· web viewthis is a wedge-tailed eagle, or half of it, and i would like to see more of these in...

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

The 4505 meeting of the Brisbane City Council,held at City Hall, Brisbaneon Tuesday 23 August 2016at 2pm

Prepared by: Council and Committee Liaison OfficeChief Executive’s OfficeOffice of the Lord Mayor and Chief Executive Officer

Dedicated to a better Brisbane


THE 4505 MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,

ON TUESDAY 23 AUGUST 2016AT 2PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS_______________________________________________________________i

PRESENT:________________________________________________________________________1

OPENING OF MEETING:____________________________________________________________1

APOLOGY:_______________________________________________________________________1

MINUTES:_______________________________________________________________________1

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:____________________________________________________________2

QUESTION TIME:__________________________________________________________________5

CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS:___________________________________________17ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE___________________________________________17

A REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING ON 4 AUGUST 2016__________________________________37B 2015-16 BUDGET – FINAL AUTHORISATIONS REVIEW_____________________________________________38C FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BID FOR THE 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES_________________38

PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE_______________________________________________39A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BUS OPERATOR TRAINING_________________________________________40

INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE___________________________________________________________42A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – GATEWAY UPGRADE NORTH – INTERFACE WITH COUNCIL’S ROAD NETWORK__

________________________________________________________________________________________45B PETITION – REQUESTING COUNCIL INSTALL TRAFFIC LIGHTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF LYTTON ROAD AND

RIVERSIDE PLACE, MORNINGSIDE_____________________________________________________________46CITY PLANNING COMMITTEE_____________________________________________________________47

A DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION UNDER SUSTAINABLE PLANNING ACT 2009 – DEVELOPMENT PERMIT – MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE FOR RETIREMENT FACILITY AND PRELIMINARY APPROVAL TO CARRY OUT BUILDING WORK – 7 BRADDOCK STREET, ROBERTSON – AVEO RETIREMENT HOMES LIMITED_____________52

ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE______________________________________54A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – WATER SMART STREET TREES______________________________________56

FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE_____________________________________________________________56A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – IFAT – GERMANY 2016____________________________________________58

LIFESTYLE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE___________________________________________60A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – EAT SAFE BRISBANE______________________________________________61

FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE________________________________________62A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BRISBANE GLOBAL TENS 2017______________________________________64B COMMITTEE REPORT – BANK AND INVESTMENT REPORT – 24 JUNE 2016_____________________________65

PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS:_____________________________________________________65

GENERAL BUSINESS:______________________________________________________________66

QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN:__________________________________74

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN:________________________76

[4505 (Ordinary) Meeting – 23 August 2016]

Dedicated to a better Brisbane


THE 4505 MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,

ON TUESDAY 23 AUGUST 2016AT 2PM

PRESENT:The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK) – LNPThe Chairman of Council, Councillor Angela OWEN (Calamvale Ward) – LNP

LNP Councillors (and Wards) ALP Councillors (and Wards)Krista ADAMS (Holland Park)Adam ALLAN (Northgate)Matthew BOURKE (Jamboree)Amanda COOPER (Bracken Ridge)Vicki HOWARD (Central) (Deputy Chairman of Council)Steven HUANG (Macgregor)Kim MARX (Runcorn)Peter MATIC (Paddington)Ian McKENZIE (Coorparoo)David McLACHLAN (Hamilton)Ryan MURPHY (Doboy)Adrian SCHRINNER (Chandler) (Deputy Mayor)Julian SIMMONDS (Walter Taylor) Steven TOOMEY (The Gap) Andrew WINES (Enoggera)Norm WYNDHAM (McDowall)

Peter CUMMING (Wynnum Manly) (The Leader of the Opposition)Jared CASSIDY (Deagon) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)Steve GRIFFITHS (Moorooka)Charles STRUNK (Forest Lake)Shayne SUTTON (Morningside)

Queensland Greens Councillor (and Ward)Jonathan SRI (The Gabba)

Independent Councillor (and Ward)Nicole JOHNSTON (Tennyson)

OPENING OF MEETING:The Chairman, Councillor Angela OWEN, opened the meeting with prayer, and then proceeded with the business set out in the Agenda.

APOLOGY:75/2016-17

Apologies were submitted on behalf of Councillors Fiona KING and Kate RICHARDS, and they were granted leave of absence from the meeting on the motion of Councillor Kim MARX, seconded by Councillor Andrew WINES.

MINUTES:76/2016-17

The Minutes of the 4504 meeting of Council held on 16 August 2016, copies of which had been forwarded to each Councillor, were presented, taken as read and confirmed on the motion of Councillor Kim MARX, seconded by Councillor Andrew WINES.

[4505 (Ordinary) Meeting – 23 August 2016]

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:Ms Paige Garland – Donation of artwork made from feathers of birds killed on roads in South East Queensland.File number: 137/220/701/263

Chairman: I would now like to call on Ms Paige Garland who will address the Chamber on a donation of artwork made from feathers of birds killed on roads in South East Queensland. Orderly, please show Ms Garland in.

Thank you, Ms Garland; please proceed, you have five minutes.

Ms Paige Garland: Thank you very much. Thank you very much to Brisbane City Council, particularly Madam Chairman, the LORD MAYOR and Councillors. Thank you very much for this opportunity to talk to you about this very important issue.

My name is Paige Garland, and I’m a strategic planner. I have been distressed by local species, both the loss of the number of species and the diversity of those species. We have a Land for Wildlife property approximately one hour out from our home in Brisbane, and I drive regularly out to it.

Initially when seeing that loss, I took photos and realised that hundreds of photos of dead wildlife would be of little value to our community. So I discussed it with my mother, Robyn Garland, who is a professional artist, about what to do. I noticed that the feathers of the birds that I was seeing on the roads and beside the roads and footpaths and things were very beautiful. It was her suggestion to turn them into artwork.

So I approached the State Government and sought the necessary permit, and decided to make art from the feathers. I also started a Go Fund Me campaign, because it became very clear that there were a large number of animals, birds in particular, species being lost, and so I would need quite a substantial amount of money to fund all the frames. I am very grateful to my husband for the substantial financial backing he has provided to this project.

So, the list of species, some of the species that I have seen, that have been lost on Brisbane roads and in local South East Queensland roads are crested pigeons, rainbow lorikeets, magpies, sulphur-crested cockatoo, galah, pheasant coucals, tawney frogmouth, eastern grass owls, southern barn owls, southern boobook owls, wedge-tailed eagles, blue tongue lizards, frilled neck lizards, a wide variety of snakes, possums, two bandicoots, five echidna in the last 18 months, kangaroos and wallabies—I’ve stopped taking photos of deceased kangaroos and wallabies as there are too many; in one lifetime nobody should take that many photos of deceased kangaroos and wallabies—cats and dogs.

I have made previous donations of the kookaburra to Somerset Regional Council, a tawny frogmouth to Toohey Forest Eco Centre, a crested pigeon to Salisbury State School, and a pheasant coucal to Pamphlett-Tennyson Sea Scouts. I have exhibited seven pieces for one week at the Sustainability Centre in Carindale which is run by the Bulimba Creek Catchment Association. I have brought a couple of pieces in to show you today. This is a magpie, and that’s from Brisbane. I’ll be donating it to this Brisbane City Council.

This is a wedge-tailed eagle, or half of it, and I would like to see more of these in Brisbane skies, as we still do have about an hour from Brisbane. This is what is left of a tawny frogmouth, much like the one that I donated to Toohey Forest Eco Centre. I have picked up four tawny frogmouths. I have had the permit since October. This is a sulphur-crested cockatoo—again, this is from a Brisbane road.

Thankfully I have had a lot of media support. I have received coverage from the ABC National News, Spencer Howson on 612 ABC, the Somerset newspaper, and the Southern Star have featured my work and run a series as a consequence about road kill locally. Science says accelerated modern human induced species loss entering the sixth mass extinction was a published article in Science Advances on 19 June 2015 from scientists from Stanford, Princeton, Berkley,

[4505 (Ordinary) meeting – 23 August 2016]

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and the National University of Mexico. In it they said, “Estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last century indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already under way. Averting a dramatic decay of biodiversity and the subsequent loss of ecosystem services is still possible through intensified conservation efforts, but that window of opportunity is rapidly closing.”

As a result, I am calling on you to demonstrate greater leadership and create a stronger culture of conservation. Use your influence over the media to promote a culture of conservation on internal/external publications. Make wildlife cameras readily available. Donate one wildlife camera to every school and scout hall as you do with free trees.

Make wildlife cameras available for loan through every library. Somerset Regional Council Library, I can loan as part of our Land for Wildlife scheme, a wildlife camera. Install wildlife cameras to monitor the road kill around your forests, like around Toohey Forest. On the roads around Salisbury, you see the road kill because they are near the forest. Improve road signage in and around Brisbane Forest Park. I note recently driving between Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious individuals have put road signs up telling people to be aware of the wallabies.

Work harder to make responsible domestic pet ownership the culture. You need to pay more attention to the restraint of domestic pets on footpaths and within home owners’ boundaries. The number of dead species I see when I’m walking my dog is horrific. It is on your footpaths, and it is because dogs get off leads or out of fences. Put more nest boxes in parks and replace the ones that are damaged. For example, there is the one in Salisbury that is damaged.

Perhaps you could feature a native animal each month; for example, the top 50 native species in Brisbane. I would be a very happy mother if every child in Brisbane was able to recite the 50 most popular native species in Brisbane. Why is it that our children care more about the lions and tigers of another country than they are able to care about our own native species? We have to start by educating them.

Get back the species you’ve lost. We care a great deal about having blue water. What about having a wedge-tailed eagle flying high in the skies of Brisbane? Use a scientific approach to look at the reintroduction of species lost in Brisbane skies, and engage with Griffith University, the Department of Main Roads and the Department of Environment on all these initiatives. Please accept this donation of a magpie found on a Brisbane road, and at a personal level, I would be happy if you supported my Go Fund Me campaign because I have a large number more frames to buy, and I am self-funded.

Chairman: Thank you, Ms Garland. Would you please take a seat whilst you’re responded to?

Councillor McLACHLAN, would you care to respond please?

Response by Councillor David MCLACHLAN, Chairman of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee

Councillor McLACHLAN: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Ms Garland, thank you for your presentation. I am responding to you as the Chairman of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee, so thank you for your gift. Thank you for the work that you undertake on this venture, as well as what you do for the wildlife corridor, the wildlife conservation partnership program that we initiated, and your participation in that is greatly appreciated, your Land for Wildlife property.

We are on the same page in this regard. This is an area of work that we have been doing a lot of work in. Just recently in our Committee we went through exactly the same sort of process. We looked at the hot spots, if you like, where we know animals are being killed, so it is an issue that is very germane to us. It is something that we are paying a lot of attention to.


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Some of those areas you mentioned, and I’ll be happy to take off line some of the other areas that you mentioned as well that we may not have mapped. But we are looking at a number in relation to those hot spots on that map—the Mt Gravatt Capalaba Road, the Tilley Road and adjoining areas, the Wacol Station Road and adjoining areas, the McDowell area generally, Burbank and Rochedale, and the Belmont Hills bushland and White’s Hill Reserve connection. So we are working hard to ensure we get those connectivities, those wildlife connections, going to provide for wildlife movement.

We know that wildlife movement is a fact of life along our roads. We know that the roads cut across their movement corridors. That is why we have to design in elements where we can to help those animals get from area to area. We are looking at and provide already land bridge overpasses. They are at Hamilton Road and Compton Road—I am sure you are probably familiar with those—and at Gap Road in separate locations. We’ve got ladders, tunnels and glider poles at Blunder Road, Compton Road, Hamilton Road, Trinity Way, Paradise Road, Scrub Road and Telegraph Road.

We know, too, though, as you have mentioned, it is about driver behaviour, and it is something that we all have to work on, both in relation to general safety on our roads, but also in relation to the impact that they can have on wildlife. So my branch, which is the Natural Environment Water and Sustainability Branch, is working with their colleagues—these are Council officers from the Transport Planning and Strategy branch—so we’re looking at additional wildlife movements, solutions in the Mt Gravatt Capalaba Road section in Chandler, the Wacol Station Road in Jamboree, and the Upton Road, Croft Road, Fort Road in Chandler as well.

So what we will be seeing coming through from that sort of cooperation, that sort of initiative, are things like LED speed activated signage and road pavement signage warning drivers about what they might encounter along that roadway, looking at infrastructure where bridges can be built a bit higher than might otherwise be designed so there’s an opportunity for wildlife to pass underneath. You mentioned working with the State Government. We too work with the State Government on their infrastructure projects to make sure that we do have solutions for wildlife corridors.

In particular—and I am sure you are probably aware of this—our bushland acquisition program means we have significant areas of natural bushland where animals can reside hopefully without needing to cross roads. So Karawatha Forest in particular, 900 hectares and growing, which is the home to 100 or more species of different birds, and hopefully they can all reside within that environment without having to cross on to roadways. But we know with birds in particular we can provide the corridors for mammals to travel through, but birds can land on a road. We know they are particularly vulnerable to feral animals—foxes, cats, wild dogs.

We have initiated a program in particular—or this is a new program that we have initiated—to report a fox, so we know that a lot of the birds that you might see killed by the roadway might actually have been killed by a feral animal rather than being run over. They might just have found their way onto the roadway. We are very conscious of undertaking that sort of education program as well.

I think, as I say, we are on the same page. We are always reminding our residents, if they see an injured or wild animal, to call the RSPCA and to report them. Obviously one of the issues that we do get as a consequence of those reports is a greater contribution to those hot spot maps so we know where we might need to provide that additional infrastructure.

Thank you very much for coming in. There is an opportunity—and I am happy to take this off line—perhaps as an invitation for you to consider to do a display down at the Karawatha Forest, and the Discovery Centre there. We do have an artist-in-residence program, and that is running through with a current artist in residence down there. But I can talk to you at another time to see if you would like to take up an opportunity to put on a display either for a short term or a


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longer term to help draw attention to the issues you have raised here today. So thank you very much for coming in.

Chairman: Thank you, Ms Garland, and thank you for the donation. We will ensure that it gets appropriately placed.

QUESTION TIME:

Chairman: Are there any questions of the LORD MAYOR or a Chairman of any of the Standing Committees?

Councillor McKENZIE.

Question 1

Councillor McKENZIE: Madam Chairman, my question is to the LORD MAYOR. Throughout the recent election, Building our Local Economy and Creating New Jobs was a cornerstone policy. Could you please update the Chamber on the progress of filming projects in Brisbane to complement this policy?

LORD MAYOR: Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and I thank Councillor McKENZIE for the question. That question comes at a time when there is a little bit of Thormania happening around our city. There has been no shortage of interest in Thor being in town, and much of that interest is directed, I have to say, towards Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. But that said, can I just say that we are not any longer a one-trick pony when it comes to film in this city.

In the last five years we have now seen a doubling of the number of filming projects that have occurred in Brisbane. In the last financial year, Councillor McKENZIE, we have seen some 338 projects conducted. If I might give some sort of a breakdown in relation to those, six of those have indeed been feature films. We have seen nine music videos, 12 documentaries, 13 short films, 22 reality TV programs. We have seen TV other than a reality format—in other words, drama or comedies—in the number of 31; still photography, 39; corporate videos, 44; television commercials, 80; and student filming, 82.

We are now at a stage where we can say informatively that last year $26 million was generated to our local economy through filming. This is a good journey to be on. Brisbane has certainly experienced significant growth as a preferred location for both local and international film.

In the last year alone, we have some of those feature films being Raj Kumar, Out of the Woods, Pacific Theatre, Spacetime, We Were Tomorrow, and Nest. Of course, we saw a little bit of coverage recently of the upcoming television miniseries Hoges, the biopic of Paul Hogan, and that joins many other such types of films that we are seeing. If you look back, I guess, at some of the bigger names for films that have been here—San Andreas was one; we had Unbroken, of course, with Angeline Jolie in that film; The Railway Man, with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman; and then the Australian television series, The Family Law, and Secrets and Lies.

So, Madam Chairman, these are just a sprinkling of the types of events and filming that we are seeing in our city. We are hoping that we can continue to progress. We have certainly shown to be a city that is popular in terms of the filming location opportunities that arise, and some of those more popular locations, apart from the more recent city streets occurring with Thor, we have seen Elizabeth Street used with San Andreas on a Sunday in that case, and we have also seen City Hall, King George Square, the Queen Street Mall, New Farm Park, the City Botanic Gardens and Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha, the Kangaroo Point cliffs, the Wickham Terrace car park, and Spring Hill Reservoir among other sites, all being utilised for filming in our city.

It all adds to the reputation of Brisbane and the fact that we have seen a doubling of the filming occur here in that five-year period is an indication that film directors see us as a film-friendly place. We are, of course, in the month of


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November going to see the 10th anniversary of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards staged here in Brisbane. Lord David Puttenham will be in Brisbane as the jury head for that event. That was the premier event of film awards for the Asia Pacific region, recognised by the Motion Picture Association as such.

I say in conclusion: we are a city that is one which has a growing reputation in the world of film, and long may these statistics continue to grow. At the end of the day, they mean further economic intrusion into our city, and that is good for our residents. On Thor alone, if I could add this, we have some 130 Brisbane people that are engaged as extras in that particular filming. So there are employment opportunities that also emerge from these events.

Chairman: Thank you, LORD MAYOR.

Further questions?

Councillor CUMMING.

Question 2

Councillor CUMMING: Yes, Madam Chair, my question is to the LORD MAYOR. In 2015 the Queensland Audit Office delivered a report on fraud management in local government. It concludes, and I quote, “Most Councils are not effective in managing their fraud risks. Their responses to known and potential fraud risks are, by and large, inadequate and demonstrate a lack of leadership and a failure of governance.”

Given the $450,000 fraud that was perpetrated on the ratepayers of Brisbane last week, would you please explain what fraud prevention measures were undertaken by this LNP Administration after you were warned last year by the Queensland Audit Office that you were failing to meet the standards expected?

LORD MAYOR: Madam Chairman, I thank Councillor CUMMING for the question. In responding to that question, I just want to once again assure the Chamber of this: in terms of the event which occurred where a sophisticated scam resulted in this Council being defrauded, if you like, of some $450,000, Deloitte are carrying out an investigation in relation to the processes, practices and the procedures around those matters.

I have indicated very clearly to you, Councillor CUMMING, as I have the Brisbane people that the report, when completed, will be made public. We are expecting the report will take around one month to complete, but again, I do not want to be held to that in the sense that Deloitte will take the time that is required to do thorough investigation.

On top of that, obviously the Queensland Audit Office are also having a look at matters, and we will see what they have to say as well.

Councillor SUTTON: Point of order, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Point of order, Councillor SUTTON.

Councillor SUTTON: I have been listening to the LORD MAYOR give his answer for some time yet, but the Leader of the Opposition was very clear. He references the Queensland Audit Office’s 2015 warning to this Council, that they weren’t—

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON—

Councillor SUTTON: —adequately protected from fraud and—

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON—

Councillor SUTTON: —the question was, what—

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, the LORD MAYOR is putting things into context. I don’t uphold your point of order. He is answering the question providing context.

LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: So, Madam Chairman, I raise Deloitte quite deliberately, because within their report, they will be looking at these issues. They will be looking at the procedures and practices, the very things that Councillor CUMMING is


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referring to in his question. This organisation, on an ongoing basis, looks at its procedures, looks at its practices, and we are of course on an ongoing basis reviewed by the Queensland Audit Office. In fact, there is a Queensland Audit Report that comes to this place every year that reports on deficiencies that there might be in our system. That is something that we will cooperate fully with.

I say again that, when the Deloitte report is out, it will be made public. That will hopefully reveal for all of us, if there is deficiencies, what those deficiencies are, so that they can be corrected. I do note that this was not the only council. Townsville City Council were defrauded of some $300,000. You can look to other organisations also where there has been defrauding. I think Leighton were hit by some $21 million; Anglo American lost $9.8 million. So we are not alone. There may be others. I don’t know, there could be even some government entities—


LORD MAYOR: There could be some government entities, I don’t know.

Chairman: Point of order against you, LORD MAYOR.

Councillor SUTTON.

Councillor SUTTON: Again I ask you to direct the LORD MAYOR to answer Councillor CUMMING’s question, which is what have—

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, Councillor SUTTON, Councillor SUTTON! I remind you of Section 51 of the Meetings Local Law. When I speak, you immediately cease speaking. Further, points of order must be raised without argument or discussion. Therefore I don’t uphold your point of order. The LORD MAYOR has five minutes to answer. He is relating all the relevant details in respect of the item of fraud that Councillor CUMMING has raised. The LORD MAYOR is putting it into context.

LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: So, Madam Chairman, what I am saying today is that, when the Deloitte report comes down, that will—


LORD MAYOR: —that will provide—


Councillor SUTTON: The question was not—

Chairman: Councillor—

Councillor SUTTON: Madam Chair, if you allow me the opportunity to provide you with the reason for my point of order.

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, you do not provide reasons for your point of order. There are specifics that relate to how to raise a point of order. I have reaffirmed for you that the LORD MAYOR is responding to the question. Councillor CUMMING quite clearly referred to the fraud of $450,000, and the other part of your question, the LORD MAYOR has five minutes to answer. So please resume your seat and allow the LORD MAYOR to finish his answer. I don’t uphold your point of order.

LORD MAYOR.

Councillor interjecting.

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, you do not yell out across this Chamber. If you continue to do so, it will be considered an act of disorder.

LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: Madam Chairman, I hear the Opposition. I think they ought to have a look back at some of the Audit Reports during their time in Administration, during the


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time when the Leader of the Opposition sat on this side of the Chamber. That will be a telling yarn.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Point of order, Madam Chairman.

LORD MAYOR: lf they want me to repeat that—I didn’t have my microphone on. Do you want me to repeat that?

Chairman: I understand that, LORD MAYOR. Councillor JOHNSTON has just called a point of order.

Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Madam Chairman, I refer you to the Meetings Local Law, Section 33(8). It says that the LORD MAYOR must answer the question, and shall not debate the subject of the question. The LORD MAYOR is debating the subject of the question asked by questioning its merit—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, in relation to 33(8)(b), the answer must be relevant. As I have said—


Chairman: Order!


Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, you do not call out when I am speaking. I have determined it is relevant because he is providing information in regards to the specific item that Councillor CUMMING mentioned in relation to the $450,000 fraud. Therefore it is relevant.

LORD MAYOR.


Chairman: Point of order, Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Just for the record—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, I have called you on a point of order. What is your point of order?


Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON!

Councillor JOHNSTON: I am saying, I’ve had a problem with my microphone—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, there is no problem with the microphones. That is not a point of order.

LORD MAYOR, please continue.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Somebody—no, no; well, Madam Chairman, I am just checking; my point of order is my microphone went off during my last point of order, and I want to make sure that—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, when the Chairman of this Council speaks, you cease speaking. That is not a valid point of order.

LORD MAYOR.



Councillor JOHNSTON: Madam Chairman, I want to make sure that the microphones and the recording in this place is actually functional and working so that what we say is appropriately recorded in the Minutes.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, I have just—

Councillor JOHNSTON: Can you confirm that that is the case?


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Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, I have just stated that there is no issue with the microphones, and I have—


Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, you do not give me direction in this place. If you continue to interject and cause disorder in this place, your conduct will be noted as such.

LORD MAYOR, please continue.

LORD MAYOR: Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. So, Councillor CUMMING’s question will be answered within the content of the Deloitte report. I have indicated that it will be down within about a month.

Councillors interjecting.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor SUTTON: You did nothing about it.

Warning – Councillor Shayne SUTTONThe Chairman then formally warned Councillor Shayne SUTTON that if she continued the acts of disorder she would be suspended from the service of the Council for a period of up to eight days. Furthermore, Councillor SUTTON was warned that, if she were suspended from the service of the Council, she would be excluded from the Council Chamber, Antechamber, Public Gallery and other meeting places for the period of suspension.

Chairman: Councillor SUTTON, I hereby warn you that if you continue to yell out across the Chamber, in direct contravention of the direction I have given you, it will be considered an act of disorder and you may be warned for the purposes of being suspended from the Council Chamber. If you are suspended from the Council Chamber, it will include the Chamber, the ante-Chamber, and all other meeting places.

Further questions?

Councillor HOWARD.

