There was a time when many young Tasmanians grew up understanding that if you wanted to build a significant career, you would eventually pack a suitcase and cross the Bass Strait. It became an unspoken rhythm of island life. Study here. Dream here. Grow here. Then leave and build your productive career elsewhere.

For generations this pattern has slowly drained talent from Tasmania. Each year capable young people step onto a plane not because they want to abandon home, but because opportunity seems easier to find elsewhere.

Yet cities are not fixed in time. They evolve, just as communities do. Hobart now stands at a moment where it can choose a different path.

What if the next generation did not feel compelled to leave in order to succeed? What if Hobart became a place where serious careers could begin and grow?

This is not a fanciful idea. It is a practical one, provided we start thinking differently about how careers develop.

The first step is to move away from hoping opportunity will appear. Instead, we should plan for it. That begins with identifying the careers that are most suited to Tasmania’s future.

Rather than chasing every new industry that emerges elsewhere, we should ask clear questions. Which professions will matter over the next thirty years? Which fields match Tasmania’s strengths? Our natural environment, our research capability, our creative industries and our growing technology sector all offer clues. I suspect we could see growth and investment in electrical trades and IT application development but there could well be others that appear left of field.

Once identified, the real work begins. We can create clear career pathways that begin early in life.

School programs can connect with apprenticeships, vocational education and university study. Work placements and early industry exposure can form part of the journey. Each stage should build confidence and capability.

When pathways are visible, ambition becomes easier to grasp. A student no longer has to guess how to turn an interest into a profession.

The second step is ensuring those pathways lead to genuine opportunities.

This is where Hobart holds an advantage that large cities often overlook. Our small business sector is strong, diverse and deeply connected to the community and are often the first to adapt when new ideas emerge. They supply both mentoring and training, providing practical experience that cannot be learned in a classroom.

Across Hobart we have business owners willing to invest time and knowledge in the next generation. What is often missing is a simple structure that connects education with those businesses.

By bringing schools, training providers and small businesses together, Hobart could create a network that keeps talent circulating within our own city. Beacon Foundation already delivers a program similar - but imagine if it was delivered to the mainstream student population.

Instead of exporting our brightest minds, we would be nurturing them here.

I feel that the opportunities must be affordable and feel achievable for any child no matter their background.

A fair city ensures that talent and effort alone determine success.

That means accessible training, meaningful work experience and industries that allow people to build stable lives.

When those elements come together, our city becomes confident about its future.

Hobart already possesses many qualities that make people proud to call it home. Our mountain, heritage streets and creative culture give the city its identity.

But identity alone does not build opportunity.

If we want our young people to stay, we must ensure they can see a future where ambition can grow without leaving the island.

If we choose to invest in that vision, the next generation will no longer ask where they must go to succeed.