It is easier to buy a cold six-pack or a drive-through burger in Greater Launceston than it has ever been. McDonald's recently opened its fifth restaurant in Launceston, and across our greater Launceston region, roughly 25 bottle shops operate, including eight clustered within a 380-metre radius in the CBD.

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Commercial investment is always welcome, and more and more people want convenience. But as another retail space turns into a liquor store and another corner gets a drive-through, many are asking: what does Launceston and Northern Tasmania actually need?

Since I arrived in Tasmania, one of the responses to that question is meaningful grocery competition. Northern Tasmanians have long felt the pinch under a dominant supermarket duopoly. Launceston genuinely needs an ALDI grocery store to bring price competition to Coles and Woolworths and offer relief for household budgets.

Yet retail choice is only part of the equation. What our region desperately requires to secure its future is high-density housing.

Walk down Brisbane, St John, or Charles Street, look up, and you will see dozens of vacant or underutilised upper storeys above ground-floor retail. We are sitting on an extraordinary asset while local workers, students, and families struggle to find affordable housing, especially near the........

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