Question 3

Councillor HOWARD: Thank you, Madam Chairman; my question is to the Chairman of City Planning Committee, Councillor SIMMONDS. Last week we saw the Opposition criticise the LORD MAYOR and this Administration’s future fund, CBIC, for undertaking developments that provide a benefit to ratepayers and, in turn, assist Council in delivering for Brisbane. For the benefit of all Councillors in the Chamber, can you outline the ALP’s hypocrisy in relation to developments by CBIC? Is the Chairman aware of any other examples of Labor hypocrisy when it comes to planning and development in our city?

Councillor SIMMONDS: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman, and thank you very much to Councillor HOWARD for the question, because what I observed from the Labor Councillors last week was some of the most blatant and self-serving hypocrisy that we have seen for some time in this place. I am quite pleased that Councillor GRIFFITHS was having a little giggle as you were asking that question, because I don’t want to spoil—

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Point of order, Madam Chairman.

Councillor SIMMONDS: He may or may not play a part in this answer—

Chairman: Point of order against you, Councillor SIMMONDS.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: There was no giggling.

Chairman: Councillor GRIFFITHS, you didn’t have the call, and you do not just get up and call a point of order on something spurious.

Councillor SIMMONDS.


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Councillor SIMMONDS: Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. We all, as Councillors in this place, know the history of CBIC. Formed in 2009 as this city’s future fund, it has returned $70 million in dividends to the people of Brisbane that has helped keep rates down. The equivalent of rates increase of some seven per cent or more that would have had to have been accommodated in that time otherwise, without cutting frontline services, dollars which Labor would have had us reach into the pockets of ratepayers rather than undertake through this future fund.

We know that every cent that is earned from these investments comes back to ratepayers to pay for frontline services. But in particular, it was Labor’s criticism of the DA process last week that drew out the hypocrisy on this particular issue. CBIC has always put in DAs for their projects, where they have been required to, under the Sustainable Planning Act.

What was interesting is the last time they did it was of course the commercial development with a new library at Wynnum. That was the last time they had to put in a DA, and what did we hear from Labor at that point? Did they ask for it to be assessed by a third party? No. Did they call on us to resign? No.

Why is that? What could have been the difference? Both were returning dividends to the people of Brisbane, weren’t they? It is just the difference in that case was that the dividend was to Councillor CUMMING with a brand new library in his ward. So he turned up, he turned up on opening day, having got this brand new library, and was he there at the opening to demand the LORD MAYOR’s resignation for an outrageous project, that CBIC intended to undertake a project with a DA? No, he was there to cut ribbons. Of course he was. It was the middle of the election, right? So of course he was there to cut them.


Chairman: Councillor CASSIDY!

Please continue, Councillor SIMMONDS.

Councillor SIMMONDS: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Of course, the independent and transparent process that we go through in terms of development assessment in this process, how does that compare with their State Labor colleagues, who we know as part of the Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) projects are not only the landowners; they are the selectors of the preferred tenderers, they’re the development assessment agency, and they’re the JV partners, and then banks part of the profits on those particular developments that they have assessed.


Councillor SIMMONDS: And they write the plans under which they assess those developments. Have we heard them in this place calling on the Premier to resign for daring to support EDQ? Listen to it, Madam Chair; that is all you need to know. Crickets, crickets over there.

But my favourite part of last week was when Councillor SUTTON absolutely dropped her colleagues in it when she set the standard that, if the LORD MAYOR was going to have a DA from City of Brisbane Investment Corporation (CBIC), then he needed to resign.

We already know that he is well and truly at arm’s length of that governance process. But it got me thinking. Who in this Chamber, as Councillors, have been developers and undertaken development? Of course, none other than Councillor GRIFFITHS and Councillor CUMMING, on her side of the Chamber—


Councillor SIMMONDS: I wonder if any of those profits came back to the ratepayers.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor SIMMONDS: I wonder if there was any thought—Madam Chairman, talk about hypocrisy, at the same time as Councillor GRIFFITHS—



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Chairman: Councillor GRIFFITHS!


Chairman: Councillor CASSIDY! Councillor JOHNSTON! Councillor SUTTON, you have already been warned.

Councillor SIMMONDS: Oh, Madam Chairman, I have hit a nerve. I hope I haven’t dropped poor Councillor SUTTON into it. I don’t think they picked up on this before now.

At the same time as Councillor GRIFFITHS was in this place debating the City Plan, debating the policy settings for his development, he was out there applying for the development to subdivide his block into small lots. There you go; I’ve made a profit. That profit will come back to ratepayers. No, I bet it didn’t, unlike CBIC where it’s all—


Councillor SIMMONDS: But he did get a footpath out of it. But it’s all—

Councillor GRIFFITHS: Point of order, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Point of order against you—

Councillor GRIFFITHS: There is serious—

Chairman: Councillor GRIFFITHS, I haven’t given you the call. Councillor SIMMONDS, a point of order against you.

Councillor GRIFFITHS.

Councillor GRIFFITHS: This is imputing motive, Madam Chair, and it’s unacceptable.

Councillor SIMMONDS: Madam Chairman, not at all. I don’t think he—

Chairman: Councillor SIMMONDS, I haven’t given my ruling, sorry. Councillor GRIFFITHS, I don’t uphold your point of order.

Councillor SIMMONDS.

Councillor SIMMONDS: Thank you, Madam Chairman; I am only following their own standard that they purported to have the LORD MAYOR follow last week to its logical conclusion, where unlike the LORD MAYOR who is at arm’s length from the CBIC which is governed by an independent board of directors, which goes through the DA process, which is independently assessed, you’ve got Councillor GRIFFITHS putting in his own DA as he debates—


Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON!

Unfortunately, Councillor SIMMONDS, your time has expired.

Councillor SIMMONDS: Thank you very much.

Chairman: Further questions?

Councillor CUMMING.

Question 4

Councillor CUMMING: Thanks, Madam Chair; my question is to Councillor ADAMS, as Finance Chair. Last week the LORD MAYOR revealed that Brisbane City Council had been the target of online scammers who have defrauded the ratepayers of the city to the tune of $450,000. Five other councils, including Bundaberg, were also targeted by the same scammers, but had processes in place which successfully repelled their efforts to defraud their respective councils. Councillor ADAMS, as Finance Chair, with ultimate responsibility for the management of Council’s disbursements, can you assure the Chamber that this is the only incident of fraud perpetrated on the Brisbane City Council, and how did this happen on your watch?

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair, and Councillor CUMMING, I am glad you’ve caught up a week later about what is going on in Brisbane City Council. Yes, obviously


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there has been a lot of talk around the fraud that has recently been perpetrated against Council. Excuse me, but the more I talk, the more I cough.

As the LORD MAYOR said, the Queensland Audit Office was made aware immediately, as was the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) and as was the Queensland Police Service in this instance. No, I cannot stand in this place and say this is the absolute only fraud that has ever happened in Council or under my watch. We are currently investigating and reviewing the processes through Deloitte who are doing an investigation on how this actually happened.

I do not expect that we will see any other issues with this. It was brought to our attention straightaway, and I would expect that anything else would be as well. The LORD MAYOR has said again, as well, that he does not know of it in his time as well. I have been the Finance Chair for three months, and nothing else has been brought to my attention. I think it is a bit of a long bow to draw that I am sitting with the internal auditors and going through the processes day in, day out, as we make payments on a daily occurrence out of City Council, many, many, many payments, that I know absolutely every payment that goes in and out of Council as well.

But we are not sitting on our laurels and making sure that this could happen again. Yes, it is extremely disappointing that what we see here is money going out to scammers who have organised a very complicated scam, but something that other people have picked up, and that is why we are reviewing this process to see how it actually happened. I would love to have a crystal ball to say this is exactly what happened and it won’t happen again.

But we have got about four weeks until Deloittes will actually bring down their review, and they will be looking as an external body to Council at all the processes, interviewing all the people that were involved. As I mentioned, we’ve also got the Queensland Police Service who I am sure are looking at many, many scams right across the state and probably Federal Police wider as well. The Crime and Corruption Commission will probably bring it back to our Ethics Unit as well to investigate. So there will be many, many eyes over this process. While I am Finance Chair, standing here, my eyes will be very closely over the process as well to make sure that this absolutely does not happen again.

But again, as the LORD MAYOR has mentioned, we are not the only ones. There are some councils that did avoid it and picked it up earlier. But if you are thinking about the scale of some of the councils that have avoided it, and the scale of the payments that we are making out of our operations day in and day out, there is something that needs to be investigated, and we have stood up very, very early in this phase, come clean, not hidden it, not hidden behind anybody else, come clean straightaway that we were concerned, stood up and said: we will get the external auditor to come in and review our processes. When that report comes out, it will be made known to the public, and we will be following recommendations to make sure that this does not happen again.


Councillor TOOMEY.

Question 5

Councillor TOOMEY: Thank you, Madam Chairman. My question is to the Chairman of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee, Councillor McLACHLAN. Residents of Brisbane know this Administration is committed to keeping Brisbane clean, green and sustainable into the future. Can you outline how Council ensures this aim through environmental offsets? Is the Chairman aware of any project examples that do not adhere to this important aim?

Councillor McLACHLAN: Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you to Councillor TOOMEY for the question, our Gap Ward Councillor, a true man of the trees. I see you in your high viz most weekends out planting trees, and congratulations for that.

There has been a lot of posturing on trees in the last couple of weeks from the State Labor Government, but nothing to do with genuine concern for the


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environment. It has been about trying to shore up votes for sitting Labor MPs in the electorates of South Brisbane and Mt Coot-tha.

This is directly from The Courier-Mail, and I will quote it. It says, ‘These are the electorates where you find the highest concentration of bumper stickers urging others to lock the gates—


Chairman: Councillor CASSIDY!

Councillor McLACHLAN: —save the reef and vote Green.’ As The Courier-Mail says, and I quote again, “These are the well springs of urban activism that drove Ms Trad and Dr Miles into the parliamentary train wreck on the floor of Parliament last Thursday.”

Well, Madam Chairman, if the State Labor Government is fair dinkum about trees beyond the desire to play bumper sticker politics, there are issues they could actually see from the lofty heights of 1 William Street. Two weeks ago in the Chamber I talked about the State Government’s Gateway Upgrade—


Chairman: Councillor CASSIDY and Councillor SUTTON!

Councillor McLACHLAN: —the Gateway Upgrade North project. In disbelief then, I reported it appeared the State Government is refusing to pay environmental offsets for the loss of trees on 12 hectares of parkland, or in relation to the further 2.3 hectares of tree clearing from Council-owned land as part of the project. That has been confirmed. Here is the letter confirming it. They won’t pay a cent. The State says it won’t pay for any environmental offsets for any TMR projects. It gets worse. It is not just Brisbane City Council; it is any project the TMR says it is exempt from paying environmental offsets.

I recognise the importance of the Gateway Upgrade North project, in particular, being a Councillor on the northside, improving motorists’ safety, reducing congestion, and accommodating future traffic growth. From the Nudgee Wetlands to the Deagon Deviation, I am sure the Gateway Upgrade North project will have many beneficial outcomes.

But it is projects like this that, as a Council, we commit to environmental offsets, to strike a balance between growth and maintaining a green and sustainable city. Where Council or developers are undertaking development within Brisbane City Council areas, where they undertake major projects involving land clearing or that have environmental impacts, Council always seeks to offset the impacts on the environment.

Vegetation loss can be offset through mechanisms in the Brisbane City Plan via the Environmental Offsets Act or through the Council’s Natural Assets Local Law, the NALL as we all know it. Based on the standard environmental offset rate under the NALL, the estimated offset to Council as part of this project would be $4.3 million to compensate for the loss of 12 hectares of parkland, and $842,000 for the other impacted Council land. But the Queensland Government has said it is exempt from Council’s planning scheme and local laws. It simply will not pay.

That means about $5 million worth of offsets will not be paid. If they won’t pay the $5 million, the State Government could plant replacement trees under the Council’s 1:3 planting ratio. The State Government could gift parcels of land to Council, like the State-owned land south of the Mensforth Bushland in Bracken Ridge, which would be an ideal location, and also helping to protect the local squirrel glider population, if that were deeded to us. But the State Government says it won’t undertake any of these means. It won’t pay; it won’t replant; it won’t gift the land.

But they will talk. We know they will talk. That’s why I like this flyer from the Deputy Premier last week—all talk, that is all it was—but when it comes to Council, we don’t just talk, we are committed to it, as Councillor HOWARD is wont to say. We don’t just talk about it; we actually do it.


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We don’t declare ourselves exempt from the offsets. For example—and I was involved with this one as the Chairman of Field Services—we planted over 1,800 trees when we built the new Resource Recovery Centre at Chandler that was next to the Chandler Waste Transfer Station. That saw over 600 trees on site, and 1,200 extra trees in Wakerley. Since 1990, we have secured 3,520 hectares of bushland as part of the Bushland Acquisition Program, and this year we announced we are bringing forward a decade’s worth of acquisitions into one term to add to that estate.

I said when I raised this issue in the past that Labor Councillors opposite, who represent the ALP: talk to your State colleagues. Implore them to not renege on their responsibility to our city’s tree cover, and to the environment. But I suspect they haven’t picked up the phone, they’ve not sent them a text; they are just sitting there mute. That is what we see from their behaviour, and no responsibility for trees or the environment in this place.


Councillor CUMMING.

Question 6

Councillor CUMMING: Thanks, Madam Chair; my question is to the LORD MAYOR. At the meeting of Monday 11 July 2016, the Establishment and Coordination Committee approved the projects to be submitted to the Australian Government for funding consideration under the Black Spot 2017-18 program. Will you please advise the Chamber which projects have been submitted for consideration?

LORD MAYOR: I thank Councillor CUMMING for the question, Madam Chairman. I don’t have that list with me at the moment, so I can’t off the top of my head list those projects. But what I can certainly say to the Leader of the Opposition and to all Councillors is that the Black Spot Program is a partnership between the Federal Government and the local Brisbane City Council. That program has defined terms of reference, as it looks at a significant cost benefit ratio in regards to the selected projects. Under normal circumstances, these are a cost benefit ratio of four or more.

So, it does limit the number of projects across the city that qualify for those. Under normal circumstances, Councillor CUMMING, we will submit any project that we can find with a qualification of four or more. It then comes down to what projects are selected based on the amount of moneys that are available in the annual Federal commitments.

The commitments to the Black Spot Program have increased over the last couple of years. That has been welcomed by this Council. The Black Spot Program goes back to the 1990s. It is a program which has allowed us to undertake upgrades on many projects.


Chairman: Point of order; Councillor SUTTON.

Councillor SUTTON: I appreciate the information that the LORD MAYOR is giving. However, he did say at the start of his answer that he didn’t have the answer to Councillor CUMMING’s question about the list of projects, so I am rising to ask will he take the question on notice and provide that list to all Councillors so that we can get the answer to that question?

Chairman: LORD MAYOR, would you like to clarify if you will be providing the response on notice?

LORD MAYOR: Sure, Madam Chairman, absolutely. As I said at the outset, and if I didn’t say it explicitly enough, I certainly do now: I don’t have that information on me at the moment, and I am certainly happy to provide that by way of information to the whole Chamber in Question Time next week. I would gladly give the list to you, but I just don’t have them with me.

I was outlining, however, the fact that where we find a project across the city that does meet that qualifying amount of four plus in terms of benefit cost ratio,


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we submit all of those projects. That will continue to be our place. We will try and get as many of those projects up as we can. One such project was out in Paradise Road recently, where we are undertaking some significant work out there.


LORD MAYOR: That is one of the Roads to Recovery, not Black Spot. Sorry, that was Roads to Recovery, that one. What I have said about Black Spot today is correct, the four plus in terms of benefit cost ratio, and we will provide those details to the Chamber next week.

Chairman: Thank you, LORD MAYOR.

Further questions?

Councillor WINES.

Question 7

Councillor WINES: Thank you, Madam Chairman; my question is to the Chairman of the Public and Active Transport Committee, Councillor SCHRINNER. It appears that the State Government is going to squib on its responsibility to fund the $10 million worth of road works that Council must deliver in order to facilitate the Queen’s Wharf development. Given the significant failure of the State to provide adequate funding, can you please explain what the subsequent implications will be on Council’s Public and Active Transport program?

DEPUTY MAYOR: Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you, Councillor WINES, for the question. It is a topical one, because we have heard a lot today about Council being ripped off. Councillor CUMMING, for example, was concerned about Council being ripped off for $450,000, and he is rightly concerned, and we are all concerned about that. It is a shame he is not also concerned when the State Government rips us off.

We heard today in Committee that we are being ripped off another $5.2 million by the State Government in underpayment on bus network payments. We have heard from Councillor McLACHLAN that the State is trying to rip us off $5 million in environmental offsets. These are offsets that we would pay as a Council that the State has exempted themselves from. What is going on here?

Some $10 million worth of payments with the Queen’s Wharf development look like they won’t be paid by the State Government as well. So it is a very clear case of Council rightly asking what are the implications of this? I guess lack of the State meeting their obligations and responsibilities financially.

The question specifically Councillor WINES talked about was portfolio. We know that the majority of the portfolio relates to public transport contracts, and these are contracts which the Brisbane City Council ratepayers subsidise quite significantly. When you ask how much money the Redlands ratepayers or the Ipswich ratepayers put into public transport, zero. Council, on the other hand, puts in over $100 million into public transport.

When it comes to the potential of finding cuts to this program, if we were indeed forced to find $10 million of cuts across Council, there would have to be some difficult decisions made. I can tell you that, in the Public and Active Transport portfolio, there are certainly no obvious places you would make those cuts. I don’t want to have to cut bus services; I don’t want to have to cut ferry services; I don’t want to have to cut bikeway projects, but ultimately the State’s decision, or the lack of action, may force us into those kinds of decisions.

One particular example which would be obvious in order to save ratepayers money, if we had to, would be the services which are fully funded by Council and receive no State support. These are services like the Maroon City Glider, the City Loop service and the Spring Hill Loop. Most public transport services are subsidised by the State, around 65% or more, and the rest is put in by Council. In cases like the Maroon City Glider, the service is 100% funded by Council. That costs us over $5 million a year.


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TransLink, when we proposed this service, didn’t want a bar of it. They said you are on your own. But interestingly, LORD MAYOR, TransLink is happy to capture all the fare revenue from the Maroon City Glider. So everyone that gets on the Maroon City Glider pays a fare, goes to State coffers, and we never see a cent. So Council is funding that to the tune of $5 million a year. It is not like it is an unnecessary service or a poorly performing service that needs to be cut. This is carrying 1.2 million passengers a year. It is one of the better performing routes right across the city, very popular, and serves many important electorates at the State level, I should say, including the Deputy Premier’s own electorate.

I have to say the State should start by funding their fair share of the Maroon City Glider. We shouldn’t have to cut this service. We shouldn’t have to consider making these service cuts. The City Loop, for example, a great free service that is provided by Council, taking people around the CBD, once again fully funded by Council, not a skerrick or a cent of State Government support.

We have heard about the City Hopper in recent weeks, another program initiative that is funded by Council, that the State withdrew their support from. So this is becoming a very concerning pattern. I am really concerned that, if the State doesn’t meet their obligations, Council would have to make some very difficult and controversial decisions. Like I said, I don’t want Council to be in this position. The State needs to come up with the money, not just the $10 million for Queens Wharf Brisbane, but also the $5 million for TransLink payments that are missing, and also the $5 million for environmental offsets that we heard about today as well, Madam Chairman.


Councillor CASSIDY.

Question 8

Councillor CASSIDY: Thanks very much, Madam Chair; my question is to the LORD MAYOR. You have said that you will be seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from other levels of government to help build your so-called Metro. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has recently announced land value capture as a way to fund infrastructure. As your so-called Metro is simply building on existing State Government rapid transport infrastructure, the inner northern and south-east busways, there is very little prospect of any additional form of value capture in this project.

Some of the projects that have been identified by the Federal Government to have this potential, and Federal Government support, include a fast rail line to the planned Western Sydney Airport, the Melbourne Metro Rail Project, Adelaide Light Rail, the Brisbane Cross River Rail, and the Perth to Forestfield Airport Link. As your project does not tick any of these boxes, do you concede that your so-called Metro is unlikely to attract Federal Government funding?

LORD MAYOR: I thank Councillor CASSIDY for the question. I think part of what he is saying in terms of the question of value capture is absolutely correct. I think the route in which we are talking about, in terms of the Metro, and I might say, not dissimilar to much of Cross River Rail, I think there is a limited value capture. The State Government have a different view. They think there will be a lot of opportunity for value capture with Cross River Rail. I don’t think that there is a really significant value capture opportunity with either in terms of the route that they follow.

That said, that of itself does not mean that there would not be interest from a Federal Government in relation to a project like the Metro. We have demonstrated before that where we are a serious entity, a serious player and deliverer of projects, where we are prepared to put in a significant proportion of the funding required for a project, we have found that other levels of government will come on board. The Federal Government have demonstrated that with the Legacy Way project. They stumped up with $500 million towards that project.


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I would not be writing anything off if I were you, Councillor CASSIDY. Certainly I can say that, whilst it is all very well to throw all sorts of red herrings into the ring, what are we going to do? What is Labor in here, in this place, what is your answer to bus passengers in this city? Keep doing what we’re doing is not the answer. You just cannot keep pushing more and more buses into the CBD. We know our bus fleet has grown from 700 to 1,200 over the last 10 years, so we do need to have something that will create an opportunity to lessen the number of buses in the CBD and also improve travel times for bus commuters. That is what the Metro is all about.

There will be a business case that will be undertaken. That, as I have said here before, will be completed by May of next year. At that time, we will then go knocking on doors in relation to the funds that we need to make this project fly. But just sitting back and saying, oh, it’s all too hard, and there’s a reason over here why we can’t do it, and we shouldn’t do it because of X, Y or Z, nothing would ever get done. Nothing would ever get done.

The same way that over there they said that those tunnels were all a fantasy, they’d never happen, they’re now in the ground and operating in this city. I would love to have the opportunity to close them all down just for a day and let people tell me then whether or not they work. Because we know when one of them, like Airport Link, for example, closes, the absolute shemozzle it causes on the rest of the road network. They are doing a job in this city.

So it is that I fervently believe the next phase is public transport infrastructure, and this Council, through that, sees the Metro as a new world city project, as a project that will take our city forward in terms of the public transport needs into the future, particularly in those inner city areas that are going to see continued growth into the future. So, Madam Chairman, I thank Councillor CASSIDY for the question. I am not as pessimistic as he is. I believe that, once the business case is done, we will be able to go, knowing that this Council is prepared to put in a significant amount of funds. On that basis, as we have with other projects, I believe we will see it fly.

Chairman: That ends Question Time.

CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE

The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK), Chairman of the Establishment and Coordination Committee, moved, seconded by the DEPUTY MAYOR (Councillor Adrian SCHRINNER), that the report of the meeting of that Committee held on 15 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman. Just before coming to the items on the report, I would just like to report on a few other matters. First, I had the opportunity this morning to join with Councillor Ian McKENZIE inspecting the progress of the Norman Creek plan and specifically the Coorparoo Creek Park. This is a 2012-2031 plan. It is a 20-year plan to see significant improvements along the whole Norman Creek corridor. What we saw this morning, Coorparoo Creek Park and the progress around that work is where Council have gone, we have bought nine properties and we are developing a significant 1.9 hectare park.

This is a new park for the city. It is a park which will help to service the area by way of better flood resilience. It will provide better quality in the waterway, and it will also be a connector for people in that local area, with the provision of bikeway facilities through the site. It will also provide some great open space for that community. It is a flavour of what we talked about back when City Plan 2014 was introduced, where we said we would be committed to the development


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of new parks in this city over time to make sure that, as the city does grow, we will also have the provision of those important open space areas.

That particular Master Plan has three priority areas of Coorparoo, Stones Corner and Woolloongabba. It is progressing well. That park is due for completion early next year. By all reports, it is going very well and could well be opened before then.

The next item I just wanted to cover-off quickly, we saw the launch last week of a new set of residences called Banyan Tree Residences. This is a Singaporean investment on Kangaroo Point, a 76-unit residential building on Kangaroo Point overlooking the river and overlooking the CBD. We thank the Singaporean group for their investment. They are a well-known entity throughout the world, mainly in the hotel sector, but they will be providing some residents certainly at the top end. It will be outside I think everybody’s price range in this room, but nonetheless an offering in Brisbane.

On Singapore, I just want to acknowledge the celebration of the Singaporean 51st National Day. That was celebrated last week, but a dinner was held in the city, with the Singapore Business Association on Saturday evening.

It has also been a big weekend for the Indian community in town, with India’s Independence Day celebrated on the weekend. Indian Independence first occurred on 15 August 1947. In terms of Indian culture, we are going to see in our city in the months of September and October an event called Confluence Festival of India. It was described to me by the High Commissioner that confluence is the joining together of waters, and in this case it is seen as the bringing together of cultures. So I just flag that for people who might want to participate in those events in the months of September and October. There will be more information on Council’s website.

