things come in small packages. You take one look at the Internet's proclivity towards cat videos and you will instantly know what I mean. Sure, Brisbane gets the big-ticket items, as capital cities are meant to do.
Movies, festivals, opera, ballet. We get our fair share, even if we miss out on some of the things Sydney gets (that’s a whole other article). But it wouldn’t be any different if Logan was the capital and had the facilities. It doesn’t make us better than them.
This is precisely why I believe that it’s all about class. It’s no secret that Brisbane is a bit snobby. In my experience, the go-to question everyone asks when they meet another person from Brisbane is thus: which school did you go to? If anyone answers with anything that sounds remotely Logan-esque, there’s usually a snort of derision. Which is frankly shameful. It doesn’t matter where your school is, or how it’s run, it matters what kind of person you are. And all the people I’ve met from Logan and its surrounds have been nothing but downright wonderful. People say some pretty nasty things about Logan, but I have a few choice words for some of my fellow Brisbane-ites.
Which brings me to the economic picture of both cities. I’m certainly not an expert, but some experience in regular trips to Logan and just living in Brisbane has shown me a few things. There is a distinct lack of open jobs in Logan, not that Brisbane is much better in this economic climate, but it does seem to be a lot harder for our southern brethren. A lot of work for the dole programs run in Logan too, which doesn’t tell me that Logan citizens are inherently lazy, but rather that some Logan businesses are more likely to take advantage of the cheap labour. The amount you get from Centrelink doesn’t change, but now you do (often) unsafe manual labour for that four hundred odd a fortnight. And when you do the maths, that equates to single digits of income per hour. Which is ridiculous. I feel like there is little to no support in Logan for those doing it tough, and this contributes to a general unease towards Logan. People, unfortunately, tend to go by what they see, and all they see is the attitude of people who are fed up with being pushed aside.
I know it sounds like I’m primarily attacking our state government for the dislike between Brisbane and Logan, but it’s not just about that. The point I’m trying to make is that perhaps we’re being to hard on one another for things we can’t change. I’m not saying that Brisbane-ites have it all easy, but perhaps we’re taking for granted the fact that we’re the capital city, we get the lions share of the money, and that perhaps we should show a little modesty when it comes to the judgement of our sister city. There may be a time when we fall on hard luck and need the nice cheaper rent that Logan has to offer. It’s pretty nice and green down there, and they have a decent Ikea.
Now, Logan residents aren’t perfect either, they probably view us as a bunch of snobs, and they’re not entirely wrong. But neither should they judge us to harshly. Just because we come from different areas in the same country, it doesn’t mean that we can’t all get along. I don’t think I’ve quite begun to scratch the surface of the real, deep issue that Brisbane has with Logan and vice versa, but hopefully I’ve given us all something to think about. It may be a tired message, but it still rings true. Love thy neighbour, you never know when you might need their supplies and aid in an apocalypse situation.
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