As to the items before us today, of which there are three, the first of those is the Audit Report. This is the Audit Committee Report, and that is provided each time that the Audit Committee meets. There are a number of issues that have been looked at by that Audit Committee there for the attention of Councillors.

The second item relates to the Final Authorisations Review. The purpose of this item is to provide authorisation for the actual expenditure and reserve movements for the 2015-16 financial year. Each year Council brings this item to the Chamber to address any minor matters that have arisen. In previous years, this has included minor matters such as reclassification of expenses to capital and vice versa; a final recognition of savings.

This year there have been some minor variations in the Customer Focus program and in the reserves. In Customer Focus, there was a very minor reclassification of expense to capital to the value of $18,000. This is in the Customer Focus program. It was a terminology—no difference in terms of the number of dollars, but just a change in terms of the way in which it is itemised from an expense to that of a capital item.

That takes us to item C which is the Feasibility Study for South East Queensland (SEQ) Bid for the 2028 Olympic Games. Each Councillor within their papers has been provided with a pre-feasibility report undertaken by the Council of Mayors. That pre-feasibility report essentially outlines some detail and in its summary form says that we would be capable of the provision of an Olympic Games within South East Queensland. This pre-feasibility report comes about as a result of a decision by the Council of Mayors about a year ago, to have a look at the prospects of a Games bid.

So today, we are being asked, through this recommendation, to look to the next step, which would be a feasibility study for an Olympic Games. That feasibility study involves a number of things. It is not just about the Games itself. Importantly, it is also a roadmap to some of the needs of South East Queensland into the future. From the point of view of the mayors of South East Queensland, we believe that a shared, a joint approach to this would be the best way to go. This would not have been possible a little while back, but the reality is; now the International Olympic Committee are more and more prepared to look at a


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regional bid. It is part of agenda 2020 where they are looking at reducing costs and also broadening the base of opportunities in terms of events and facilities associated with an Olympic Games.

The pre-feasibility analysis found that there are possible scenarios which could see a successful Olympic Games bid, and hosting delivered from South East Queensland. Moreover, regardless of the outcome of any potential bid, the analysis also found there are likely benefits to the region in undertaking a bid feasibility study. The analysis concluded that, while it appears possible to successfully bid for and host an SEQ Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2028, further detailed analysis and planning is required through a full feasibility study. So, Madam Chairman, the cost of this study to the region is $2 to $2.5 million.

What I would say to all Councillors today is this: it is not just an expenditure associated with an Olympic Games. It will also inform the region of other important requirements that this region needs, regardless of whether there is an Olympic Games or not. As I have said here before, in terms of the Olympic Games themselves, there is no decision required on that until 2019. An expression of interest would need to be put in in the early part of 2019, and a full bid in the latter part of 2019.

So we are not at that stage yet. That is not what today is about. Today is a question of: do we go to the next step, to the feasibility stage? It is my fervent view that, whether or not we go to a bid in 2019, this work will help inform a direction for South East Queensland into the future in any event. It will look at the infrastructure needs for our region. It will look at those things which will advance our region.

It is my view that this is money well spent for our region. In terms of Brisbane’s contribution, we are looking at some $870,000 spread over two financial years.

Chairman: LORD MAYOR, unfortunately your time has expired.

LORD MAYOR: That is probably enough, Madam Chairman; thank you.

Chairman: Councillor CUMMING.

Councillor CUMMING: Thanks, Madam Chair. In relation to item A, the Audit Committee—the Audit Committee is one of my favourites, as you are probably aware, when it comes to this Council every month or so. I’ve got to say they obviously don’t do a very good job with the fraud that has just occurred. They meet on a regular basis; they’ve got this great attendance list of four members and nine observers, and they discuss all these important issues, some of them relating to audit and matters arising from business units, and update on recording and reporting of losses—this is a matter that has been regularly dealt with by the Audit Committee, and I guess they will have some practice on how to declare the $450,000 loss, and to do that appropriately.

Again, this is a secret committee that provides—you couldn’t write the Minutes any shorter and contain less information than is done, and while that continues, we won’t support any report of the Audit Committee.

Onto item B, the Final Authorisations, I did a bit of a comparison between what finally ended up in the budget for 2015-16 and what we started with back in June 2015 when the budget was brought down. It is interesting to note that revenue in the original budget was supposed to be $2,011,164,000 but by year end it had blown out to $2,097,458,000, so up by some 4.29% on what was originally budgeted. No doubt you are aware, Madam Chair, you follow the economic situation of the country very closely, that inflation in this country now is down to one per cent, not for the last quarter, but one per cent for the last 12 months. A blowout in revenue in the budget during the financial year of 4% is a nice little earner for the Administration, that is for sure. It is a burden on ratepayers of the city.

In relation to the budgeted statement of comprehensive income figure for donations, contributions, subsidies and grants, was originally budgeted at $229,218,000, but ended up at $274,847,000, an increase of 19.91%. I would like Councillor ADAMS to explain how that rocketed up so much during one


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financial year. Another nice little earner was fees and charges. We know this Administration loves their fees and charges, and it has gone up from $249,076,000, up 4.77%; interest dividends and tax equivalent receipts at $215 million was up a spectacular 21.45% on the original budget, and that needs explaining too, as far as I am concerned, as does other revenue at $109,572,000 up 5.25%.

Later in the budgeted statement of cash flows, it is interesting to see materials and services budgeted for $1,346,553,000 and ended up at $1,427,765,000, up 6.03%. I am sure the Administration will say that they were making sure there was lots of work done in lots of wards just before the Council election in March, and if that is the reason, I would like an explanation of why that is the case.

Also, the proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment was budgeted at $96,113,000 but ended up at $66,903,000. That is a drop of over 30%, and I would like the LORD MAYOR or Councillor ADAMS to explain this enormous drop. Given all the questions that are asked, obviously we won’t be supporting the Final Authorisations Review.

I move on now to item C, which is the Olympic bid. We won’t be supporting this proposal, for a variety of reasons. First, other cities who were genuine about getting a successful bid would have been able to confirm support from other levels of government—the Commonwealth or State Government—from the outset. There is no such support at this time. Of course, I think it is very unlikely that the South East Queensland councils would be prepared to pay for the Olympics themselves. They would be relying extremely heavily on other levels of government.

It is understandable in my view that the Federal Government would be most reluctant to be involved in this process. The Federal Government now is facing fairly chronic budget deficits, and to borrow several billions of dollars, which is what it costs to run an Olympics in South East Queensland would not help their budget in any way, shape or form. The likelihood of this recently elected Federal Government, and indeed the Opposition if they were in power, to be prepared to borrow that amount of money for this bid is I think highly unlikely. It would involve an attitude towards public finance similar to what the Greek Government has pursued for some years. Therefore it is pie in the sky, Madam Chairman, the whole idea.

The timing is not good for South East Queensland. The report deals with that, about having to change school holidays and, if that wasn’t done, if the universities and schools were still in session during the Olympics, it would be a situation where traffic chaos would be guaranteed. Legacy issues get dealt with, and legacy issues can be positive or negative. There are a few negatives. It is a very expensive drain on Council resources for years to come.

The Commonwealth Games, of course, were held in Brisbane some years ago, and I remember there were lots of facilities, and it was supposed to be a great thing for Brisbane to have all those facilities, but as time went on, it became a real burden for the Council Administration at the time. I can recall the great relief for the Soorley Administration when the State Government agreed to take over QE2 and Chandler and take them over as State facilities rather than the Brisbane City Council having to fork out money year in, year out to keep ageing facilities maintained.

I remember the problems with deterioration in the grandstands at QE2, and the cost of running Chandler. It was millions and millions of dollars a year, and that is about 20 years ago now that we are talking about. I can imagine what the costs would be to maintain any of these facilities that were built in Brisbane as part of the Olympic bid. Of course, we don’t know how many of them are going to be built in Brisbane. Some of the Olympic facilities may be on the Gold Coast, some on the Sunshine Coast, some out in Ipswich, but either way it won’t be a great relief for Brisbane City Council. Of course, the money has got to come from somewhere.


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The alternative for Council spending the money the way they are is to spend it on junior sport and improve facilities for juniors, et cetera. I’ve got to say, the juniors are looking for basic, suburban facilities, good quality facilities, et cetera, and the likelihood of any juniors going to play a game at the new equivalent of Suncorp or whatever that is going to be built around the area is probably fairly unlikely. We need to focus as a local government on local facilities for children, for social players rather than looking at elite facilities which are probably only going to be used as time goes on by elite players.

Seriously, the other thing that the LORD MAYOR mentioned is that this report does go into all the great things that need to be done in South East Queensland—transport policy and various other things. I just wonder how serious the LORD MAYOR and the other mayors of South East Queensland are about an Olympic project, or is this just sort of a ploy to try to get other levels of government to fund infrastructure in South East Queensland? You wonder how serious it is.

I can recall hearing a story from Sir Sebastian Coe at the Asia Pacific Cities Conference. I think it was, last year about Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London. He was supportive of the Olympics—

Chairman: Councillor CUMMING, your time has expired.

77/2016-17At that point, Councillor Peter CUMMING was granted an extension of time on the motion of Councillor Jared CASSIDY, seconded by Councillor Shayne SUTTON.

Chairman: Councillor CUMMING, please proceed.

Councillor CUMMING: Sebastian Coe knew that Ken Livingston wasn’t particularly interested in sport, and he said to Ken, “Why are you such a big supporter of the Olympics?” Ken said, “there’s a big transport project which I reckon we’ll get funding for if we can get the Olympics.” That was his—and perhaps Councillor QUIRK may have heard that story, or come up with his own idea and thought: Gee, that’s a good idea for us as well. That is one way to get the infrastructure, to support an Olympic bid.

At page 23 of the report, there is a list of capital works that could be undertaken, or need to be undertaken if the bid was successful. So, we’ve got grave doubts about this proposal. We think in the long-term it will go nowhere. We are not prepared to support it. Thank you.

Chairman: Before we proceed, I would just like to acknowledge the presence of former Councillor Kim Flesser in the Public Gallery.

Further debate?

Councillor ADAMS.

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair, and I rise to speak on item B today. I was also going to acknowledge a former Finance Chair in the Chamber, and say: come back, please! Because what we have here this afternoon—


Councillor ADAMS: —we miss our Flessernomics, I can assure you, and the item before us today is the final authorisations for the actual expenditure and reserve movements for the 2015-16 financial year. What this document actually does is, it makes the variations and reclassifications it needs to do from the estimates and forecasts from the officers at the start of the financial year to what actually happened. I think it is interesting to note that this item is not required to be brought to Council; however, as a truly transparent Administration, we continue to disclose this document for all Councillors and ratepayers. So you can see where those minor variations have been. There were a few that I will point out. We had the Customer Focus program and reserves where they had a reclassification around expense to capital—$18,000 worth of expenditure through the new telephony


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program that we introduced late in the financial year. It simply means that when officers spent the money, they found that the appropriate treatment was recorded as capitalised project, not an operating expense. This was reclassified as we saw.

There was a question this morning in Committee around the $195,000 which was transferred into Accumulated Surplus. This is not unusual. Again, budgets are drafted based on the best information at the time. Council officers are recommending this adjustment based on what actually occurred during the year.

My concern is that we heard from Councillor CUMMING that it was an outrage that the revenue has gone up; it is an outrage that the grants and subsidies have gone up; and it is outrage that you actually had less losses on your disposable assets. I reiterate: Flessernomics, come back. We had an increase of 4.9% on revenue. It actually was a decrease of $5 million in rates revenue and an increase in infrastructure charges.

Those on the opposite side say sorry, you only budgeted for this much infrastructure charges; we are taking no extra. We are not taking any more than we forecast at the start of the financial year. Absolutely outrageous, when we hear from those in the Labor Party on the other side continually asking to spend the infrastructure charges in their wards, but are outraged when we actually take in more and then we record it and show it clearly that there was more that came in this year.

Grants and subsidies went up. Yes, they did, by 19%. We had some large payouts or support, I should say, from Roads to Recovery through the Infrastructure portfolio last year, and our Black Spot funding was successful in several spots across the city as well, which does increase that number when it comes to grants and subsidies. The last one, I am not quite understanding the argument, but is Councillor CUMMING, through you, Madam Chair, actually complaining about expected losses on disposable assets decreasing, being less than what they were actually forecast. Because that definitely does not make a fiscal sense to me.

This is, as I said, a final authorisation that reclassifies and actually puts what happened into perspective from the original budget, and I commend it to the Chamber.

Chairman: Further debate?


Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, Madam Chairman, I rise to speak briefly on items B and C. Just briefly on item B, I think Councillor ADAMS is a little bit confused about what the problem is with respect to infrastructure charges, particularly in my area. The issue is that you are raking in millions of dollars but you are not spending it on infrastructure in Tennyson Ward. There hasn’t been a single capital parks project in the past five years; there hasn’t been a single—

Councillor ADAMS: Point of order, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Point of order; Councillor ADAMS

Councillor ADAMS: Relevance of this debate to the authorisations.

Chairman: Thank you. Councillor JOHNSTON, whilst the infrastructure charges may be in that report, what they have or haven’t been spent on, unless it is specified in this report, is not relevant.

Councillor JOHNSTON: I understand, Madam Chairman. I could keep quoting Flessernomics and do all those sorts of things, too, but I think I have made my point. I hope that Councillor ADAMS is paying attention, because the issue is not how much is coming in, which is the issue; it is where it is being spent and on what.

I rise to speak on item C, particularly the Olympic Games bid. I have thought quite long and hard about this, and I spoke to a few people over the weekend about it as well, to think about what to do.

If the question is: do we want an Olympics in Brisbane or in the south-east corner of Queensland, the answer is yes, unequivocally yes. We all want one.


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The Olympics are wonderful. We have just spent two weeks watching our athletes compete on the world stage. I don’t think there is an issue around whether or not we want to host one, because it was 34 years ago, Councillor CUMMING, that the Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, and I remember them. I was a child, and it was a very exciting time for Brisbane to have the Commonwealth Games.

That is not really the question before us. If that was the question today, we would all say yes. But the question before us today is whether or not we can afford to undertake a bid to deliver an Olympics. That is the question before us today. The feasibility study that we have been presented with I think has some serious issues around that proposition. Firstly, this report makes it very clear that no cost benefit analysis has been done. If you are undertaking any major project from a planning point of view, one of your first steps is to undertake a cost benefit analysis to determine whether or not it stacks up.

There is not a single number basically in this whole feasibility report before us today. But I am going to put some on the record.

LORD MAYOR: Point of order, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: Point of order, LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: I don’t want to take away from Councillor JOHNSTON’s debate in any way, but I do want to make it clear that we do not have a feasibility study before us today. We have a pre-feasibility study before us today, and today is not about deciding whether or not we go to an Olympic bid. Today is about whether we go to a feasibility study to give some of the numbers she is talking about.

Chairman: Thank you for your clarification, LORD MAYOR.


Councillor JOHNSTON: I apologise—pre-feasibility study. But, Madam Chairman, let’s be clear. All of the comments I have made apply in this situation. The issue before us today is that a cost benefit analysis has not been done. That is a shortcoming in this report before us. There are a number of things that are a matter of public record that could be addressed that aren’t in this report. For example, the estimated cost of the Rio Olympics at the time they were the host city was $2.8 billion. That was going to be enough to cover their infrastructure and operations. The final cost will be something between $4.6 billion and $10 billion. That is just one recent example of what happens.

Oxford University did a study a few years ago, and has looked at every modern Olympics since 1960. Not a single Olympics came in at or under budget. So, when we are standing here talking about a pre-feasibility study, what we are talking about is whether to proceed with planning to host a mega event that is likely to cost our city around $10 billion in today’s terms. London, which was four years ago, was $11 billion. I don’t even know how much it would cost down the track. But from my point of view, standing here saying: should we spend $900,000 of Council ratepayers’ funds on a pre-feasibility study to determine whether we would like to have the Olympics—I can save this Council $900,000. Yes, we would. That is not the issue. The issue is: can we afford it?

What the pre-feasibility study highlights very clearly as well is that there has been no discussion with the State or Federal Government. There is just no way this Council, and every other council in the south-east corner is so much smaller than us, they are not going to be able to stump up their share of $15 billion or however much it is going to cost. If this is to go forward, it has to go forward on the basis of State and Federal Government support, and possibly the private sector. The feasibility study says it would be nice to have them involved, but we don’t know whether this pre-feasibility study will have any outcomes with respect to that. Is this a document that is used to go and lobby them? I am sure it will be, but why are we doing that without having an indication of whether or not they will support it down the track?

The pre-feasibility study I think has actually a clearer secondary agenda than the first one, and it states it very clearly in here. This is about planning for the


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south-east corner. I think this Council is having a bob each way on its purpose in the pre-feasibility report. It does that very specifically by referencing the Metro, so the mass transit sort of feasibility is talked about, but then very specifically this is about examining the LORD MAYOR’s election Metro and the likely gains value of the system.

So, Madam Chairman, this document I think has a bit of subterfuge about it. The issue that I’ve got is when you put statements like this, on page 16—and this is a quote, ‘it is recommended that South East Queensland Region examines the feasibility of a strategy about”—this is about transport—“potential approaches to be examined in order to address expected demand include the following: maximise rail use, longer trains and rail platforms.” So, let me be clear: the 11 councils of the south-east corner are going to fork out $2.5 million to determine whether or not another level of government should have longer train carriages and longer platforms at our stations.

I just think that whoever has written this probably doesn’t have a grade 5 level understanding of who pays for what infrastructure in this country, because I would like to know right now from the LORD MAYOR that are the residents of the Scenic Rim or the Sunshine Coast going to be happy to have their ratepayers’ dollars upgrading the platforms at Chelmer, Graceville, Sherwood, Corinda, Oxley, Tennyson—because we would really like a six-car platform there and get some commuter trains back—Yeerongpilly, Yeronga, Fairfield and Dutton Park.

I have got nine rail stations, and I would really like them all upgraded, LORD MAYOR, but we can’t get money out of the State Government to put a lift in and fix the stairs at these rail stations. How on earth are we going to get a commitment out of the State Government to make trains longer and platforms longer? What on earth is that going to do to our rail network?

I just think that some of the propositions included in the pre-feasibility study just have not been thought through. Basically this also says then we’re going to be relying on buses to shuttle everybody around. Apparently we are going to get a fast train between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. I mean, in a perfect world, all of these things would be lovely, but they’re not humanly possible. I don’t think that there is any level of government that is going to hand over billions and billions of dollars to Brisbane to lengthen all suburban rail platforms. Then what happens afterwards? Do we have these giant long platforms that go out to some stations, and then we go back to tiny trains? I don’t know. To me, this is not well thought out.

So, the question before us today: should we have an Olympic Games in Brisbane? Tick. Yes. Great. Does this pre-feasibility study stack up? Should we be spending $1 million on it? I can’t see that it does. I cannot see that it does. It will go through today, and $900,000 of Council money will be spent on this, and $2.5 million. I only hope that it is not going to be used jingoistically—and don’t imagine for a minute that that’s not what’s going on.

We’re in the middle of an Olympics campaign, and out goes the LORD MAYOR and his mayoral mates to promote a bid for Brisbane. Let’s not for a minute understand the timing of this. It has been done very deliberately to capture national spirit. But, at the end of the day, the real questions have to be asked about: is this a major project that our city and our ratepayers can afford? The LORD MAYOR says—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, your time has expired.

Further debate?

Councillor WINES.


Chairman: Point—

Councillor JOHNSTON: Madam Chairman, I just noticed that my microphone was off again, and I am just wondering what is going on—


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Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, when I speak, it clearly states in section 51 of the Meetings Local Law that any Councillor currently speaking shall immediately resume their seat. That is to cease speaking. Further debate—


Chairman: —point—

Councillor JOHNSTON: That was not my issue. My issue is that my microphone appears to be going off, Madam Chairman, and I am very concerned that my statements are not being recorded—

Chairman: —Councillor JOHNSTON—

Councillor JOHNSTON: —and I would like to know what is going on.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, you are making repeated points of order on the same matter. I have clarified for you, there is nothing wrong with the recording system, and there is nothing wrong with the microphones.

Further debate?

Councillor WINES.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Point of order, Madam Chairman. Just to be clear, you are deliberately turning off my microphone, and you have done that three times that I am aware of today, and that is an outrageous abuse of your power—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON—

Councillor JOHNSTON: —and I move dissent in your actions.

The dissent motion lapsed for want of a seconder.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, in accordance with section 51 of the Meetings Local Law—and I will read it for you so that you are clear; it states:

“51(1) When the Chairman speaks during the progress of a debate, any Councillor then speaking or offering to speak shall immediately be seated.

51(2) Every Councillor present shall preserve strict silence so that the Chairman may be heard without interruption.”

Councillor JOHNSTON, I repeatedly call you to order and ask you to cease speaking when I am speaking. So, in accordance with the Meetings Local Law, I also direct you that, under 53(9) I have formed a view that you are obstructing the meeting by making excessive points of order, and I immediately require you to cease doing so.

Councillor WINES, you have the call; please proceed.

Councillor WINES: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise to speak to item C in this report. Let me begin by saying that I am hugely proud of our city. I am a great believer in the opportunities presented to us by the potential to hold an Olympic Games here. Today we are discussing—and it is important to remember this—today we are discussing whether we should endorse a decision to find out the answers to the questions that a lot of the people on the Opposition benches are asking. This is the pre-feasibility study that leads us to determine those answers.

Councillor CUMMING noted that the Commonwealth Games were some 20 years ago. Well, the fact is the Brisbane Commonwealth Games were 35 years ago, and before the birth of a third of the people in this room. The other great celebration that this city held was Expo—again, in 1988, and that is many decades ago as well.

I just want to make a point—and I am sure many people in this room have experienced it—that the harshest critics of Brisbane are Brisbane people, but they would never live anywhere else. Events like Expo and the Commonwealth Games, and an event like an Olympics for the south-east corner, would be great celebrations of who we are, where we come from, and develop and bring out that great pride in our city. I think that is what is really important. It is one thing


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that we really should take into consideration when we talk about these sorts of things.

A lot of the criticism has been around legacy issues: what will be left once the Games are over. If you were to review Sydney before their Olympic Games, their facilities since the Olympic Games have been vastly improved. People in this room would recall rugby league grand finals and State of Origins were played at the Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Paddington. Now, they are played at a facility twice the size, in the middle of Sydney, at Homebush Bay near Parramatta, a 100,000-seat stadium that fills up regularly, that is used week in, week out for the national rugby league and for major events, as well as sometimes being used for Sydney Swans matches.

If you ever were to attend a football match there, you would be able to catch a train from there straight into the city and it takes about 20 minutes, which is the best piece of public transport, or the most efficient piece of public transport Sydney owns. The point I make is these things were built for the Olympics but are still in use now, 16 years later, and the experience of Sydney people is better.

If you were to also look at other facilities, the Sydney Entertainment Centre was at Darling Harbour, a lot of the facilities were around the Harbour for the Olympics they built what is today called Allphones Arena, which is a fantastic stadium, and they still use it today. I know, because I saw Bruce Springsteen play at that venue two years ago, that took 25,000 people. My point again is that these facilities are used decades later.

Many of us have attended Chandler Sports Centre. You can tell it was built in 1982, quite frankly. A city such as ours deserves fantastic facilities. I think the opportunities presented today to progress into a feasibility to determine whether we can afford it, I think that is a fair question; to determine whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would endorse us—I think these are all questions that people who are proud of their city would like to know.

Other people who support finding out include Mr Bill Shorten here in a newspaper report of 15 August, only last week, saying that he would certainly examine the prospects and it was a very interesting idea. Other people who also support the proposal are Ms Trad MP, Deputy Premier, who said in a report by one respected Cameron Atfield—it is undated—but Ms Trad says, “I would love to have an Olympics in South East Queensland. Personally, I can’t hide my excitement about the prospects of that, and I don’t want to look into the eyes of young people and say, “I was one of the people who said—no way—back in 2016.”

I think the point is, we are supremely proud of our city. The crest above your head, Madam Chairman, says Meliora Sequimur. It means, we dream of greater things. There are a few events greater than the Olympics, and I think it is only fair that this city dream for a moment to see if such a great event can be held here.

Chairman: Thank you, Councillor WINES.

Councillor SUTTON.

Seriatim - Clause CCouncillor Shayne SUTTON requested that Clause C, FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BID FOR THE 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES, be taken seriatim for voting purposes.

Councillor SUTTON: Thank you, Madam Chair; I rise to enter the debate on item C, about the feasibility study for the South East Queensland bid for the 2028 Olympic Games.

As I enter this debate today, I would also just like to note the news in that the Gold Coast City Council has just unanimously voted against contributing to the feasibility study for this Olympic Games. So I guess my first question to the


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LORD MAYOR is: does this mean that Brisbane City Council is going to have to cough up more money for this feasibility study if his LNP Councillors push this vote through on the numbers here today?

So the second biggest council in South East Queensland is out. Let’s just see how much ego the other mayors have when it comes to putting their egos before the interests of their ratepayers as each of the successive councils take this vote. In my view, the LORD MAYOR does not need a feasibility study to win an Olympic bid; he needs a magic wand and a money tree. That is what it is going to take to have a successful bid for the Olympic Games based on what this preliminary advice in this pre-feasibility study is telling us.

Why do I say that? Because when you look at the detail of this study, it highlights some issues that are going to be very, very difficult to overcome. One of the core things is the International Olympic Committee’s focus, one of their primary early assessments about whether or not a city can accommodate an Olympic Games is to ensure that the athletes don’t have to travel more than 45 minutes from the village to the venue. This LORD MAYOR, the pre-feasibility study, and other people that have been talking about this in context, have been saying they will need to utilise the facilities throughout the entire of South East Queensland to actually utilise these services.

If we use the existing infrastructure, I don’t know the last time you drove to the Gold Coast, Madam Chair, but I tell you what: it takes a little bit longer than 45 minutes. Even on a good day, Metricon Stadium is about an hour, so we are already falling short of one of the key assessment criteria. What is the solution to that in this pre-feasibility study? It is the identification of whether or not we will be able to overcome and deliver by 2028 a fast rail connectivity between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, not just that, but rail connectivity between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. So we are getting fast trains both to the Gold Coast and to the Sunshine Coast, all by 2028.


Councillor SUTTON: Councillor CASSIDY, how long did it take for the Redcliffe Rail to be delivered?


Councillor SUTTON: Okay, right. Well, Madam Chair, come on. We have talked about movies in this place today. Well, as Jerry Maguire would say, “show me the money.” How are we going to get this infrastructure, even if the Federal Government is on board, even if the State Government is on board, and they’re not just talking about the fast rail lines, because you know what? I would love to have those fast rail trains. I would be jumping on them as much as I possibly can.

But in addition to that, they are talking about the minimum headways to be achieved within certain times. They are talking about longer platforms. So Councillor JOHNSTON is right; I would love a longer platform at Morningside Railway Station as well as a Morningside train station rail user, and all the other platforms. Talk about the Fortitude Valley platform; how long have we have been talking about lengthening that rail platform?

They are also talking about the need to delay the retirement of train stock. My understanding is that that train stock is round about 30 years already. So by the time the Olympics comes to town, everyone is going to be hopping on 50-year-old train carriages if this LORD MAYOR gets his way. Really a New World City that he is aiming for. Look, I get it. I get it. It’s a very seductive proposition. It really is. Okay, yes, I agree with Councillor JOHNSTON when she says it would be wonderful to have an Olympics, but do you know what? There are some critical barriers that are hard to overcome.

When you look at the fact that this Council has only funded $374,000 towards sport and recreation capacity building in this year’s budget, talk about building for the sports stars of tomorrow; what about looking in our own backyard and capacity building in our own sports clubs today so that we might be able to build


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the sports stars for tomorrow in the way that Council does best, at the grass roots, kids on Saturday mornings, mums and dads out there supporting them, cheering on the sidelines. Let’s actually start focusing on what we do best.

Do you know what? The arguments about we need a regional plan; this feasibility study would help us determine the regional priorities. Well, Madam Chairman, as his own pre-feasibility study points out, we are already doing that as part of the South East Queensland Regional Plan. These guys need to get their priorities right. Be active, focused participants on getting the outcome as part of the south-east regional plan that they want. Don’t make this feasibility study a wolf in sheep’s clothing, dressing it up as an Olympics bid, when what it really is, is something to argue against what the State Government are trying to achieve in the South East Queensland Regional Plan. Work with the State Government to get the SEQ Regional Plan right, so it can be the roadmap that we need for our region’s future.

Do you know what? I would love us to have the money tree and wave a magic wand and have all this infrastructure delivered. I really would. But I have to admit, when I was reading this report, it was bringing back recollections of the conversations I used to have with my mother when I was a little girl, when she would say to me, “you can have anything you want, so long as you go out to the backyard, pick some money off the money tree so that we can afford to get it for you.” The world doesn’t work that way, Madam Chair, and I think there is a better way that we can spend this money.

I think we can invest in our community sports clubs, our facilities, our capacity building, and that is the best way that we can build on Brisbane’s Olympic dreams, by having our future sports stars turning up every Saturday morning and through the week to training, giving them the best coaches, investing in their coaching and training facilities, and investing in them now, so they can be realising their Olympic dreams into the future, not waiting until 2028, but to the Games, into the future, by 2020, by 2024 as well.

We can be making a real impact in kids’ lives, in Brisbane’s kids’ lives, getting them to the Olympics sooner, by focusing and using this money in a way that is actually going to help sports development here in the city right here and now.


Councillor WYNDHAM.

Councillor WYNDHAM: Madam Chair, I rise to speak on item C, the pre-feasibility study for an Olympic bid. What we have before us is a pre-feasibility study. I was around when the Commonwealth Games were in Brisbane. I was actually working at Nudgee College, and that is the start of Nudgee College having a synthetic track. This pre-feasibility study is looking at whether we should move forward to see what is needed to deliver an Olympics. In looking at that, we also build a dream. We look at what is probably a shortcoming. We look at what is needed. We develop plans, look at plans. This is a feasibility study just to look at whether it is feasible.

It is the same as building a home. You go and you look at designs. You look at budgets. That is your pre-feasibility. It is not a foregone conclusion that it will happen. But it sets out a guideline, gives us directions as to where we should be heading infrastructure-wise, as a region, sporting-wise as a region; but not only that, it is giving people within the region something to look forward to. There are probably children out there thinking, “wow, we might have the Olympics here one day.” It mightn’t be in 2028; it might be in the 2040s, we don’t know.

This is a feasibility study, but it’s a planning concept, and I believe that we should be proceeding with this planning concept for that one thing, that we can look at other aspects of our city and our region linking the Gold Coast with Brisbane, with the north coast, to develop something that we can move forward with.

I do remember the euphoria of the Commonwealth Games. I remember, yes, the school holidays had to be shifted to accommodate the Commonwealth Games,


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because we had athletes actually living at Nudgee College. Very hard to run a school when it’s full of athletes that are sleeping or recovering from a day of sport. But feasibility is the word that I think those on the other side are missing out on. We have to develop plans.

We develop plans here to go to consultation for road upgrades, footpath upgrades, whatever. A feasibility plan is part of that sort of process. It is about whether we, as a region, not just as a city, but we as a region are capable of carrying this through to presenting it to the world, to say: we want to be in on this; we want to showcase our city to the world. It doesn’t mean we are going to tick a box and say: we are going to do this. It means we want to plan to showcase.

Look at the G20 and how that went forward. There were many people out there sort of doom-saying on the G20, but it turned out to be a fabulous event to showcase this city. I think it would be a missed opportunity if we don’t at least proceed with a feasibility study to look at what we can do to develop a concept to take this city forward on the international stage, and Madam Chair, that is why I will be voting for this.

Chairman: Councillor MARX.

ADJOURNMENT:78/2016-17

At that time, 3.57pm, it was resolved on the motion of Councillor Kim MARX, seconded by Councillor Andrew WINES, that the meeting adjourn for a period of 15 minutes, to commence only when all Councillors had vacated the Chamber and the doors locked.

Council stood adjourned at 4.01pm.

UPON RESUMPTION:


Councillor SRI.

Councillor SRI: Thanks, Madam Chair. I rise to speak on what I think is item C—correct, it is item C. All right, I would like to make three basic points. The first is that Olympics today aren’t what they used to be. The second point is that infrastructure spent in our city and our region should be based on the long-term needs of residents rather than revolving around major events. The third point is that if Gold Coast Council isn’t going to chip in for the funding, I am not sure that we should proceed alone.

So to that first point, I think maybe a lot of Councillors in this Chamber are still thinking of the Olympics as something that is more akin to what we saw back in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics. It’s a big thing; the whole world is watching; lots of money pouring in; increased tourism. It’s not quite the same anymore. To put it bluntly, hosting the Olympics isn’t cool anymore. There has been a spate of cities pulling out of recent Olympic bids, and a general recognition around the world that, while the costs of hosting an Olympic Games have increased significantly—significantly increased costs of hosting an Olympic Games—the benefits flowing to the host city have not increased in proportion.

So, I think it is important to move away from this idea that, “oh, hosting the Olympics will make us a great city.” We’re already a great city. We don’t have to prove ourselves to the world by putting on a big sporting event. I think it is fair to say that all the Councillors in this room have a lot of pride for Brisbane, but we demonstrate that pride by doing a good job of governance every day of the year, rather than amping up to some big event and then blowing all our money.


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I kind of beg to differ in response to Councillor WYNDHAM’s comments about the G20. I thought that was a shocker, to put it bluntly. In my area it cost a lot of people a lot of grief; a lot of businesses lost money and lost customers. It caused a lot of inconvenience to the local neighbourhood. Anyway, it’s a different event, but I guess my core point here is that large globally notorious events aren’t what they used to be and don’t generate the tourism dollars that they used to. There’s a lot of online commentary from respected economists around the world who suggest that actually it is not really worth it for Western nations to host the Olympic Games anymore.

Particularly to my second point, that infrastructure spending should be based on the long-term needs of residents rather than demands from a single event. Councillor WINES made a lot of comments around the value that these sorts of infrastructure spends provide in the long term. It does not logically follow that because some of the infrastructure for a major sporting event is used by residents in the years after that event that therefore hosting the event is worth the cost.

If we have millions of dollars to spend on stadiums and luxury athlete accommodation, then decisions on how we spend that money should be based on needs-based analysis. So we look at what we as a region and as a city need, not just for the Olympic Games but for several years to come, rather than saying, okay, we’re going to spend all our money on a stadium that might get used occasionally by some local sports teams, but really isn’t worth the cost in the grand scheme of things.

It is pretty instructive when you do a bit of googling and you look at the images from cities around the world that have hosted the Games in the past, and major infrastructure spends—stadiums and luge tracks that are just sitting empty and rusting. We wouldn’t see that happen here in Brisbane. So I would implore the Council to think critically about this. The money we spend on infrastructure for Games would be better spent elsewhere, and I feel the same about the feasibility study itself. I don’t need a $900,000 feasibility study to tell me that the Games don’t make economic sense for the region. That money would be better spent on local infrastructure.

The final point I just want to emphasise is that, if the Gold Coast City Council doesn’t think it is worth them chipping into this bid and they don’t think it’s worth the Olympic Games, I think we need to look really, really carefully as to whether it is worth us expending the money. I know Councillors opposite will say, oh, it’s just a feasibility study; the whole point of the feasibility study is to decide whether it is worth it or not.

But I think it is an irresponsible and lazy approach to governance to say that rather than looking at the evidence and making up our own minds, we’re going to spend $900,000 and outsource the decision making process to some consultancy. We don’t need to spend almost a million bucks making up our minds on a decision like this. I can tell you right now, I don’t really want to see an Olympics in South East Queensland. I think there are more interesting events and more innovative events. Frankly I think it is not going to be worth the cost and hassle, so I won’t be supporting the item, and I respectfully encourage Councillors opposite to think long and hard about what we could be spending that money on instead, because $900,000 is a lot, and we shouldn’t be making these decisions lightly. Thank you.



Procedural motion – Motion that Clause C lie on the table79/2016-17

Councillor Shayne SUTTON moved, seconded by Councillor Jared CASSIDY, that the motion for the adoption of Clause C, FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BID FOR THE 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES, of the report lie on the table until such time all Councillors can be provided with information about the


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additional cost burden on Brisbane City Council as a result of the Gold Coast decision not to contribute to the feasibility study.

Councillor SUTTON: Their contribution was $410,000. Obviously that shortfall has to come from somewhere, and I believe Brisbane City Council is making its decision today to be in a position to know what the full cost to Council is likely to be as a result of the Gold Coast not proceeding to be part of the feasibility study.

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion was declared lost on the voices.

Thereupon, Councillors Shayne SUTTON and Jared CASSIDY immediately rose and called for a division, which resulted in the motion being declared lost.The voting was as follows:

AYES: 7 - The Leader of the OPPOSITION, Councillor Peter CUMMING, and Councillors Jared CASSIDY, Steve GRIFFITHS, Charles STRUNK, Shayne SUTTON, Jonathan SRI and Nicole JOHNSTON.

NOES: 18 - The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR, Councillor Graham QUIRK, DEPUTY MAYOR, Councillor Adrian SCHRINNER, and Councillors Krista ADAMS, Adam ALLAN, Matthew BOURKE, Amanda COOPER, Vicki HOWARD, Steven HUANG, Kim MARX, Peter MATIC, Ian McKENZIE, David McLACHLAN, Ryan MURPHY, Angela OWEN, Julian SIMMONDS, Steven TOOMEY, Andrew WINES and Norm WYNDHAM.



Councillor SUTTON: Given that vote, I just now have a question procedurally. If this Council adopts to provide more money to this bid, does it have to come back to this Chamber for endorsement, or can Civic Cabinet just decide that, and it comes through in a budget review?

Chairman: I will have to seek legal advice on that one. I am happy to take a five-minute adjournment to seek legal advice.


Chairman: LORD MAYOR, if you are confident in that, we will then proceed without the legal advice, if you’ve got coverage for that.

Further debate?

DEPUTY MAYOR.

DEPUTY MAYOR: Yes, Madam Chairman, I rise to speak on item C, the Olympic feasibility study. It is interesting, but debates like we have today often pass with a few people speaking and not a lot of, I guess, focus on the historical importance of what we are doing. It could be well that this decision we make today is a critical turning point in the future of our city. It could well be.

Just in the same way that the 1982 Commonwealth Games were a turning point in the city’s history, the 1998 Expo was a critical turning point, and indeed, the G20 Summit was an opportunity for Brisbane’s profile to be put out there on the world stage like it has never been before.

Given that, and given the fact that many of us or probably most of us won’t be around in this Council Chamber in 2028—maybe the LORD MAYOR might still be here, but I probably won’t be—and maybe Councillor MURPHY might be here—I won’t name any more names. This is an important decision. But the important point to make is that this is not a decision to go and spend billions of dollars on putting an Olympics on. This is a decision today to do a feasibility study, and that is all we’re asking to do. That is the right and responsible thing to do.


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Council is not committing to anything other than doing a feasibility study. That is a point that has been made several times already, and a critical point here. If you look at the documentation that has been provided, particularly in the last couple of pages, it goes into the areas of examination for a full feasibility study.

If I refer you to page 31 of Appendix 2, it talks about the whole range of things that would be required in a feasibility study, including looking at the strategic rationale for hosting the Olympic Games, developing a master plan, developing transport options and scenarios, looking at dates of the Games, looking at accommodation options, even looking at energy infrastructure, telecommunications, safety and security, legacy and sustainability, planning and environment, bid organisation and governance, financing strategy and competitor analysis, among other things. These are all things that we should rightly know before we make a decision as a city.

I have to particularly commend the LORD MAYOR for the way that he has gone about this. This is not a case of Brisbane just going off on its own and trying to, I guess, in the way that some other cities might do, pull a stunt; this is something that has been coordinated between a whole range of councils around us. It would be a regional Games. I think that is particularly important, because getting mayors to agree on anything is a challenging prospect at times, but the LORD MAYOR has, from the beginning, worked with his colleagues around South East Queensland, and to see the level of support from those mayors has been very encouraging.

If one particular mayor or council decides that they want to go a different way, so be it; that is democracy. Good on them, and this goes to show this is a whole healthy democratic process. It is just interesting that that particular council has other priorities at the moment, and obviously they are the Commonwealth Games. We can understand that.

But Brisbane and the mayors around us are looking to the future. We’re not looking to the future of the next election; we’re looking to the future beyond the time that most of us will be here, and that is an important point to make. So the dividends and rewards from this decision that we make today, if indeed we go to next steps, will be reaped by someone else politically, but that is not the point. It will be reaped by the City of Brisbane if this bid proceeds. This bid won’t proceed unless we make future decisions based on solid evidence and investigation and feasibility work.

So I urge all Councillors to get behind this. It is a simple prospect. Do we go ahead and do the feasibility, and plan for the future, make sure we can make an informed decision, or do we just bury our heads in the sand and say no? There is always plenty of competing priorities that we could refer to, but as I said, this is about the future of the city, and that future is exciting. That future will be exciting whether we have an Olympic Games or not. But certainly I would really hope that this is something that goes forward, and as I said, I ask all Councillors for their support for this submission.

Chairman: Councillor CASSIDY.

Councillor CASSIDY: Yes, thanks very much, Madam Chair. Throughout debate today, it has become pretty evident, as is the case if you read through the pre-feasibility study—I should say I am talking on item C, apologies—as you read through this, and the LORD MAYOR almost hit the nail on the head when he started and said that this isn’t just about the Games; it is a roadmap to a regional plan or something like that. But this is entirely not about the Games, as you read through. There is a whole heap of work that should and needs to be done before a full feasibility study can proceed. It is pretty clear that that is not happening.

As we found out in the last half an hour, or hour or so, the Gold Coast City Council won’t be contributing towards that bid. As the second biggest council in the Council of Mayors SEQ, that leaves now a $410,000 hole in this budget. It would have been great to find out rather than during the LORD MAYOR’s summing up how that $410,000 will have to be approved, but we of course won’t know that during debate.


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Councillor WINES said he is very proud of Brisbane, and gave some sort of impression that this would be just a Brisbane Games. Of course, as part of the South East Queensland bid, it would be Brisbane, Gold Coast—but we’re not sure that they will be part of it now. We’re not sure that they will be welcome if they’re not kicking-in, even though they’ve got the lion’s share of all the new facilities that we’ll be requiring. There is, of course, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redland, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba.

The LORD MAYOR managed to get these councils on board. However, the pre-feasibility report also says that the most sensible option is to have Games that are very Brisbane centric, that use the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast with fairy tale fast trains as well getting there. I am not sure how happy Lockyer Valley Council will be in potentially funding station upgrades at Sandgate, or whether the Scenic Rim Council will be happy to fund lengthening stations out at Wynnum or Morningside. All the shortcomings aside, for going forward to a full feasibility, or even potentially a Games bid, all of those aside, whether it is 50-year-old trains or travel times from the sunny coast all the way down to the Gold Coast.

At point 11 of the pre-feasibility study, it says the proposed program of related works—and these things should be done before you go to full feasibility—whether it is the regional vision; the SEQ people mass movement study, the SEQ venue review, which has to be undertaken by the State Government, it says there. Has that been done yet? I suspect not. The SEQ Regional Plan—we just heard that is a process we are going through right now, even though this SEQ Council of Mayors’ pre-feasibility study quite clearly seeks to be its own SEQ Regional Plan; and also State and Federal Government engagement.

All we have heard from the Administration today is Councillor WINES getting up and reading from a few photocopied press releases or media articles saying Bill Shorten may think that the Olympics in South East Queensland are a good idea. Of course, they would be a great idea if they could be achieved, but whether you go today and vote to go forward with a full feasibility study—and as we found out, there is a whole heap of other mitigating factors now, like 410,000 of them—it is not the right time to go towards the full feasibility today.

It is pretty clear that the LORD MAYOR, whether it is through the Metro or all the other things that he is dreaming up, he is desperately trying to find a monument to his legacy. This is looking increasingly just like that. It is not a bid for the 2028 Games at all; it is just a vain attempt at securing his legacy in this city.


Councillor HOWARD.

Councillor HOWARD: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise to speak in support of item C, the Council of Mayors South East Queensland Pre-feasibility Analysis on the South East Queensland Bid for 2028 Olympic Games. Of course neither sport nor politics are just about winning or losing. Ultimately they are also about the important things that we stand for—our inherent strength and the values we represent.

As the report says, we are blessed with an abundance of strength: our subtropical climate and diversity, our innovative industries and institutions, our safe and welcoming communities, and our record of cultural, commercial and sporting achievements. That is why I am pleased to rise to support our city, our region, our state, and ultimately our nation, as we look to hosting the most important global gathering of athletes, the summer Olympic Games of 2028.

I do this because, just like the Council of Mayors, I want to expedite infrastructure delivery, drive industry growth and job creation, raise the international profile of our city, leave a lasting sports legacy, and inspire and motivate our communities. I firmly believe that hosting would stimulate infrastructure delivery and regeneration. I am enthusiastic about a bid that will leave a lasting impact.


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We saw that in Barcelona, where the Games were used as a means to completely overhaul the port and coast of the city, creating an artificial beach and waterside cultural area that became a lasting tourist attraction. Of course, we saw similar infrastructure regeneration in Sydney and in London, and whilst nation building projects can be completed without the Olympics, the need to provide an overall package—transport, accommodation, stadia, parks, et cetera—for a set deadline means that there is a far more incentive to get the projects done. I firmly believe that hosting the Games would create an economic boost.

Whilst Olympics of recent times haven’t made an immediate profit with the costs of the regeneration and improved infrastructure, I did read recently that because the Olympics showcases the host nation to the world, officials estimate that Australia gained an extra $4 billion in extra tourist revenue in the four years after Sydney 2000. Every day I work, we all work, to create an environment that increases our city’s event and tourism product offerings. I think that a successful bid will further reinforce the region’s global position as a premium tourist destination and better serve our local communities.

Finally, Madam Chairman, I want to touch on why the bid will inspire local communities. Central Ward in the inner-north is certainly the home of many of our sporting elite training and competition centres, from the renowned Valley pool to the facilities in Councillor Andrew WINES’ ward at Downey Park for netball, hockey and softball. The inner-north is a powerhouse of vibrant, active, outdoor activity. I want the children of our city’s inner north and our suburbs to be further inspired to greatness, and I particularly want our bid to focus on our achievements in access and inclusion.

We have all seen, I hope, the fantastic UK Channel 4 Paralympics advertisement, We’re the Superhumans, featuring Brisbane’s Tony Dee and 140 athletes, musicians and regular folk with disabilities. Tony’s singing of the Sammy Davis Jnr track, Yes I Can, from his wheelchair, alongside a big band comprised entirely of musicians with disabilities is marvellous. We are shown a mother without arms changing her baby’s nappy, an athlete without hands brushing his teeth, a pilot steering a plane with her feet, as well as a blind pianist. It is a celebration of an extraordinary range of talent, all set to a jaunty swing soundtrack and a reminder to us all that events like the Olympic Games are an opportunity to help change attitudes—attitudes to disability and inclusion in particular.

Indeed, Madam Chairman, all our athletes are super human, and I want our talent as a city and a region in our bid to succeed so that the talent of all our athletes is on display in South East Queensland in 2028. This pre-feasibility report is one step in a journey. Ultimately, it will be a decision by the South East Queensland Council of Mayors, and I recommend it to the Chamber.


LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman, and I certainly thank all Councillors for their contribution today. Everyone is entitled to a view on this, and I thank everybody for expressing that view. The one view that I hold is that any city worth its salt has to be asking itself the question as to what is the next big thing for that city, or in this case, region.

I have heard lots of reasons why things can’t be done, and lots of reasons why things won’t be done by 2028. I just remind people that 2028 is 12 years from now. I ask people to cast their mind back 10 years. Ten years ago there was no Airport Link; there was no Legacy Way; there was no Clem7; there was no Go Between Bridge; there was no duplication of the Gateway Bridge. All of those things, major infrastructure, have been achieved in a decade. Some of that, a significant part of it, has been driven by this Council.

So for those that say things can’t be done, I don’t accept that proposition. The world and the future belongs to those who plan for it. We have to, as a city, be looking at the opportunities that lie ahead, and in this case, the region must look to its future. There was a proposition put forward—I might start with this if I


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may—by Councillor CASSIDY, that this is just duplicating the South East Queensland Regional Plan. It’s got nothing to do with the Regional Plan at all. I am just going to discount that out of hand, because this will look at certain elements of infrastructure, absolutely, but it certainly is not going to look at where housing ought to be and where our future sustainability in terms of vegetation ought to be. It is not a regional plan; it is nothing to do with it.

I would also want to address Councillor SUTTON’s proposition, and I am not blaming her in any way for this, but she made the reference to the 45-minute—



Councillor JOHNSTON: Just to be clear, Madam Chairman, this document on multiple pages states that this document will be used as and part of a South East Queensland regional planning process. It clearly states that in several places. So I am just a little bit confused about why the LORD MAYOR is misleading the Chamber about this document, given that it does make those statements—and I can provide page numbers if you would like them.

Chairman: Thank you, Councillor JOHNSTON. I think there may be a little bit of confusion where the document is actually referring to a South East Queensland regional planning process, and the comments that the LORD MAYOR was referring to was he was saying that it is not a duplicate of the South East Queensland Regional Plan. They are two separate contexts, and I believe the LORD MAYOR can continue summing up.

Thank you, LORD MAYOR.

LORD MAYOR: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman. So, to the second point, which Councillor SUTTON was making in regards to the need for a 45-minute journey time in terms of travel between venues and an Olympic green. I just want to quote from an article in The Australian of 19 August. It says, “Nothing that Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates has seen in Rio has in any way deterred his enthusiasm for a Brisbane bid for either the 2028 or 2032 Olympic Games. Critically, the outlying Rio sports venues of Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã stadiums were all located up to an hour from the main Olympic green,” which means that venues located on the Gold and Sunshine Coast would not be deemed as problematic.

That is a very telling statement, Madam Chairman, because there you have the Australian Olympic Committee head and also International Vice-President making that comment.

Madam Chairman, the feasibility study would look at all of the things that we need to look at to determine whether or not there would be a next step to go to a Federal and State Government in relation to such a bid.

There's a number of ingredients and I've said this all along—a number of ingredients are needed. You need the support of the people. That's number one. Now there's been a recent survey done in relation to—


LORD MAYOR: —hang on—there's been a recent survey done which showed 62% of people support the proposition of an Olympic Games being held; against that 30%, against an eight per cent undecided.

I met with the Consul-General of Japan on Friday evening. He said that in Tokyo where the 2020 Olympic Games will be held, only 40% of people there initially supported a Games bid, and that support grew, Madam Chairman, over time.

Now again this is not about bidding. We would not have to make a decision as a group of mayors and councils until 2019 around that, but in order to reach the information levels that we need to do that we do need to undertake a feasibility study.


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Now this process that we're going through today is going to be gone through in 11 councils in South East Queensland, and it is only once the determinations are back from all of those councils will the council of mayors then sit down to determine what that next step is; whether we proceed with that feasibility study.

So to your question Councillor SUTTON. I want to answer it today by saying this and giving you a bit of a guarantee. You're talking about the $410,000. Can I say that the bid or the feasibility study we are saying, as a group of mayors, will cost between $2 million and $2.5 million.

What we have allowed for in this submission today is $2.5 million. So if, for example, the feasibility study costs came in at $2.1 million, nobody—in spite of that $410,000 Gold Coast contribution—nobody would be out of pocket.

So, Madam Chairman, it's premature in that context but I do assure you of this: when the Council of Mayors, as a group, make a determination on whether to proceed to full feasibility study, and if at that time—if at that time—there is a need for additional allocations, I will bring it back here. It probably doesn't have to come back here under law; I will bring it back in fairness to everybody.

So can I just say this also: that there are other resources that the Council of Mayors of South East Queensland has as well, and so we are in a strong financial position as an entity. So, Madam Chairman, we as a group of mayors, needs to have a discussion, a sensible discussion, around that into the future.

But today I believe this is an important step for us. It is a step—and to the G20, I mean I heard Councillor SRI's comments about the G20 being a disaster. Well we've had 11% growth in international tourism each year since that G20 event. That is jobs on the ground, and I know there was some disruption over in South Brisbane to business. Madam Chairman, why did that security have to be put in place? To ensure that security was there against demonstrators and those who might want to create mischief or public marches or whatever it might be.

Now it was a very, very successful and peaceful G20. It was, without a doubt—well it was the only G20 that we've had where there hasn't been a damage to property or person, and full credit to this city for that.

Councillor SRI: Point of order, Madam Chair?

Chairman: Point of order Councillor SRI?

Councillor SRI: I believe the LORD MAYOR may be misleading the Chamber. There were several reported incidences of harm to people suffered as a result of the organisation of the G20. I'd appreciate the opportunity to expand on that but no stresses.

Chairman: I don't uphold your point of order, Councillor SRI.

LORD MAYOR?

LORD MAYOR: So, Madam Chairman, there was certainly business disruption during that time. There has been a bit with Thor coming to town. If you stopped every time there was going to be some disruption somewhere you would never build a piece of public transport facility, infrastructure; you would never build road infrastructure; you would never build much at all. You would never build a city that's for sure.

So I guess the corollary of that is Clem Jones would never have sewered this city had there not been some disruption; if he'd avoided the disruption, if he'd avoided the expense, if he had dared not to dream, Madam Chairman, this city would never have been sewered. So that is the reality. We'd still be—

Councillor JOHNSTON: Point of order, Madam Chairman?

LORD MAYOR: —based on the Labor proposition they would all be—

Chairman: Point of order LORD MAYOR.

Councillor JOHNSTON?


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Councillor JOHNSTON: Again, Madam Chairman, there seems to be a problem with the microphones, but my issue is—

Chairman: Your microphone isn't on, Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: —I pressed my microphone to call the point of order, Madam Chairman—

Chairman: Yes, and Councillor JOHNSTON I've—

Councillor JOHNSTON: —I don't understand why it's gone off.

Chairman: —well the LORD MAYOR's microphone is also off. Councillor JOHNSTON we are not going back over the microphones. You are being recorded appropriately. When your light is on it is working. Councillor JOHNSTON what is your point of order?

Councillor JOHNSTON: Hence my point, Madam Chairman. It doesn't appear to be working, but my point of order is, I believe the LORD MAYOR's time has expired quite significantly.

Chairman: I will now put items A and B. Those in favour say aye.

Clauses A and B put

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of Clauses A and B of the report were declared carried on the voices.

Clause C put

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of Clause C of the report was declared carried on the voices.

Thereupon, Councillors Nicole Johnston and Jared CASSIDY immediately rose and called for a division, which resulted in the motion being declared carried.

The voting was as follows:

AYES: 18 - The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR, Councillor Graham QUIRK, DEPUTY MAYOR, Councillor Adrian SCHRINNER, and Councillors Krista ADAMS, Adam ALLAN, Matthew BOURKE, Amanda COOPER, Vicki HOWARD, Steven HUANG, Kim MARX, Peter MATIC, Ian McKENZIE, David McLACHLAN, Ryan MURPHY, Angela OWEN, Julian SIMMONDS, Steven TOOMEY, Andrew WINES and Norm WYNDHAM.

NOES: 7 - The Leader of the OPPOSITION, Councillor Peter CUMMING, and Councillors Jared CASSIDY, Steve GRIFFITHS, Charles STRUNK, Shayne SUTTON, Jonathan SRI and Nicole JOHNSTON.

The report read as follows

ATTENDANCE:

The Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor (Councillor Graham Quirk) (Chairman); and Councillors Krista Adams, Matthew Bourke, Amanda Cooper, Peter Matic, David McLachlan, and Julian Simmonds.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE:

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Adrian Schrinner.

A REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING ON 4 AUGUST 2016109/695/586/6

80/2016-171. The Chief Executive Officer, provided the information below.


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2. Section 201 of the City of Brisbane Regulation 2012 requires that as soon as practicable after a meeting of the Audit Committee (the Committee), Council must be given a written report about the matters reviewed at the meeting and the Committee’s recommendations about the matters.

3. The Chief Executive Officer is to present the report mentioned in section 201(1)(c) at the next meeting of Council.

4. The Chief Executive Officer provided the following recommendation and the Committee agreed.

5. RECOMMENDATION:

THAT COUNCIL NOTE THE REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING ON 4 AUGUST 2016, AS SET OUT IN ATTACHMENT A, submitted on file.

ADOPTED

B 2015-16 BUDGET – FINAL AUTHORISATIONS REVIEW134/135/86/197

81/2016-176. The Divisional, Organisational Services, provided the information below.

7. The purpose of the Final Authorisations Review is to provide authorisation for actual expenditure of the 2015-16 financial year.

8. As the Final Authorisations review is for expenditure authorisation purposes, it does not realign the budget to actual results for all changes.

9. Attachment B, submitted on file, recommends amendments to the approved budget for 2015-16.

10. The Divisional Manager provided the following recommendation and the Committee agreed.

11. RECOMMENDATION:

THAT COUNCIL RESOLVE AS PER THE DRAFT RESOLUTION SET OUT IN ATTACHMENT A, hereunder.

Attachment ADraft Resolution

DRAFT RESOLUTION TO PROPOSE THE ADOPTION OF THE FINAL BUDGET AUTHORISATION

Council adopts the final budget authorisation for the operations and the projects for the services provided by Council for 2015-16 in accordance with the Budgeted Financial Statements and the recommendations as set out in Attachment B, submitted on file.

ADOPTED

C FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BID FOR THE 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES109/435/568/3

82/2016-1712. The Chief Executive Officer provided the information below.

13. The Council of Mayors South East Queensland (CoMSEQ) has prepared a pre-feasibility analysis of a potential South East Queensland Bid for the 2028 Olympic Games (refer Attachment A, submitted on file).


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14. South East Queensland (SEQ) has demonstrated an ability to successfully host a number of international events including G20 World Leaders Forum, the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 2001 Goodwill Games.

15. With the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, there is an opportunity to leverage greater economic benefits in SEQ.

16. The pre-feasibility analysis found that there are possible scenarios which could see a successful Olympic Games bid and hosting delivered from SEQ. Moreover, regardless of the outcome of any potential bid, the analysis also found there are likely benefits to the region in undertaking a bid feasibility study.

17. The analysis concluded that while it appears possible to successfully bid for and host an SEQ Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028, further detailed analysis and planning is required through a full feasibility process to determine whether the hosting of such an event would deliver a better region for our residents.

18. It is proposed that CoMSEQ undertake a feasibility study funded by all member Councils on a pro-rata basis.

19. The Chief Executive Officer provided the following recommendation and the Committee agreed.

20. RECOMMENDATION

THAT COUNCIL APPROVE TO CONTRIBUTE UP TO $870,000, OVER TWO FINANCIAL YEARS, IN SUPPORT OF A COUNCIL OF MAYORS SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND (COMSEQ) SPONSORED FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND BID FOR THE 2028 OLYMPIC GAMES.

ADOPTED

PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

DEPUTY MAYOR, Councillor Adrian SCHRINNER, Chairman of the Public and Active Transport Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Andrew WINES that the report of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: DEPUTY MAYOR.

DEPUTY MAYOR: Yes, Madam Chairman. Last week we had a presentation on bus operator training, and that was particularly interesting but a particularly important part of what Brisbane Transport does.

One of the key learnings from that presentation was that we don't necessarily recruit people in most cases who have a heavy vehicle licence. We recruit people who are good people people—people people if that's even a term. So we don't necessarily want long distance truck drivers driving our buses. We want people who are great at interacting with the public and we invest in their training.

We discovered that it costs approximately $10,000 to train a driver to the initial standard that Council requires, but that is money well spent. Council bus drivers out there on the network are our frontline together with people like the call centre operators when it comes to interacting with large numbers of the public every day. So we're very proud of the bus drivers and we do what we can to support them.

It's interesting that when you look at the service tracker that Council does, bus users rate their satisfaction with Council's bus services seven out of a possible 10, and residents rate the friendliness of bus operators as 7.8 out of a possible 10. This is also confirmed by TransLink's quarterly customer service as well—service survey—which rates our service as 70.8 out of 100.


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So our bus drivers are doing a fantastic job and we continue to support them as an organisation. That also includes supporting them when it comes to dealing with the challenges of operating the bus each day, and that goes into the issue that was discussed in Committee today, which is the fact that we discovered today our bus drivers are operating to old out of date and unrealistic timetables.

Those timetables—and it's easy to say, “oh well Brisbane City Council buses are always late.” Those timetables in many cases haven't been updated for 10 years. We've heard from the LORD MAYOR and other people how much the city has grown and developed in those 10 years, and to think that a bus timetable can be in place and not change from TransLink for 10 years just goes to show the unrealistic pressure that our bus drivers are under in meeting those timetable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

So we've taken the bull by the horns on this case and we're obviously prosecuting that case with TransLink to make sure that the timetables are realistic, real time and practical, which is good for the customers and it's good for our bus operators.

We know our bus operators deal with some difficult circumstances, and if the bus turns up at a time that's not consistent with the timetable, people often get cranky. While it's sad, some people take that out on the bus drivers. It's not their fault; the fault clearly lies with out of date timetables. These bus drivers do a fantastic job in trying to keep to the schedule timetables, but the reality of the situation is they can't always do that.

I look forward to seeing that change in the future, and as I said, we're keen to continue supporting our professional bus operators. Part of that is ensuring that the buses can operate safely and the bus operators can operate safely when they do their job. That is why this Administration has invested in installing CCTV cameras in our bus fleet. As of today our bus fleet or 90% of our bus fleet has CCTV cameras installed.

When we came into Administration there was not one bus with a CCTV camera in it, so this is something we have proactively done to support the safety of our bus drivers, to support the safety of the patrons on the buses, and in addition to that, these bus drivers also have emergency buttons which they can press, duress alarms and there's—I won't go into the details of that. Obviously I don't want to put anyone's safety in jeopardy, but there are various ways the bus operators can call for help, and certain buttons within the bus that can be pressed covertly as well.

So we're very serious about the safety of our bus drivers and our passengers, and we're very serious about providing the good quality training to those operators when they come onboard and continuing that on-the-job training as well.

So I commend Brisbane City Council Transport for the work they've done in this area, and look forward to seeing improvements made to timetabling to help support our bus operators and the travelling public.


Nothing further, DEPUTY MAYOR?

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Public and Active Transport Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Adrian Schrinner (Chairman), Councillor Andrew Wines (Deputy Chairman), and Councillors Jared Cassidy, Peter Cumming and Ian McKenzie.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE:

Councillor Kate Richards.


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A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BUS OPERATOR TRAINING

83/2016-171. Matt Anderson, Branch Manager, Bus Operations, Brisbane Transport, attended the meeting to provide

an update on Bus Operator Training. He provided the information below.

2. The Brisbane Transport Training Centre (BTTC) creates, maintains and delivers training material across the Brisbane Transport (BT) work units, including Bus Operations, Maintenance and Administration. A team of 16 qualified specialist trainers rotate between the BTTC and their usual bus operator duties to maintain the currency of their skills and knowledge as a bus operator.

3. The course material is designed around the principles of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), ensuring a consistent approach and incorporating a continuous improvement methodology. Assessment is developed to meet the AQTF standards of: valid, reliable, flexible, fair and sufficient.

4. Training is built around essential outcomes or elements with criteria to show how this is achieved. Risk mitigation is applied to criteria to determine the weight allocated to assessment. An example of the assessment criteria was displayed.

5. The Bus Operator Induction Training includes 23-day induction course and has a very high success rate, as demonstrated by approximately 95% of trainees passing the licence testing. The participants undertake a portion of route training during the induction at their home depot. New starters are provided with all the necessary course materials on Day 1 to maximise exposure and provide every opportunity for self-driven learning.

6. In addition to the theory and practice of operating a bus, the topics covered include safety, customer service, and administration and compliance.

7. Defensive driving, included in the safety component, covers a range of driving skills and awareness techniques to keep bus operators and other road-users safe. Topics covered include collision avoidance, overtaking etiquettes, understanding the ‘mystery’ crash and developing a defensive driving attitude.

8. Bus and cyclist interactions are also covered, including:- the vulnerability of cyclists on the road- safe distances to maintain- advance stop lines and Bike Boxes- road safety.

9. Ongoing training for bus operators continues to be delivered, in addition to induction training. The courses include Council’s mandatory compliance training, such as Code of Conduct; eco driving; bus fire evacuation; route training; and other relevant topics.

10. Customer service forms an important part of training, reinforcing to participants the role of bus operators as opposed to drivers. The focus includes familiarising participants with Council and BT’s vision; the importance of building customer relations; earning the customers’ trust with sincerity and integrity; and passenger management.

11. In Council’s Service Tracker, current bus users rate their satisfaction with Council’s bus services 7 out of a possible 10. Residents rate the friendliness of bus operators 7.8 out of a possible 10. TransLink’s Quarterly Customer Survey indicates an improvement in overall customer satisfaction with BT’s services; 70.8 in Quarter 4, 2015-16 compared to 70.3 in Quarter 3, 2015-16.

12. Brisbane is commonly known as a ‘friendly’ city. A unique culture of ‘Thank You Driver’ has developed in Brisbane where customers openly express gratitude to bus operators. This unique culture of gratitude sets BT and its bus services apart from other cities.

13. BT has sought quotations to provide a review of the content and delivery of its current bus operator training program. The review will focus on best practice approaches and continual improvement. A report is expected to be completed between September and October 2016.


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14. A comparative analysis table of bus operator entitlements, between BT and other comparable operators, was discussed.

15. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Mr Anderson for his informative presentation.

16. RECOMMENDATION:

THAT COUNCIL NOTE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE ABOVE REPORT.ADOPTED

INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

Councillor Amanda COOPER, Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX, that the report of the meeting of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor COOPER.

Councillor COOPER: Thank you, Madam Chair. There was a question earlier to the LORD MAYOR in relation to blackspot funding applications that Council had put forward. I've got that information to hand so I can provide it to the Chamber.

So there were four nominated projects. One was at Wickham Street-Brookes Street in Fortitude Valley; another was Toombul Road, Wellington Street, Virginia; the third was at Old Cleveland Road, Leicester Street, Coorparoo; and the fourth was Serviceton Avenue-Inala Avenue-Corsair Avenue at Inala. So those were those four projects that were submitted, and of course we won't know the outcome of what those submissions are until next financial year. So that's the information that the LORD MAYOR undertook to provide to the Council Chamber.

At Committee last week we had a presentation on the Gateway Upgrade North Project or the GUN. It is a project that will connect with Council's own road network and of course seen Council bring forward its upgrade to Telegraph Road. So it's a National Highway project being delivered by the State Government's Transport and Main Roads Department (TMR) in conjunction with Transurban and with Lendlease.

It will upgrade from four to six lanes between the Nudgee Golf Course and Bracken Ridge Road—so that's about 11 kilometres in length, with modifications and upgrades of intersections at Nudgee Road, Bicentennial Road, Depot Road, Bracken Ridge Road; as well as the closure of the Sandgate Road northbound onramp at Boondall.

So this will make a huge change to those Brisbane residents who are heading north, and it will see traffic certainly have to adapt to this new proposed scheme. It also includes an approximately 800-metre section of Depot Road into the interchange at Sandgate Road so at Braun Street, the Deagon Deviation and the Gateway Motorway Exchange, as well as impacts on the Boondall Wetlands.

So it's a more than $1 billion project. I think it's about—the exact figure is $1.143 billion according to the TMR website. So that's joint funding between the State and Federal Government. I believe it's an 80:20 split—Councillor MURPHY was interrogating that last week at Committee—and will deliver an increase in capacity as well as of course lower travel times on the Gateway.

There are of course going to be some significant consequences for the Council's road network with that change to the access that's currently existing there at Sandgate Road. So as a consequence, without any local network upgrades, there'll be congestion on Depot Road at Deagon, congestion on Telegraph Road at Bracken Ridge and Lemke Road at Taigum. More traffic of course on local roads from that closure of that onramp, and overall an increase in congestion on Bracken Ridge Road, as well as motorists—by motorists seeking to avoid the congested Telegraph Road.


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So Council has certainly responded to this because we're keen to see investments in infrastructure in our city. So we of course, with our $1.3 billion road package, thankfully Council will be delivering Telegraph Road earlier than anticipated. So this road is a key east-west link in the northern suburbs, and this budget will see $162 million undertaken to continue this upgrade over four years.

As we outlined in—as was outlined in Committee last week, this is a bring forward of these projects in terms of the alignment with the infrastructure delivery and in timing. So it's anticipated for both the Gateway Upgrade North and Council's Telegraph Road project to both be opened in 2018.

Of course we've been progressively upgrading Telegraph Road with completion of the Open Level Crossing Replacement and Stage 1A and we're out there with detailed designs finalised to a Stage 1B of the project with construction completion expected late 2017.

Of course there'll also be improvements for cyclists and pedestrians with new separated shared pathway, and it will ultimately link the Kedron Brook bikeway to the Deagon Deviation bikeway and deliver a high quality cycling facility between Ferny Grove and Redcliffe.

So a great improvement for those of us in the northern suburbs, and I note that a lot of Councillors will be absolutely delighted by this.

Of course it is disappointing—and I really do thank Councillor McLACHLAN for highlighting earlier today that there will be 12 hectares of Council parkland that will be impacted by the GUN project, including land for resumption and removal of protected vegetation. In addition, there'll be a further 2.4 hectares of Council-owned land that will be cleared for the GUN project.

It is disappointing that the State Government, when Council requested that this be actually—this nearly 15 hectares of land be restored or further land be set aside for revegetation, they basically said talk to the hand—Madam Chair, through you. They completely and utterly have abrogated their responsibility to do the right thing and to make sure when we deliver infrastructure that we don't do it at the cost of environmental devastation.

We know what they did down there at Fitzgibbon where they completely cleared the entire area. They cut every tree down. Squirrel gliders had nowhere to live and they filled that whole area. So a whole lot of implications that they are going to be again creating and I am very disappointed. Out of the expenditure I think they're spending about $228.54 million on this project that they can't find it within themselves to restore or revegetate or replace this land that has been lost and certainly the environmental impact that it will generate.

So it's disappointing to see that the environmental credentials of the Australian Labor Party—really actions do speak louder than words. They can talk about vegetation management, but when they have an opportunity to do the right thing by the people of Brisbane, by the ratepayers of Brisbane, and in fact the environmental impacts that they have created, they have just walked away from this problem.

So that's extremely disappointing and I would say to them please reconsider your actions and do the right thing and actually invest in making sure that Council—with our spending, with our 2 Million Trees, with our ongoing project to actually secure land for our city—that you should do the right thing and repatriate or actually create new land for environmental purposes.

We also had a petition at Committee last week with 16 signatures requesting traffic lights be installed at the intersection of Lytton Road and Riverside Place, Morningside. This is certainly something—despite only 16 signatures—through you, Madam Chair, to Councillor SUTTON—we do take this petition extremely seriously, and of course noting that both Riverside Place and Lytton Road are classified as primary freight routes. We've undertaken a recent traffic count noting that there's about 16,000 vehicles travelling on Lytton Road, and Riverside Place has around 300 vehicles a day.


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So Council has now listed this site for the installation of traffic signals. Of course that will go into the budget process and be prioritised across the city, but I urge the local Councillor—she was a bit disappointed that she wasn't aware of the petition until it came to her to present, but she certainly I know is keen to advocate on behalf of her residents. I don't think that only 16 signatures means that it isn't very carefully considered by Council. I urge her in her budget submission to propose this as a high priority and certainly the LORD MAYOR can take it into consideration when he is preparing next year's budget.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.


Councillor SUTTON?

Councillor SUTTON: Thank you, Madam Chair, and I rise to talk on item B in this report, and I thank Councillor COOPER for that introduction.

We had a good discussion about this petition at Committee last week and I did, as Councillor COOPER indicated, stress to the Committee that just because it only had 16 signatures do not be under any misguided opinion that the Lytton Road corridor and the demand for an upgrade of this intersection—isn't topical in the minds of local residents that live in this area.

My view as the local Councillor is that it's not just this intersection, although I'm grateful to the Council for listing the intersection for funding in a future budget. I am grateful for that, but there is an issue with the entire Lytton Road corridor.

As I said to my fellow Committee members last week, I know that I've been banging on about the Wynnum Road upgrade for years and years and years. Well this term expect to hear me talking about the Lytton Road upgrade until you're all sick of it.

So I wanted to prove that there is a strong sense of feeling which is why I have now launched a new online petition that only went up online on Friday. I'm pleased to say it already has 18 signatures on it Councillor MARX and building, and I'd like to acknowledge Belinda Ward from Space for Cycling who is in the gallery this afternoon and who was quick off the mark to actually already have shared it on Facebook. So I haven't even shared it on Facebook yet so she even beat me to the mark, and that is an indication of one of the issues that's facing people on Lytton Road—is actually cyclist safety and that's what my new petition includes.

It's not just Morningside Ward residents; we've already got signatures from people living in Jindalee, St Lucia, Wakerley and Paddington. So for all those Councillors, get onboard my upgrade Lytton Road campaign, because clearly your residents care about it as well.

But in all seriousness, Madam Chair, this intersection, the intersection of Riverside Place and Lytton Road, is one of the intersections that is at capacity. It's one of seven intersections that is either at capacity or nearing capacity. I'm grateful for the recent traffic study that showed that there are 16,000 vehicles using this primary freight route, and some of this work was done in the context of the Bulimba Barracks Masterplan.

I can't help but just reflect that last week Councillor COOPER was talking about the importance of the Inner City Bypass upgrade, and she was talking in her speech about the road being at 70% capacity. Well some of these intersections are already over-capacity, and in fact at one point at Lytton Road which is the roundabout on Colmslie Road, Lytton Road and Junction Road, it is actually closer to 80% capacity.

So I'm not quite sure—that intersection is in the Priority Infrastructure Plan (PIP). It is listed and it will also be a priority in my budget submission. So whilst I will put this in my budget submission Councillor COOPER, there are seven intersections along that—along this route that are either at capacity or will soon be at capacity. Then I also have those intersections on Hawthorne Road


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and Wynnum Road, and Riding Road and Wynnum Road, that are also over-capacity and the traffic studies show that they are over-capacity.

I'll certainly—they will be my highest priorities in the budget, but there are a lot of things and a lot of transport issues in my area and a lot of over-capacity intersections that we need some attention to. In addition, with this Lytton Road corridor is the cycling safety element as well and safety issues around the intersection of Thynne Road and Lytton Road that is causing safety issues for Balmoral State High School students as well.

Thank you for your indulgence and allowing me to talk more about the Lytton Road upgrade. Expect to hear this speech a couple of times over the next few years.


Councillor COOPER?

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Infrastructure Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor Amanda Cooper (Chairman) and Councillors Steve Griffiths, Kim Marx, Ryan Murphy and Shayne Sutton.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE:

Councillor Fiona King.

A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – GATEWAY UPGRADE NORTH – INTERFACE WITH COUNCIL’S ROAD NETWORK

84/2016-171. Lindsay Enright, Strategic Planning Manager, Transport Planning and Strategy,

Brisbane Infrastructure, attended the meeting to provide an update on the Gateway Upgrade North interface with Council’s road network. He provided the information below.

2. Gateway Upgrade North is a national highway project being delivered by the Department of Transport and Main Roads. The project includes an upgrade from four to six lanes covering 11.3 kilometres between the Nudgee Golf Course and Bracken Ridge Road. There will be modifications and upgrades of intersections at Nudgee Road, Nudgee/Banyo; Bicentennial Road, Boondall; Depot Road, Deagon; and Bracken Ridge Road, Bracken Ridge. The northbound on-ramp at Sandgate Road, Boondall, will also be closed. A grade separation of the Deagon Deviation and the Gateway Motorway will be undertaken as well as development of the Deagon Deviation as a two-way road from Braun Street, Deagon. An 800-metre section of Depot Road will be incorporated into the Sandgate Road, the Deagon Deviation and the Gateway Motorway interchange. Diagrams were shown of the area included in the upgrade.

3. A significant increase in capacity and lower travel times on Gateway Motorway will be achieved through the removal of complicated lane changes and better separation of Gateway Motorway and Deagon Deviation traffic movements. This will be aided by the upgrade of Depot Road, Deagon, to four lanes. Bike lanes and turning lanes between Braun Street and the Gateway Motorway access ramps are included in the project. A new grade-separated bikeway will reduce the potential future need for a major upgrade of the Boondall Wetlands pathway

4. Without local network upgrades there will be congestion on Depot Road, Deagon, as the available capacity is taken up by vehicles accessing the Gateway Motorway and Deagon Deviation. Telegraph Road, Bracken Ridge, and Lemke Road, Taigum, will also be affected. Increased traffic on local roads will result from the closure of the Sandgate Road on-ramp. Increased congestion on Bracken Ridge Road is expected as drivers look to avoid Telegraph Road in Bracken Ridge. The upgrade of Telegraph


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Road, Bracken Ridge and Depot Road, Deagon, will accommodate increased traffic demands. This will also decrease congestion on Telegraph Road, Bracken Ridge and the northern suburbs network. An aerial photograph of Depot Road, Deagon, was displayed.

5. The Telegraph Road Stage 2 upgrade will extend the Stage 1 upgrade through to Lemke Road, Taigum. An upgrade of the Telegraph Road, Lemke Road and Depot Road intersection will be undertaken as well as upgrades of Lemke Road, and the Depot Road entry ramp to the Gateway Motorway. It is estimated that the work will cost $140 million with construction to be completed by the end of 2018. A diagram of the roads included in the Telegraph Road Stage 2 upgrade was shown.

6. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Mr Enright for his informative presentation.

7. RECOMMENDATION:


B PETITION – REQUESTING COUNCIL INSTALL TRAFFIC LIGHTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF LYTTON ROAD AND RIVERSIDE PLACE, MORNINGSIDECA16/21336

85/2016-178. A petition from residents, requesting the installation of traffic lights at the intersection of Lytton Road

and Riverside Place, Morningside, was received during the Summer Recess 2015-16.

9. The petition contains 16 signatures. The petitioners are concerned that when exiting Riverside Place, motorists are not able to get a safe gap in traffic due to the volume and speed of vehicles travelling along Lytton Road. The petitioners are also concerned about instances of illegal parking around this intersection.

10. Riverside Place is an 800-metre long road servicing industrial properties. Riverside Place is classified as a Neighbourhood Access Road within Council’s Road Hierarchy Network. These roads allow for the movement of people and goods within and through suburbs and local streets, and are designed to carry moderate volumes of traffic. Lytton Road is classified as a Suburban Road within Council’s Road Hierarchy Network. Suburban Roads form important links in the public transport and inter-suburban freight network, and are designed to carry higher volumes of traffic. Reflecting the road’s role within Brisbane’s freight network, both Lytton Road and Riverside Place are classified as primary freight routes. A locality map forms Attachment A, submitted on file, to this submission.

11. A recent traffic count indicated that there were some 16,000 vehicles per day travelling along this section of Lytton Road while Riverside Place attracted some 3,000 vehicles per day. As these roads are primary freight routes, it is recognised that a large proportion of this traffic volume would be freight vehicles. Council considered that safety could be improved with the installation of traffic signals. As such, Council has already listed the intersection of Lytton Road and Riverside Place for future traffic signals.

12. Under the Queensland Road Rules, it is illegal for motorists to park within 10 metres of the apex of a non-signalised intersection or across a driveway. To reinforce the Queensland Road Rules and improve visibility at the intersection, Council has installed yellow lines around the corners. A yellow line has been installed on Lytton Road, across from the intersection to further improve visibility and safety. Residents are encouraged to report instances of illegal parking to Council’s Contact Centre on 3403 8888 to request enforcement activity.

13. Instances of speeding are considered poor driver behaviour and are best handled by enforcement of the Queensland Road Rules by the Queensland Police Service (Police). Residents can assist Police in their enforcement activity by identifying days and times of the day when this activity is more prevalent. Residents can provide this by contacting their local Police Station via the PoliceLink service on 131 444.


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14. While Council has listed the location for future signals, there is a high demand for traffic signals across the city. Each June, all listed projects are prioritised and assessed against the overall needs of the city. Approved works have the highest priority in terms of public safety, convenience and the number of people directly benefiting in relation to the cost.

Funding

15. Funding for traffic signals for the 2016-17 financial year is already committed to other projects across the city. Council will consider the installation of traffic signals at this location as future funding becomes available.Consultation

16. Councillor Shayne Sutton, Councillor for Morningside Ward, has been consulted and supports the recommendation.

17. The Branch Manager recommended as follows and the Committee agreed unanimously.

18. RECOMMENDATION:

IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE HEAD PETITIONER BE ADVISED THAT COUNCIL HAS LISTED THE INTERSECTION OF LYTTON ROAD AND RIVERSIDE PLACE, MORNINGSIDE, FOR FUTURE TRAFFIC SIGNALS.

ADOPTED

CITY PLANNING COMMITTEE

Councillor Julian SIMMONDS, Chairman of the City Planning Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Vicki HOWARD, that the report of the meeting of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor SIMMONDS?

Councillor SIMMONDS: Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Not too many things to report this afternoon. I wanted to note that the final Community Planning Team (CPT) has been held in this last week for the Ferny Grove Upper Kedron Neighbourhood Plan, so thank you to all those CPT members that participated as part of that process. I understand it was a very positive and collaborative process and well done Councillor TOOMEY for guiding your community through that.

I also wanted to remark on the very popular Talk to a Planner session that was held at Kedron Wavell since we were last in this Chamber as well. I thank the officers very much. It was very, very well attended. They were run off their feet the entire time, so thank you to all those officers who worked very hard across both sessions. Also, thank you very much to those local Councillors who turned up as well.

In relation to the report, so last week the Committee considered the development application for 7 Braddock Street, Robertson, which is the Aveo retirement redevelopment of their facility at that address. So it was an impact-assessable application submitted on 16 December 2015 on behalf of Aveo as I said. The application is for 104 new retirement units of a mix of one, two and three bedrooms constructed over three stages.

Twenty-four existing dwellings would be retained as part of the development, and it was designed at two storeys at the front of the site to be stepped to four storeys towards the centre.

Other facilities to be constructed as part of the application include communal facilities of a deck and a pool, an activity room, a kitchen and dining areas. The development has a total of 115 car parks which is more than what is required in the City Plan.


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Seven submissions were received as part of the application, and certainly all of these submissions have been fully considered as part of the assessment of this proposal.

Local Councillor, Councillor HUANG, has indicated his support of the proposal so thank you very much for putting forward your preference there Councillor. The application was recommended for approval to the Committee with Councillors Councillor SRI and Councillor SUTTON abstaining.

I note that at the time Councillor SUTTON was still considering her position which is excellent and I hope she will support us in this aged care redevelopment. We had a good chat about particularly planting on site. We've both—Councillor SUTTON and I have also had a chance over the last week to review that vegetation management plan, and I can advise the Chamber just on the back of the conversations for other Committee members and those interested, that the application includes 20% of the site, some 2,270 square metres to be covered by deep planting.

Conditions 23, 79 and 126 relate to the retention and protection of existing street trees. The condition 51A relates to replacing the temporary vehicle access that was provided as part of Stage 1 with a very large tree so that it can't continue to be used as an access. Then condition 26, 80 and 127 relate to the further landscaping of the site. Thank you.


Councillor SUTTON?

Councillor SUTTON: Okay. Yes, Madam Chair, just very quickly on this. I'm pleased to advise Councillor SIMMONDS in Chamber Labor Councillors will be supporting this application. I've had time since the presentation to go back and have a look at the documents available on PD Online and to look at—we get the draft conditions in the Committee as well, so to have a look at those conditions as Councillor SIMMONDS has already referenced it.

Obviously the provision of aged care in local communities that allow people to age in place is very, very important. It is something that I think it crosses party political lines, and I think that everyone in this Chamber would appreciate this city has to ensure that it has appropriate levels of aged care facility; built and constructed appropriately as well. Not in flood plains and the rest.

But just like, Madam Chair, at the other end of the lifecycle the need for childcare as well needs to be accommodated, and sometimes that happens in residential zoning areas. So we're pleased to be supporting this application today.


Councillor HUANG.

Councillor HUANG: Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise to speak briefly on last week's City Planning Committee’s presentation on Aveo retirement homes at 7 Braddock Street, Robertson. I would like to start by acknowledging the position and comments made by Councillor SUTTON on this presentation.

Madam Chair, the world is entering an ageing society. As a city government it is important for us to support our senior residents to retire into a life that will provide them with respect and dignity. Providing them housing choices enables them to remain in their local neighbourhood throughout their lifecycle.

Madam Chair, that is why I'm supporting Aveo's development in Braddock Street in Robertson. Aveo retirement homes in Braddock Street is conveniently located next to Sunnybank Plaza shopping centre, which offers the residents a wide variety of shopping choices within walking distance.

Sunnybank Private Hospital is also conveniently located on the other side of McCullough Street, which offers medical and surgical services as well as providing rehabilitation programs that will give our senior residents the comprehensive care that is needed.


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Madam Chair, this application means the desirable outcome, as stated in City Plan 2014 and addressed the assessment criteria and decision process prescribed by the State's Sustainable Planning Act. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City Planning Committee for approving this development application and giving our senior residents the opportunity to stay in the neighbourhood they are familiar with.

As the local Councillor I'm proud to support this outcome, and I recommend the report to the Chamber.



Councillor JOHNSTON: Ah yes Madam—

Chairman: Just try it again.

Councillor JOHNSTON: There is clearly a problem here today.

Chairman: There is not a problem Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Everybody's just told you there's a problem, Angela. What's going on?

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, you do not refer to people in this place by their Christian names. I said press your button and see if it comes on. Thank you.

Councillor JOHNSTON: What is the problem? This has been happening all night. This is at least the fourth time I've put this on the record. Three other Councillors just told you there is a problem.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, speak to the report. Speak to the report Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: I understand this Administration does not want me to be heard, Madam Chairman, but whatever is going on here is a technical—I presume is a technical problem with the microphone, and I would like to know that it's been resolved.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON. Councillor JOHNSTON speak to the report. Your microphone is on. It is working. Speak to the report or sit down. Make your choice.

Councillor JOHNSTON: It clearly wasn't. It clearly wasn't, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: It is on now. Speak to the report or sit down. Make your choice.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Right, well, I do have some comments with respect to this matter, Madam Chairman, and what I'd like to say is that this the kind of decision—and I won't be supporting it—this is the kind of decision that is the reason Brisbane residents have lost confidence in Council's planning scheme. This is a low density area and we are about to allow a four-storey building to be built in an area that is zoned low density.

Now that is not appropriate in my view, Madam Chairman. I've seen the impact of this sort of decision in Chelmer. I've seen it in Corinda. It is something that has a dramatic impact on the residents who live around this type of development; where Council makes a decision for apparently altruistic measures, that is to allow aged care facilities to progress, but what it actually does is set a precedent for height limits in a suburb that are used by other developers to reference when they make future development applications.

Now that's happened very clearly around the city. Yeronga is the best example of that, where we now have what started as a five-storey aged care facility; it's now a seven storey aged care facility. It's happening in other suburbs as well and that's not on.

This area's been zoned low density. I presume that there are a huge range of issues that come with locating a retirement village in an area; whether or not it's serviced appropriately. I heard Councillor HUANG say it's walking distance to shops. Well that's wonderful but I can tell you now technically retirement villages at Yeronga is in walking distance to the shops too, Madam Chairman,


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but most residents can't cross the road without safe crossing points. They need assistance; they need ramps.

So the issue from my point of view is, one; whether we're putting a very large retirement village into a low density area that is well above the one to two storeys of height limits that should be allowed, and four storeys is simply not acceptable under any circumstances.

What I don't understand is why we're not having a one to two-storey retirement village which would make more sense. Certainly Aveo have low density retirement villages in other parts of the city. I think of one nearby on Blunder Road. Now that sort of development is what older people like; low density, single storey. They certainly like green space and so forth.

So what I don't understand is why we are overturning the planning principles in City Plan to allow a noncompliant development, and that in my view should not be allowed; just fundamentally should not be allowed.

There cannot be a good enough reason to say they can't meet the height limits in this area to allow double—double, at least double—what is allowed in this area. Now that's just not acceptable. So I don't support this. A retirement village in this area may be a good thing, but there is absolutely no reason for it to be four storeys on this site.


Councillor HOWARD?

Councillor HOWARD: I think it's my turn, yes. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to the City Planning report regarding this new development in Robertson. I was at the meeting and I very much agree with the sentiments of the presenting officers and the majority of the Committee, that we need to be providing housing for all through a wide range of housing styles and choices that cater for residents' housing needs and purchasing abilities at all life stages.

We need to be looking at more creative builds like this one in Robertson, because I know the ageing of the population is the most significant demographic change currently taking place in Brisbane. People are living longer and have different plans for their later years than previous generations.

While the Australian and Queensland Governments have the greatest responsibility in addressing the issues of an ageing population, Brisbane City Council also needs to ensure our services, facilities, and for the purposes of this debate, our planning processes, accommodate the needs of this community. That's why we took the initiative in 2009 when the LORD MAYOR's taskforce into retirement and aged care investigated ways to encourage more retirement and aged care accommodation in Brisbane through city Councils' plans framework.

The objective was to ensure older Brisbane residents could age in place, remaining within their neighbour as their housing needs change. To my mind, making sure we have a planning scheme that allows people access to housing that dovetails with their purchasing ability and lifestyle as they age is imperative.

Our Seniors Strategy informs me that in the outer-southern suburbs there are fewer seniors than the Brisbane average—15.5% compared with 16%. However, the area has experienced significant population growth and in total the 60-plus population category has increased by 4,268, 20%, between 2001 and 2006. So the number of seniors is growing at a faster rate than the general population in this area.

This huge demographic is not after a backyard to mow. They want proximity to public transport and to the shops, a park to relax in at the weekend or in the morning for personal training and recreation, and a gastropub to relax in at night. That's exactly what this bill provides, Madam Chairman.


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The build at 7 Braddock Street allows the area's long-term residents to remain in their suburb with their established connections as they retire, and it is a very, very good example of what we want to increase density in certain locations in certain hubs. I recommend it to the Chamber.


Councillor SIMMONDS?

Councillor SIMMONDS: Oh thanks very much, Madam Chairman. Look, thank you to the entire Chamber for the debate on that particular item. Look, aged care retirement living is certainly something that is worthy of that debate. I've spoken previously about the challenge that this city faces. We have a growing ageing population that will continue to increase significantly over the next decade. As I've said previously, we are going to be the New World City that we aspire in our hearts to be.

We have to make sure that people have the ability to retire and age and be cared for in the suburbs that they love. Councillor JOHNSTON posed the question; well what could be the reason why they are allowed to go to four storeys instead of two? The simple answer is that the retirement and aged care sector find it incredibly difficult to compete with other private sector uses including normal residential living.

They find it very difficult to find sites, and we are in danger as a city if we are not careful of the private owners of these retirement and aged care sites realising the value of them on the residential market, buying up cheaper land in places like Jimboomba, in Ipswich and outside of Brisbane City, and that is where our retirees and older Brisbane residents will have to go because that is where the facilities will be located. That is an absolutely diabolically poor outcome for the city.

People who have lived for many years, who have raised their family in Robertson, deserve the opportunity to retire and age in the suburb that they love.


Councillor SIMMONDS: To do that, we need more retirement and aged care population. Now this is the perfect site. I'll tell you why it's the perfect site, because there is already an aged care facility there. It's already there, this is simply an expansion. So all of those amenity issues in terms of walkability to the shops and all the rest of it have been addressed because it has been operating as that kind of facility for some time.

But we can't just say, oh well we have some aged care facilities and even though we're going to see the aged population increase by 12%, we're going to leave the stock exactly how it is. Because we can't allow them to go any higher than that. So what I'd say to Councillors is that it is wrong and it would be scaremongering in your communities to see these as precedents. They're not; it is Council recognising a very real and strategic need for our community, as we do with a bunch of other things.

Hotels, student accommodation, industrial uses; there's a whole range of uses that we preserve and promote and encourage because they have a strategic value to our city. You must see retirement and aged care as one of those strategic needs, particularly within the middle-ring suburbs of our city where we need to grow our stock. So don't view them as precedents, view them as us addressing a very real and immediate challenge. In that respect, I'd like to say how much I respect and greatly value Councillor SUTTON and the Labor Councillors' view on this particular issue and I hope that we can continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion to address this, a very important issue for our city. Thank you.

Chairman: I will now put the report.

Upon being submitted to the Chamber by the Chairman, the motion for the adoption of the report of the City Planning Committee was declared carried on the voices.

Thereupon, Councillors Julian SIMMONDS and Krista ADAMS immediately rose and called for a division, which resulted in the motion being declared carried.


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The voting was as follows:

AYES: 21 - DEPUTY MAYOR, Councillor Adrian SCHRINNER, and Councillors Krista ADAMS, Adam ALLAN, Matthew BOURKE, Amanda COOPER, Vicki HOWARD, Steven HUANG, Kim MARX, Peter MATIC, Ian McKENZIE, David McLACHLAN, Ryan MURPHY, Angela OWEN, Julian SIMMONDS, Steven TOOMEY, Andrew WINES, Norm WYNDHAM, and the Leader of the OPPOSITION, Councillor Peter CUMMING, and Councillors Jared CASSIDY, Charles STRUNK and Shayne SUTTON.

NOES: 1 - Councillor Nicole JOHNSTON.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor Julian Simmonds (Chairman), Councillor Vicki Howard (Deputy Chairman), and Councillors Adam Allan, Angela Owen, Jonathan Sri and Shayne Sutton.

A DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION UNDER SUSTAINABLE PLANNING ACT 2009 – DEVELOPMENT PERMIT – MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE FOR RETIREMENT FACILITY AND PRELIMINARY APPROVAL TO CARRY OUT BUILDING WORK – 7 BRADDOCK STREET, ROBERTSON – AVEO RETIREMENT HOMES LIMITEDA004282499

86/2016-171. The Team Manager, Development Assessment South, Development Assessment, City Planning and

Sustainability, reports that a development application was submitted on 16 December 2015 by RPS on behalf of Aveo Retirement Homes Limited. The application was properly made on 18 January 2016.

Development aspects: Material change of use – Development permitCarry out building work – Preliminary approval

General description of proposal: Upgrade and redevelopment of existing retirement facility (104 independent living units) over three stages (Stage 1 (1a and 1b), 2 and 3)

Land in the ownership of: Aveo Retirement Homes LimitedAddress of the site: 7 Braddock Street, RobertsonDescribed as: Lot 1 on RP210254Containing an area of: 20,210 m2

2. This Impact assessable application is over land currently included in the Low density residential zone under Brisbane City Plan 2014 (City Plan). The site is not included within a neighbourhood plan.

3. The proposal is to redevelop the southern portion of the existing Robertson Park Retirement Facility. Details are as follows:- total of 128 dwellings across the site, comprising:

- demolition of 49 existing retirement dwellings- new independent living units – 104 units (seven x 1 bedroom, 89 x 2 bedroom and

eight x 3 bedroom)- existing retirement dwellings retained – 24 dwellings

- three stages – stage 1 (1a & 1b), 2 and 3- building height – stepping from two storeys, three storeys up to four storeys toward the centre

of the site- communal facilities (kitchen, dining, activity rooms, offices, pool) – 971 m2 - car parking – 115 total (76 resident spaces and 39 visitor spaces) plus 10 spaces for mobility

scooters- site cover – 4,784 m2 (43%).


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4. Council records indicate the existing retirement facility use was approved April 1986.

5. The site has street frontages to McCullough Street (south), Braddock Street (east), and Prudence Street (west). All vehicle access to the site will be from Braddock Street. Temporary access will be provided from Prudence Street to allow existing residents to enter and exit the site, which will then be closed prior to commencement of the use of Stage 1. Car parking will be provided within the basement and at ground level. The proposed development provides car parking compliant with City Plan.

6. The land surrounding the site is occupied by low density residential dwellings predominantly one or two storeys in height. The proposed development is designed to step from two storeys at the boundaries to three storeys, with four storey components located centrally within the site, to create articulation and reduce perceived bulk.

7. The use is consistent with the overall outcomes of the Low density residential zone code in that it “provides housing diversity and enables people to remain within their local neighbourhood throughout their lifecycle.”

8. The proposal was subject to Impact assessment and public notification was carried out between 21 April and 16 May 2016 in accordance with the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA). Seven submissions in regards to the proposal were received, six of which were properly made. The grounds of submissions have been addressed as part of the assessment of the application.

9. The Councillor for Macgregor Ward, Councillor Steven Huang, supports the application.

10. The Team Manager, Development Assessment South advises that relevant reports have been obtained to address the assessment criteria and decision process prescribed by the SPA appropriately justifying the proposal and outlining reasonable and relevant conditions of the approval.

11. It is recommended that the application be approved, subject to the approved plans and conditions included in the attached Development Approval Package, submitted on file and marked Attachment A. The Committee agreed, with Councillors Shayne Sutton and Jonathan Sri abstaining.

12. RECOMMENDATION:

(i) That it be and is hereby resolved that whereas–

(a) A properly made development application was made on 18 January 2016 to the Council pursuant to section 260 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA), as follows:

Development aspects: Material change of use – Development permitCarry out building work – Preliminary approval

General description of proposal: Upgrade and redevelopment of existing retirement facility (104 independent living units) over three stages (Stage 1 (1a and 1b), 2 and 3)

Land in the ownership of: Aveo Retirement Homes LimitedAddress of the site: 7 Braddock Street, RobertsonDescribed as: Lot 1 on RP210254Containing an area of: 20,210 m2

(b) The Council is required to assess the application pursuant to Chapter 6, Part 5, Division 3 and section 314 of the SPA, and decide the application under section 324 of the Act.

The Council–

(c) Upon consideration of the application and those matters set forth in sections 314 and 324 of the SPA relevant to the application considers that:

1. the site is within the Urban Footprint of the South East Queensland Regional Plan 2009-2031, and the use is consistent with an Urban Activity


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2. the proposal does not cause conflict with the State’s planning policies, planning regulation provisions or regional plan

3. the proposal is consistent with the general intentions of City Plan4. the proposal would not create an unreasonable traffic problem, increase a

traffic problem or detrimentally affect the efficiency of the road network5. the proposal would not detrimentally affect the amenity of the surrounding

area6. the development can be accommodated within the existing essential

infrastructure networks.

(d) Accordingly considers that where reasonable and relevant conditions imposed on the development, it would be appropriate that the proposed development be approved on the subject land.

(e) Considers that a Brisbane City Council Infrastructure Charges Notice should be issued for the development pursuant to the SPA and Brisbane Adopted Infrastructure Charges Resolution (No. 5) 2015, for the transport, community purposes and stormwater trunk infrastructure networks.

(ii) whereas the Council determines as in (i) hereof, THE COUNCIL APPROVES THE DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION referred to above and subject to the conditions in the attached Development Approval Package and directs that: (a) the applicant be advised of the decision(b) Queensland Urban Utilities be advised of the decision(c) the submitters be advised of the decision(d) the Councillor for Macgregor Ward, Councillor Steven Huang, be advised of the

decision.ADOPTED

ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

Councillor David McLACHLAN, Chairman of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Norm WYNDHAM, that the report of the meeting of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor McLACHLAN.

Councillor McLACHLAN: Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Before I get to the item before us today, I'd just like to reflect on a couple of things from the weekend. I had the good fortune on Sunday to represent the LORD MAYOR at a couple of community events. I'd just like to draw these to the attention of the Chamber. Also to invite Councillors to encourage others to participate in some of these.

Now on Sunday, I had the pleasure of officiating at the Community Conservation Partnerships Program Annual Restoration Celebration. Now that's a bit of a mouthful, but what that is is the recognition of, and an annual event where we get together, those who participate through our various groups; the Habitat Brisbane groups, the Environment Centre guides, the Land for Wildlife partners. Miss Garland who was here earlier was one of those, as she mentioned, a Land for Wildlife partner.

These are under the banner now of the Community Conservation Partnerships Program doing wonderful things for our bushland restoration. The event was at the Wolston Creek Bushland Reserve adjacent to the Wolston Creek Bushland Group, which is a Habitat Brisbane group. This is a wonderful showcase of what's achievable with the work and sweat of volunteers and materials and guidance provided by Council officers to provide guidance to those community conservation partners, as I said, under the banners of either the Wildlife Conservation Partnership, the Creek Catchment Program, Habitat Brisbane or the volunteers through the Environment Centres.


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These volunteers rack up an amazing amount of work on behalf of the Council and into the benefit of our local environment. Nearly 250,000 volunteer hours in any given year providing a dollar value of around $10 million. But most importantly, providing management and expertise and experience and hands-on application of their efforts to managing or help us manage over 2,000 hectares of ecologically significant private land as well as the areas that are in our bushland reserve. So fantastic event, great to see the volunteers coming out, great to see them recognised and rewarded and great to see the exchange of ideas amongst all these disparate groups that came from all over Brisbane to attend this particular event.

Madam Chairman, I also had the pleasure of attending later on Sunday an event that was organised by our friends in Healthy Waterways, which was a Healthy Waterways – Science Afloat event. It was a two-hour cruise, not a three-hour cruise. So I'm pleased it's only a two-hour cruise, who knows where a three-hour cruise might have ended up. But it was a cruise down the river to look at the initiatives undertaken under the auspices of Healthy Waterways and looking at the events or looking at some of the contributions that Council has made along the river as well in the interests of protecting the river and overcoming some of the ecological issues that have been created in years gone by.

So this was a great opportunity to look at the science—that was why it was badged as a science event—look at the science behind returning the river to good health, with restoration projects and some of the science-based approaches that we can bring to bear to increase the resilience of the river to urbanisation in our environment.

Madam Chairman, before us at Committee last week was a presentation on water-smart trees. This was a presentation from officers that reflected on a contribution that came from the Federal Government. In 2014, SEQ catchments received a grant of $1 million from the Federal Government's Caring for our Country initiative. That money was distributed to 14 different projects, all with the aim of cleaning up waterways in and around Brisbane.

Brisbane Council was successful in receiving $250,000 of that grant to look at the way to install water-smart street trees. Now this is an initiative that looks at the infrastructure that we can learn from to divert water that would otherwise go down the gutter, into drains, and instead diverting it into street trees that we've planted. So Council officers have been diligently undertaking what can only be regarded as trials to see what works best. There's been a few changes in the infrastructure along the way to make it work well.

The closest examples of those, if Councillors are interested in having a look, are in Albert Street. But this, instead of the water just rushing down the curb and channel, can divert through a pipe network into the trees and water, instead of being wasted, allows those trees to thrive and survive. There are trees planted opposite these water-smart trees, so there's some benchmark comparisons that are being undertaken as well to see which trees survive best in different circumstances.

So, Madam Chairman, it's good to see these sorts of initiatives being undertaken. It's good to see a science-based approach being taken to the ways we can improve our environment. From hands-on application by our residents through their volunteering is always welcome, but under the auspice of science, under the auspice of looking at the evidence about what works, what doesn't work, what can be improved, it's good to see these programs coming through.

I'm looking forward to us being able to take the learnings from this particular trial in relation to water-smart street trees in particular and seeing how we can apply it to the everyday installation of street trees as we go around keeping our city clean, green and sustainable. Thanks very much, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Thank you, Councillor McLACHLAN.

Further debate?

Nothing further, Councillor McLACHLAN?


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I'll now put the report.

Upon being submitted to the Chamber by the Chairman, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor David McLachlan (Chairman), Councillor Norm Wyndham (Deputy Chairman), and Councillors Steve Griffiths, Steven Huang, Nicole Johnston and Andrew Wines.

A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – WATER SMART STREET TREES

87/2016-171. Renee Ambler and Adrian Crocetti, Senior Program Officers, Waterway Health and Community

Partnerships, Natural Environment, Water and Sustainability, City Planning and Sustainability, attended the meeting to provide an update on water smart street trees. They provided the information below.

2. In 2014, SEQ Catchments was successful in their application for more than $1 million in funding from the Federal Government’s Caring for our Country initiative. SEQ Catchments is coordinating grant money for 14 projects, all aimed to help clean up the waterways in and around Brisbane. Council was awarded $250,000 to install at least 100 water smart street trees, trialling water smart technology in new plantings along main roads in Brisbane. Seventy-four trees have been claimed against the grant to date and the program will end in 2018.

3. Greenery, shade and places to play are all highly desirable features of urban areas. With a changing climate and increasing urbanisation, the relationship between street trees and water is coming to the fore. Large amounts of impervious surfaces prevent water from reaching trees, while hard structures prevent tree growth and provide an inhospitable habitat for roots. At the same time, increasing urbanisation means that there is more surface water available in our cities than ever before. With this comes pollution and the increasing ability for water to erode our creeks and rivers.

4. Council’s commitment to WaterSmart initiatives and strategies will help respond to future development needs. Street trees can counteract the ‘heat island’ effect of urbanised area and minimise the amount of stormwater that reaches our creeks and rivers. Self-watering street trees take this one step further by using low-tech, simple means.

5. Water smart street trees rely on self-watering devices which collect stormwater as it flows along the kerb and deliver it to the subsoil beneath street trees. In addition to improving the tree’s health, this process reduces the quantity of stormwater, sediment and road runoff that would otherwise enter the stormwater system and pollute our waterways. A diagram was shown of a self-watering device.

6. Establishing effective mainstream systems and processes will further enhance the program’s outcomes. Water smart street trees are being rolled out as a trial to investigate whether there can be efficiencies and operational cost reductions. This is being done in conjunction with the Boulevards and Shadeways program to better integrate stormwater management with urban street trees. New standard drawings are currently being produced to enable developers to install them as part of the development approval process.

7. Council is conducting benchmarking of the program based on lessons learned from cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and Portland, USA. Water smart street trees are being monitored for growth, health, reduction in maintenance costs and moisture retention compared with non-water smart trees. Information collected will be used to determine whether the self-watering device benefits street trees and reduces Council’s maintenance costs.

8. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Ms Ambler and Mr Crocetti for their informative presentation.

9. RECOMMENDATION:


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FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE

Councillor Peter MATIC, Chairman of the Field Services Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX, that the report of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor MATIC.

Councillor MATIC: Thank you, Madam Chairman. There was one item and that was a presentation on what is the world's largest waste convention that's held every two years in Germany. Our Manager of Waste Services provided us with that presentation. The importance of what it is to be able to be up-to-date with what's happening out in the world around the area of waste management. Of course every city is different and the demands of every city and every country are different. But this conference, Madam Chairman, is certainly the leading convention across the world.

As an example, there are 168 countries with 140,000 visitors just to this convention alone; just over 3,000 exhibitors. The size of this convention, Madam Chairman, is quite significant. We were informed that the convention space was 230,000 square meters. When you compare that, as an example the Brisbane Convention Centre is only 20,000. So the exhibits and what was presented there is certainly something that's important for Council.

As the provider of the largest waste contract in the southern hemisphere, Madam Chairman, it's important that we as an organisation continually keep abreast of what technologies are available out there. Not only internally within the organisation itself but importantly also what the market provides us, what our contractors provide us. It's important as an organisation with a Zero Waste strategy that we continue to evolve and adapt our technologies and our services to meet those growing needs of a growing city and the different challenges that we face in dealing with waste management.

Of course as part of that strategy, we're always looking for those opportunities to minimise, by making sure that we minimise the amount of waste that goes into our different bins. We also minimise then the eventual transition to landfill or recycling that that process undertakes. But importantly also, when you go to these conventions, the officers were looking at how different countries are adapting to food waste. Food waste takes up a large component of bin space, Madam Chairman, it's up to almost one third of a general waste bin that is food waste.

Food waste is something that can be recycled in different forms. Different countries undertake that process in different ways. So some go quite clearly to waste to energy, others look at composting, others look at opportunities within the green waste bid and how that food waste is then recycled back into compost, fertiliser and other reusable technologies, reusable products, Madam Chairman.

So the presentation was quite informative in that regard and I think as a Council the size that we are, with the significant amount of tonnage that we deal with—we manage 750,000 tonnes of waste every year, with 30 million bin pickups. That is a significant service and we want to ensure that as a Council, we are always providing that first level of service. Importantly also, the presentation quite clearly showed that all the work that Council has been doing over the years in how we manage waste is certainly best practice worldwide. Looking at how we provide those options for people between general, between recycling and green. Making sure that we have an efficient service that is able to pick up that service.

But importantly also when it goes back to our different centres, the separation of the recycling and the green and the general and the treatment of the general waste back into the landfill, Madam Chairman, all of the different presentations


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that officers attended at this conference clearly indicated that our processes are certainly first-class around the world. But that doesn't mean that we need to stop there. It's always about what's next and being able to have the officers attend this convention is an important part of that process.

Certainly, as this Council moves towards the renewing of the waste contract in due course, it's important for us to be able to understand the offering from those potential tenderers to Council and what they offer as far as what is available to them as far as technology and skills and ability, not only in Australia but internationally. So I certainly welcomed the advice of officers around this space and thank them for what was a most informative presentation.



Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, Madam Chairman, I rise just to speak briefly on this item and note that I have been on this Committee since I was elected, so this is my ninth year in field services. What I noted this time, Madam Chairman, obviously this is a very big conference, lots of creative ideas come out of this conference for waste management and so forth. I just thought it was a bit sad, Madam Chairman, I think this is the first year—and I've had a report on this every year for the past eight years—where we haven't bought any equipment or had in the pipeline any new equipment.

So I'm just wondering, normally Councillor McLACHLAN would come in here and he would talk up all the great new whizzbang technology in Waste Services that we'd be getting, because it's been identified as useful to the people of Brisbane. I did ask the question in Committee last week about what had happened, but apparently we're not buying anything this year. Which, I don't know, seems a bit sad to me.

So I just thought I'd put on the record that—


Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, thank you. I hope it's not because we're channelling that money into the Olympic bid—

Chairman: To the report.

Councillor JOHNSTON: —and I hope that, Madam Chairman, we will continue to look at new technology and equipment that's going to help with our waste. Perhaps this year, perhaps we've bought our full share in the past eight years. I'm not sure, Madam Chairman. But I just thought it was a bit interesting that the—I know, Councillor McLACHLAN's shaking his head, we can go back to—

Chairman: To the report, Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Year after year, Madam Chairman, and certainly we'd be looking at all the great equipment he'd be talking up. So I'm just a bit sad, Madam Chairman, we don't have any to talk about today.


Councillor MATIC?

I will now put the report.

Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Field Services Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor Peter Matic (Chairman), Councillor Kim Marx (Deputy Chairman), and Councillors Nicole Johnston, Ian McKenzie, Charles Strunk and Steven Toomey.


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A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – IFAT – GERMANY 2016

88/2016-171. Arron Lee, Manager, Waste and Resource Recovery Services, Field Services Group, Brisbane

Infrastructure, attended the meeting to provide an update on his attendance at IFAT in Germany in May/June 2016. He provided the information below.

2. Brisbane’s waste management services is significant. It includes the largest waste contracts in Australia, contracts that are internationally significant and worth $150 million per annum. Annually, it manages 750,000 tonnes of waste and 30 million bin pickups, and serves 850,000 people through resource recovery centres. As such, it is essential that Council continually scans internationally for emerging technologies and systems, changes in waste streams and processing, and industry trends.

3. It is vital that the city’s waste is managed in the best possible way and that there is flexibility to accommodate change. Change in waste management can be difficult and Mr Lee noted that he has seen numerous facilities globally fail due to change. He also noted that he has experienced change in the form of significant changes in waste stream composition, legislative changes affecting waste composition, and changes in the commodity market and exchange rates which affect waste streams.

4. In May/June this year, Mr Lee and another WaRRS officer (who speaks German) attended the IFAT waste conference in Munich, Germany.

5. IFAT is the largest international trade fair focused on the waste industry in the world and is held every two years in Munich, Germany. Held over five days, it hosts 140,000 visitors from 168 countries, 3,097 exhibitors from 59 countries, and covers 230,000 square metres of exhibition space. By way of comparison, the Brisbane Convention Centre is 20,000 square metres.

6. The goals of the visit were to identify emerging technologies and industry trends, view the latest in fleet and equipment, identify elements to build into future waste management contracts, gain an insight into managing waste under legislation that is emerging in Australia, and compare notes with similar sized councils across the world to confirm we are on track for best practice waste management.

7. The conference itinerary included visiting all exhibits, as well as attending one-on-one meetings with numerous providers, several technology tours, one-on-one meetings with German councils of a similar size to Brisbane. Mr Lee also attended several industry workshops/lectures relating to organics processing, resource recovery and emerging Energy from Waste (EfW) technologies.

8. Mr Lee detailed his findings from attending IFAT. He reconfirmed that there is no such thing as a silver bullet when it comes to managing litter and waste, and that waste has many factors that influence how it is managed including weather conditions, populations, waste composition, culture, environment, city design and growth, economy, legislation, strategy and policy.

9. In terms of how Brisbane measures up, it is internationally recognised as having a high standard of litter management, being cleaner than most European cities, and operating cleansing technology at best practice levels.

10. Council and its contractors are delivering international best practice in waste collection and landfill management. The three bin system is still the most common collection system. There have been significant advancements in information technology, monitoring and geospatial systems, as well as improvements in vehicle emission standards and technologies.

11. There is a strong international focus on the removal of organics from the waste stream and related technologies. The European Union, United Kingdom and parts of the United States of America have state and federal legislation supporting this. The European Union has a waste to landfill ban unless pre-treated, which Queensland does not. The United Kingdom and many parts of the United States have a landfill levy, which Queensland does not. Organics processing is not cheap. It requires significant infrastructure and, in Brisbane’s case, expensive logistics.

12. There have been improvements in waste processing technology in terms of efficiency and relevant clean air emissions.


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13. In summary, Brisbane’s services are well benchmarked. IFAT presented emerging technologies, advancements in existing technologies, and operating systems that Council will see in our future contracts. Council will need to be prepared for future legislative changes.

14. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Mr Lee for his informative presentation.

15. RECOMMENDATION:


LIFESTYLE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE

Councillor Matthew BOURKE, Chairman of the Lifestyle and Community Services Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Ryan MURPHY, that the report of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor BOURKE.

Councillor BOURKE: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman. Just a couple of things before I get to the Committee report that we had last week. It's my pleasure to inform the Council Chamber that once again, our wonderful Contact Centre here in Council has received awards. So for the second year running—and we had the presentation this morning in the Committee meeting today—the Contact Centre of the Business Hotline received the 2016 Queensland Centre of the Year with less than 20 employees, so congratulations to all the dedicated staff who work in our Contact Centre. In particular in the Business Hotline.

The Contact Centre proper, the main customer call centre that we have, also picked up the 2016 Queensland Centre of the Year for 150 to 499 employees as a Contact Centre as a whole. So congratulations to all of our dedicated staff who do a fantastic job in serving the customers and the residents of Brisbane who are either looking to do business, in the case of the Business Hotline, or with general enquiries in the case of the Contact Centre proper. I just want to put my thanks on the record and the thanks of all of the Councillors that are here.

We beat people, Madam Chairman, of the likes of QSuper, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, QUU, Energex, Australia Post, Allianz, Auto & General, Smart Service Queensland and the Australian Taxation Office. So an illustrious group, and it is great to see us recognised for the fantastic service that the Contact Centre provides to our residents.

Madam Chairman, my portfolio is very broad and diverse and I have the great pleasure of supporting and working with a lot of community groups through my portfolio. We do a lot of work in Brisbane Lifestyle with Men's Sheds, we have of course our grants program and we have supported a lot of sheds through the leasing area in Council as well as establishing new sites.

So it was my pleasure last week, last Wednesday evening, to attend the annual general meeting for Shed 100, which is actually my local Men's Shed, Madam Chairman. So first time I was there in my capacity as the Chair for Brisbane Lifestyle and Community Services Committee. Madam Chairman, this shed was established out of the 2011 floods where we identified a need to provide an outlet and a support service to men who were feeling isolated in our community. So back in late 2011, I called a public meeting, we had only a handful of people, there were eight people at that first public meeting. Three of those eight people are still a part of the shed and still on the executive.

They have been on the executive every year for the last five years, Madam Chairman, and on Wednesday night, I was actually presented with the great honour of being made the first life member of Shed 100. So I was very humbled by that experience, Madam Chairman. There are a lot of individuals who have put a lot of work into this particular Men's Shed. Ross Smith who was the inaugural president who is no longer with us, unfortunately, Madam Chairman, put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into getting this organisation off the ground.


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Of course, Gordon, Rodney and David have led this shed over the recent years to get it to where it is today.

They've received $88,000 worth of grants, including $40,000 from QUU. The slab is down, the shed is sitting there ready to go up, Madam Chairman, and I'm pleased to report to the Council Chamber that the shed will be erected by December and the shedders hopefully will be in before Christmas, supporting the community and of course doing important work with men's health issues as well as social issues in the city.

Madam Chairman, turning to the Committee report; there was one item on the Committee report from last week, Madam Chairman. We had a presentation from Mr Eat Safe himself, the City Safety Manager from Compliance and Regulatory Services, Mr Casabella, and he gave us quite a detailed presentation around the Eat Safe program which of course started back in 2009, under former Chair, Councillor KNAPP, when she was in this place. Of course it is a rewards-based system where we encourage businesses in Brisbane who serve food to go through the process to get their star rating and of course display their star rating as a way of identifying that they have very good and high quality food handling and food management practices, Madam Chairman.

So the program has been running, as I said, since 2009, it's in its seventh year, it has been expanded out into other councils. So this program has been recognised by Logan, Bundaberg and a number of other councils, not only just in Queensland but across Australia, Madam Chairman, as a fantastic way to provide confidence to the dining public around the quality of the food offered in their cities. It continues to go from strength to strength.

This year, in the Council budget, the LORD MAYOR has put in additional funding to help target and support multicultural businesses across our city, Madam Chairman, who might be providing food. Of course, we're working very closely with other parts of Council to make sure that we're doing that work in the best way possible. It is a fantastic program that was the instigation of this Council, Madam Chairman, and which is leading the way once again in another area when it comes to protecting residents and making sure that people have great options when it comes to eating out in our city.


Nothing further?

Councillor BOURKE?


Upon being submitted to the Chamber by the Chairman, the motion for the adoption of the report of the Lifestyle and Community Services Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor Matthew Bourke (Chairman), Councillor Steven Huang (Deputy Chairman), the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Adrian Schrinner, and Councillors Jared Cassidy and Jonathan Sri.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE:

Councillor Fiona King and Councillor Kate Richards.

A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – EAT SAFE BRISBANE

89/2016-171. Joseph Casabella, City Safety Manager, Compliance and Regulatory Services, Brisbane Lifestyle,

attended the meeting to provide an update on Eat Safe Brisbane. He provided the information below.


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2. Statistics provided by the Restaurant and Catering Association from 2012 state that an average of $34 is spent on restaurant meals per week per household in Brisbane. In addition, an average of $38 is spent on takeaway meals per week per household in Brisbane. There has been an increase in mobile and temporary businesses, such as market stalls, but the largest proportion is still café, restaurant and takeaway food operators. There has also been an increase in the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) business and employee base.

3. Before the introduction of Eat Safe Brisbane in 2009 there were approximately 5,300 licensed food businesses in Brisbane. Council was attempting to audit every business at least once a year, without considering the consistency of their performance. There was limited availability and access to materials for CaLD operators and there was little incentive for businesses to apply good management practices. The Eat Safe Brisbane scheme was introduced as a better way for Council to manage risks and to promote food hygiene within the food industry and community.

4. Eat Safe Brisbane is a compliance partnership with the food industry, with each food business issued a food safety star rating based on an assessment of their food safety management practices. Businesses are assigned either zero, two, three, four or five stars, with three stars and above considered to be compliant. The program is conducted within the guidelines of the Food Act 2006 and the Australian Food Safety Standards. Businesses that receive a high star rating can submit their own self-assessment to Council using the same criteria as compliance officers. This reduces the need for officers to inspect high-performing businesses as regularly as they once did.

5. Eat Safe Brisbane rewards good management practices, reduces red tape and raises public awareness of food safety, allowing customers to ‘vote with their feet’. The star rating shows a commitment to food safety and provides an incentive to businesses. It has applications for marketing and promotional activities, and is a simple tool to understand performance standards. Eat Safe Brisbane has increased public confidence in Brisbane’s food industry and increased transparency in food business related compliance. In 2009, a public survey showed overwhelming support for a food rating system.

6. Council is the first local government in Queensland to implement a food rating scheme. Eat Safe Brisbane has received national and international interest from governments and private organisations. The scheme was a finalist in the Best Practice in Local Government Awards run by the Institute of Public Administration Australia, and a runner up in the Best Restaurant Hygiene Rating Scheme category at the 2011 CHOICE Awards. The Eat Safe scheme has been adopted by Logan City Council, Bundaberg Regional Council, and Glamorgan Spring Bay and Break O’Day Councils in Tasmania.

7. Council has identified a number of opportunities to strengthen partnerships with the food industry. There is a growing need to accommodate businesses operating from temporary locations, and food trucks can potentially be used to support activation of urban space. More work can be done with CaLD communities through the Eat Safe Food Education Program, and enhancements to existing electronic resources could improve efficiency.

8. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Mr Casabella for his informative presentation.

9. RECOMMENDATION:


FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Councillor Krista ADAMS, Chairman of the Finance and Economic Development Committee, moved, seconded by Councillor Ryan MURPHY, that the report of that Committee held on 16 August 2016, be adopted.

Chairman: Councillor ADAMS.

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair. To the report last week, we have been anticipating the 12 events we are trying to fill our major events calendar with over the last couple of months, and we've been told on numerous occasions by Brisbane


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Marketing that there was something coming in February but we couldn't announce it just yet, and were very excited to talk about in Committee last week, the Global Tens—Brisbane Global Tens that will be coming on 10 and 11 February next year.

So we are going to see 14 of the best teams that will be playing in an intense competition in rugby in Brisbane. It was interesting that it started from a meeting with Brisbane Marketing being over at the Auckland Nines and the concept of how do we actually bring something like that to Brisbane. With a lot of work with Duco, the supporting partners, and talking to some of those rugby teams, what we are going to see now is the best of the best come to Brisbane in February; which unfortunately at the moment is not the Wallabies, but I'm sure we've got time to fix that up before we get to February.

Nothing from you, Councillor MARX, thank you very much. But it is going to be a very, very exciting event. I think we will see some of the teams from around the world knocking the doors down to get to Brisbane in future years to come. Next year will be spectacular but we have got it for a five-plus-five agreement, contract. So I'm looking for this to be the next Hong Kong Sevens, and on that rugby bucket list will be Brisbane Global Tens. Thank you, Madam Chair.


Councillor TOOMEY.

Councillor TOOMEY: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise to speak on item A. Last week's presentation, I could not be more excited that a kid in a lolly shop with a payWave card than I was during the presentation. Madam Chairman, rugby royalty is coming to Brisbane in the form of the Global Tens. We might have Nordic gods with us today, Madam Chairman, but in February, rugby heaven will descend on our city for a two-day knockout tournament.

Madam Chairman, to residents in my ward, and Councillor WINES' ward, this is a big deal. Now I'm not going to get into a debate with Councillor McLACHLAN or Councillor SIMMONDS over who has the largest rugby club because there really is no debate.


Chairman: Order.

Councillor TOOMEY: I won't respond to that interjection, Madam Chairman—

Chairman: Thank you, Councillor TOOMEY.

Councillor TOOMEY: —I'm too ashamed. But I am going to say this. The events and festivals that this competition will bring to the rugby fans in my ward and others is an unprecedented access to 14 of the best teams right here in Brisbane. Rugby players of all ages and fans will have the opportunity to get up close to some of the gods of rugby and the wider Brisbane community will have a taste of World Cup rugby right here in our own back yard.

Madam Chairman, if I can finish with one important recommendation, and that is tickets are on sale now; go and get them quick before my residents in my ward snap them up. Thank you.


Councillor CUMMING.

Councillor CUMMING: Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. I refer to the rugby comp and I'm interested to know how much Brisbane City Council put into it. I think it's ratepayer money and we need to see how much they're putting into essentially what's an elite sport and the highly-paid professional rugby players.


Councillor CUMMING: Highly-paid professional rugby players, several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year minimum—


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Chairman: Order.

Councillor CUMMING: —and the players from Toulon might be earning close to $1 million a season. So that's the sort of money. The other thing I'm concerned is whereas the Sevens is an established format, there's a worldwide comp in the Sevens, including the successful comp run in Hong Kong, Tens, as I understand it, is a fairly new format and therefore an unproven format. I wish the Council all the best but perhaps if it doesn't catch on, it mightn't be as good as you think it's going to be.

But we'll see what happens. But I am interested to know how much ratepayers' money has gone into this comp.


Councillor ADAMS, right of reply.

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm disappointed that Councillor CUMMING had to bring in a class debate around rugby. But I don't know whether that class was rugby versus soccer or otherwise as well.


Councillor ADAMS: Would have said the same if—yes, right. Look, it was explained during the Committee that this is a commitment from Brisbane Marketing. It was Commercial in Confidence in the amount, but it is a lot larger amount that's being put in by the State through Tourism Queensland for this. This is seen as an enormous boon for the tourism and the economic development in Brisbane. Yes, Rugby Tens is not as big as Rugby Sevens because we've never had an opportunity like we are going to have in Brisbane.

Brisbane will become the home of Rugby Tens. As we explained to our soccer fan across the way the other day, Rugby Tens is very much more like the Rugby Fifteens that we see. It is a great opportunity and each of these teams will be bringing their whole teams to play, their entire squad. Which means the thrill for the fans is going to be that much bigger.

As I said, again, you heard it here, this will be on the bucket list for rugby heaven. Thank you.


Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion for the adoption of the Finance and Economic Development Committee was declared carried on the voices.


ATTENDANCE:

Councillor Krista Adams (Chairman); Councillor Ryan Murphy (Deputy Chairman); and Councillors Peter Cumming, Charles Strunk, Steven Toomey and Norm Wyndham.

A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BRISBANE GLOBAL TENS 2017

90/2016-171. Ms Anne-Maree Moon, Director, Leisure Tourism and Major Events, Brisbane Marketing attended the

meeting to provide an update on Brisbane Global Tens 2017. Following the display of a short promotional video, she provided the information below.

2. The Brisbane Global Tens will be an annual event to be held at Suncorp Stadium during February over a two-day period with 14 teams competing including Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels, Western Force, Auckland Blues, Waikato Chiefs, Wellington Hurricanes, Canterbury Crusaders, Otago Highlanders, Samoa National Rugby Union, Blue Bulls, Panasonic Wild Knights and Toulon.


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3. The event will include 28 rugby matches totalling 16 hours with 14 of the world’s best rugby teams competing in the event. It is estimated the Brisbane Global Tens will attract approximately 100,000 fans over the two days of the event and will include global broadcasting around the world.

4. Ms Moon discussed the knockout tournament style of the rugby concept which combines the pace of sevens rugby with ten minute halves and ten players per team with unlimited interchanges. A week-long festival of entertainment, activities and community engagement events celebrating the game and launching the upcoming season will promote the two-day rugby tournament with a week of celebration.

5. The rugby event will be the largest collection of rugby talent in one location surpassed only by the Rugby World Cup and will be held in Brisbane each year staged two weeks before the Super Rugby season commences.

6. A week of tourism promotion in partnership with Brisbane Marketing and Tourism and Events Queensland will include club training camps and 15-a-side trial matches, coaching and support staff workshops, referee development program, rugby club and community program, fan zone in the central city, gala reception and business to business programs to leverage from the event.

7. Brisbane Global Tens will be broadcasted around the world to North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

8. Key industry involvement events have been held including a Brisbane Business Leaders Lunch attended by 150 of the city’s top corporates highlighting opportunities to align business activity and corporate entertainment during the event. The Brisbane Major Events and Tourism industry forum was attended by 130 operators across Brisbane’s hotel, night-time economy and precinct stakeholders and 18 event partners representing the city’s event landscape.

9. Following a number of questions from the Committee, the Chairman thanked Ms Moon for her informative presentation.

10. RECOMMENDATION:


B COMMITTEE REPORT – BANK AND INVESTMENT REPORT – 24 JUNE 2016134/695/317/3-03

91/2016-1711. Paul Oberle, Chief Financial Officer, Organisational Services provided a monthly summary of

Council’s petty cash, bank account and cash investment position as at 24 June 2016.

12. During the June period, total Council funds held by banks and investment institutions (per general ledger) decreased by $150 million to $370.9 million excluding trusts (Ref:1.4). The net decrease is due to quarterly debt service payments to Queensland Treasury Corporation, payments for capital projects and timing of cashflows towards the end of the financial year.

13. Council funds as at 24 June 2016 held by banks and investment institutions (per statements) totalled $373.7 million (Ref:2.4+3.1). The variance relates to timing differences between transactions recorded in the general ledger and those reflected in the bank statements.

14. Unreconciled bank receipts and payments relate to reconciliation variances at the end of the period. The majority of these transactions have since been reconciled.

15. Surplus funds are invested daily with approved counterparties.

16. RECOMMENDATION:

THAT THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE REPORT BE NOTED, as submitted on file.ADOPTED


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PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS:

Chairman: Councillors, are there any petitions?

Councillor HOWARD: Yes, Madam Chairman, I have a further petition requesting a grid of protected bike lanes in the Brisbane CBD.

Chairman: Thank you.

Councillor CUMMING.

Councillor CUMMING: Yes, Madam Chairman, an email petition, not set-up by me, with three persons who signed it, about traffic management at Kamarin Street, Manly West.

Chairman: Thank you.

Any further petitions? No?

Councillor WINES, may I have a motion for receipt of petitions please?

92/2016-17It was resolved on the motion of Councillor Andrew WINES, seconded by Councillor Steve GRIFFITHS, that the petitions as presented be received and referred to the Committee concerned for consideration and report.

The petitions were summarised as follows:

File No. Councillor TopicCA16/677106 Vicki Howard Requesting a grid of protected bike lanes in Brisbane’s central

business districtCA16/681172 Peter Cumming Requesting that Council improve traffic management at the

intersection of Kamarin Street and Whites Road, Manly West.

GENERAL BUSINESS:

Chairman: Councillors, are there any statements required as a result of a Councillor Conduct Review Panel order? There being no Councillors rising to their feet, Councillors, are there any matters of general business?

Councillor TOOMEY.

Councillor TOOMEY: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Just on active travel, I'm not surprised by the DEPUTY MAYOR's report to the Chamber last week that there's been an increase in CityCycle patronage. Some may ask why I would say that. My response is, in my ward in the city, I'm witnessing an increase in cycle use for commuters, those who commute to work, leisure and sport. The number of children filing past my ward office in the morning on their way to school has increased as well. The number of students on the bike path to The Gap High is also increasing.

In Brisbane, we have the perfect climate all year round and growing infrastructure that promotes cycle use. Not to mention the health benefits of riding to school and the time parents save avoiding school drop-offs and pick-ups. Madam Chairman, active travel is on the increase in my ward. For the first time since the Active School Travel program started, in our schools, we have witnesses a three-way tie.

In July, Ashgrove State School and Ferny Grove State School achieved the highest participation rate for cycling to school. In fact, I'm advised the schools' achievement is eight times that of the normal participation rate. Madam


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Chairman, this is an outstanding achievement. It's a result of a commitment by the students to participate, the parents and the teachers' willingness to participate. The Active School Travel program has provided a great awareness of the benefits of Active School Travel in my ward and assisted schools with educating students on road rules and safety.

The program has also provided skills training sessions for bike and scooter rides as well as providing two scooter racks, one for each school. Madam Chairman, it's the community's decision to collectively make a change and I want to celebrate that. I'd like to congratulate Ashgrove State School and Ferny Grove State School for their history-making success. I'd like to thank the principals and teachers for their commitment to the success and students for their enthusiasm and participation in the program.

I'd also like to thank parents for actively encouraging their children to participate in the program. Finally, I'd like to thank the officers for assisting the teachers and principals and their dedication to the program and making it the success that it is. Thank you.

Chairman: Further general business?

Councillor SUTTON.

Councillor SUTTON: Thank you, Madam Chair, I rise to speak on three issues tonight. Firstly, the Future Cities Conference organised by the Local Government Association that I attended last week. Secondly, some road safety events that we have been hosting locally. The third reason is to explain why Councillor ADAMS needs to lift her game as Finance Chair. So I'll put her out of her misery first.

When you're Finance Chairperson, you actually get to oversee filming permit approvals and I think that Councillor ADAMS has been absolutely derelict in her duties by not organising a site tour for all Councillors to the set of Thor and I just think when you have people like Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, it's a great opportunity for the leaders of our city to be making sure that they are fully across how filming permits and approvals work. The only way that she could possibly ever make it up to me for this is to actually get another film starring Matt Damon to come and film in Brisbane into the future. Then I will gladly get up and take all of that back.

So now to the more serious things, Madam Chair, as Councillor CASSIDY shakes his head at me here, the Future Cities Conference that was organised by the LGAQ looking over the horizon. I was very pleased and I thank Councillor CUMMING and my Caucus for allowing me to take up the offer extended by the LORD MAYOR via Councillor CUMMING to attend this conference. I thought it was an extremely interesting conference to attend, particularly with regards to the new transport technologies and how they may affect that way in which councils do business into the future.

There was a lot of talk about how a digital disruption is coming and what it will look like and how councils will need to respond to that. I think the most interesting sessions were around the semi-automated and automated cars or vehicles that will be coming our way sooner than we perhaps maybe expect, and what that will mean for our standards of roads, what it may mean for our public transport systems, what it may mean for our road rules as well. That was extremely interesting to be part of.

Also what was interesting to listen to was about the electric vehicles and the changes in the fleet; changes in the number of electric vehicles that are likely to be on our roads and how those electric vehicles may integrate with the grid and how those electric vehicles may integrate with our homes. What it means for electric vehicle charging stations and inner-city parking demand. It was very, very interesting and I just would like to thank the Council for allowing me to participate in that conference.

Finally, I wanted to talk about Road Safety Week. This is Road Safety Week. Road safety is something that is dear to, I think, most Councillors' hearts. At the local level, I have been partnering with my colleagues, Di Farmer MP, the State


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Member for Bulimba, and Terri Butler MP, the Federal Member for Griffith. We are hosting two local events in our community this week. The first one was yesterday; it was at St Oliver Plunkett School in Cannon Hill.

Three local schools were invited to participate in that event where we had the Police come along, the Department of Main Roads. I hosted a stall so kids could learn about the Active School Travel program and some of the messages that we are teaching kids through our Active School Travel program. But I think the absolute hit of the day wasn't Terri Butler's sausage cooking abilities because she was an absolute master at cooking a sausage sizzle for 500 kids that we gave away for free. It was actually the Queensland Fire and Rescue crew who—not for the obvious reasons but it was because they actually hooked up their hose to a hydrant and showed the kids how the hose really works.

I tell you, what, Madam Chair, I'm 38 years of age and I've never seen a fire truck in action, and that was even exciting for me, and the kids were great kids. The only people that were not happy about that were the Queensland Police Service who—all they had was a few flashing lights on their car but they did a great job as well.

So we had such a fabulous time yesterday doing all that we're going to do all over again on Friday morning at Hawthorne Park from 7am. Terri Butler again will be there cooking up a storm on her sausage sizzle, as will the Minister for Transport because he's heard about what we're doing and he's decided to come out. We are having a free community breakfast to send that road safety message home.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads will be there again. The Queensland police will be there. Sanitarium, I want to acknowledge who have come to the party and have provided us a whole heap of their Lunchbox Legend snacks to send away to the kids for school. We've got a coffee van, I've got some more information from Active School Travel that I will be handing out. The police will be there, the Fireys will be there. It will be a great morning, from 7am to 8am, so the kids, all the kids can get—make it to school.

You don’t have to be a school child or a school mum and dad to enjoy the participation. Everyone is there and, in fact, if Safe Cycling want to come there and fly the flag, we would welcome them with open arms. This is the type of thing that we do in our local neck of the woods. The three local pollies love to work together to put on these events that really send those important messages home about road safety and being road-aware and slowing down, because as we all know, speed kills and everyone's got a role to play in making sure our roads are as safe as possible.


Councillor ALLAN.

Councillor ALLAN: Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise today to speak on a forthcoming event; the Nundah Village Street Festival, which will be held on Sunday 11 September. This festival is in its 15th year and continues to go from strength to strength with more attendees and increased numbers of stallholders.

While the Nundah Village Street Festival is primarily focused on the street festival held on the Sunday, there are a number of very important events across the weekend that complement the street festival and provide for wider community involvement.

On the Friday evening before the street festival, we hold the annual Movies in the Park event at Boyd Park. This is always well attended with movies, food, fireworks and a jumping castle. The event is proudly supported by a number of local community groups, including the scouts and rotary. It is a great way for families to finish a busy week and start off what is always a terrific weekend in Nundah.

An art show was also run in conjunction with the street festival. The quality and quantity of the submissions to the art show have certainly increased over recent years, both from known and emerging artists.


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The main event, at least in connection with the art show, is an awards night on Saturday 10 September, with prizes being presented to successful artists by sponsors. All residents are welcome to attend the event and see the works on display and meet the artists.

The Nundah Village Street Festival has always had a strong local emphasis. The bulk of the stage program is made up by performers from local schools, community groups and churches. For many of the children involved in the stage program this is the key event in their performing calendar. They participate enthusiastically and really enjoy the opportunity to perform for a large crowd.

Local businesses are actively involved in supporting and sponsoring the street festival, and are complemented by independent stallholders on the day. Local community groups also provide key operational support, helping to make the day run smoothly.

The festival is expected to experience continued growth over coming years as the local population increases and the festival's reputation is enhanced. Festivals such as this one are wonderful events for bringing the community together and allowing businesses, community groups and performers to showcase their services and talents.

I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of the Nundah District Development Association in arranging and hosting this event. While there are a number of people who work tirelessly to make this event a success, I would like to make special mention of Anne Reid who has been the driving force behind this festival for many years.

The Brisbane City Council has been a long-term supporter of this festival and I can confirm the community and organisers appreciate the support and the festival itself. I encourage Councillors, if they have the opportunity, to come across to Nundah and enjoy a great day out. Thank you.




Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: Could I confirm that your microphone is on?

Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, surprisingly it is, Madam Chairman. It only took five times, putting it on the record, that there was a problem, and it seems—

Chairman: There's no problem, Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: There clearly was a problem, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON—

Councillor JOHNSTON: But I'm delighted it's fixed. Delighted it's fixed.

Chairman: —move on.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, well, thank you for raising it, Madam Chairman. There are three issues I'd like to speak on tonight briefly; Council's management of its service pits, development issues and invoices, and I'm going to start with the invoice issue today and I'm going to put it on the record, because I am serious about Councillor ADAMS taking this onboard.

One of our long-term suppliers contacted us last week to indicate that their bank account details have changed, and provided their usual monthly invoice. Now, being aware of what happened on Tuesday, once I signed off on the invoice I asked my PA to send through a specific message to Councillor Support to let them know that the bank account details had changed, and we were aware of that and this is where it needed to go.

Now, I've been informed by the supplier today that Council has actually paid the old bank account details, which don't exist any longer. Now, this is a small


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business provider to my office. I don't know how we can undo this transaction but obviously the supplier is very concerned. If I give written instructions through to Council about a situation, I cannot imagine for the life of me why there would be a problem with the outcome.

So I've written to Pip Hold in the CEO's office about the matter this afternoon, once I'd become aware of it, to find out what has happened and why. I think my office did the right thing by trying to make sure that Council was aware that this was a change, and I'm very cognisant that this seems to have been the issue, based on media reports, that happened.

So I'm just bringing this to the Finance Chairman's attention, Madam Chairman, so that she can take it onboard. I've had—and I don't know about other Councillors, but there seems to be a bit of a problem going on with invoicing generally at the moment. We've had two complaints today that I'm aware of and again we are chasing them back as to why bills aren't being paid, why there's large delays.

So something's going wrong. This one particularly we made specific efforts to make sure that people were aware of what was going on so that it could be acted on, and I've been advised this afternoon that that's not happened. So I'm very concerned about this and I want to make sure that our small businesses are not being disadvantaged by whatever Council's doing internally. I said this to Pip yesterday, Madam Chairman, that if there is a problem with paying suppliers because of the review or whatever is going on, we need to communicate to them what those changes are so that everybody knows; not simply not pay our bills for weeks and weeks and weeks on end.

So if there is a problem, we need clear communication so that our suppliers can be informed. But there is clearly a problem with this one, and that has been provided in writing to the CEO's office this afternoon. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Secondly, Madam Chairman, service pits. Well, I look forward to Councillor MATIC's reply next week in Committee about whether Council keeps a list of its service pits. This has been an issue that I've been chasing for some time in my ward. We've made repeated complaints to Council about service pits on Oxley Road at Sherwood. The hazard tape went up probably a year ago at two locations. We've logged multiple jobs advising Council that the pit still had the tape up and hadn't been fixed. That's been going on for months and months and months.

The advice I got in writing from Asset Services was these weren't Council pits, they were Telstra pits. Then when Telstra said, no, they're not our pits, Council told me they were Energex pits. Energex finally told Council they're not Energex pits. Guess whose pits they are? Council's pits.

Now, what I don’t understand is why Council does not know where its own service pits are, why we don’t have a register or a list of these service pits, why they're not mapped and why when basic maintenance jobs about broken pit lids are lodged with Council they are not acted upon.

So I look forward to Councillor MATIC's explanation about whether or not there is a register or a list of service pits and I want an explanation about why we didn’t know these pits were Council pits. Surely, there is a list somewhere. Someone looks at the list and they go, yes, that's ours, no, that's Telstra's, no, that's Energex, no, that's the gas company.

Surely, we've got one, at least of our own assets if not Council's. So I'm looking forward to an explanation of why we did not know, after multiple complaints, these were our service pits.

The third issue relates to a development matter in Annerley. I'm just going to put on the record my concern with respect to the approval of a six-storey building in a two to three-storey area in Annerley, in Aubigny Street, Annerley. The only reason that three storeys is relevant is because part of the site fronts Ipswich Road, therefore three storeys are allowed because of the hierarchy of the road.


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However, despite my objections, despite the community's objections, despite the very clear acceptable and performance solutions of City Plan, a few months ago Council actually approved a six storey building in a street that's less than 10 metres wide.

Now, I don’t know how this has happened. I've read the decision from Council and basically Council is exercising its discretion to allow it. How Council can allow a six-storey building in an area where the maximum is three storeys, it's not reasonable in any way, shape or form. It is happening all the time, thank you, Councillor—


Councillor JOHNSTON: It is happening all the time, Councillor CUMMING, and I feel I must put on the record today—


Councillor JOHNSTON: —I feel I must put on the record today that it is not right that this Council ignores the intent of City Plan, ignores the performance solutions of City Plan and then exercises its discretion to allow a building that is double the maximum allowable size for that area.

Now, Council's response to this is, oh, too bad, go and lodge an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court. Well obviously, that’s out of the financial reach of most people and having done that before, this will be, I think I'm on another one at the moment, you know, lawyers threaten you with costs if you participate in an appeal.

So I don’t think it's reasonable, Madam Chairman, that this Council is diverting so far from the approved height limits in City Plan. City Plan is bad enough on its own but when we make decisions to allow development approvals above double the height limit that is wrong. I am extremely concerned at the poor decision making that is happening under this Administration.

It is happening on a regular basis. It happened in Chelmer not very long ago. It happened in the new part of Corinda. I don't even think the former Councillor there, Councillor BOURKE, even objected. If he did, I'd like to know because I've inherited another highrise nursing home/retirement village in the new part of Corinda. There's no extra parking, there are huge problems with what is going on.

So there is a real issue I think with how far this Administration is prepared to move away from the height limits that are down in City Plan, and I've put questions on notice. You know, we're always told we have to work towards this South East Queensland Regional Plan; 158,000 new dwellings. I'd like to know how many new dwellings have actually been done since that's happened. Does anybody know? Probably not.

Now we're being told that we've got to approve four-storey retirement villages in places like Chelmer and Sunnybank and six storeys and seven storeys in Yeronga. Well, I can tell you, Madam Chairman, there's a five-storey retirement village in Corinda that can't sell.

So the first stage has gone ahead. There's not a community facility there for those elderly residents, because that was all planned in a future stage which now can't be delivered because the project doesn't have the financial means to continue at this point. So maybe that will change in the future, we don’t know.

The big issue, Madam Chairman, is this Administration's preparedness to divert from maximum height levels for purely, I think, for reasons that do not accord with City Plan. The development in Aubigny Street, it will be a shocking development for that little street. It's tin and timber houses and they're going to have a six-storey unit block overshadowing them. I don’t know how the street will function. It's not wide enough. If two cars are parked on the street, nothing goes through the middle. Basically, it takes up the whole street. How it is going to function, I don't know. So I am very concerned—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, your time has expired.


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Further general business?




Councillor JOHNSTON: So, Madam Chairman, the microphone cut out again and—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, stop.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Madam Chairman—

Chairman: Your time had expired at 10 minutes. You no longer have the right to be heard after the 10 minutes. I have called Councillor McKENZIE.

Councillor JOHNSTON: So just to be clear, point of order, Madam Chairman—

Councillor McKENZIE: Madam Chairman, I'd like to speak on four local issues today, if I could.

Chairman: Just a moment please, Councillor McKENZIE.

Councillor JOHNSTON, in accordance with section 53(9) you are obstructing the meeting by making spurious points of order and I direct that you no longer be heard during future Councillor's speeches.



Councillor McKENZIE: Thank you, Madam Chairman.


Councillor JOHNSTON: Madam Chairman, I'm putting on the record this afternoon that you are deliberately turning off my microphone while I am speaking—


Councillor JOHNSTON: —and that is not acceptable, and I want it on the record that you've done it to my knowledge today multiple times and you are not doing it—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: —to other Councillors.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, resume your seat. I have told you, you are not to make any further points of order. I have called Councillor McKENZIE for his general business. I have told you repeatedly that the microphones are working, and when your time has expired you are to no longer be heard. As I have repeatedly told you week after week in this place, section 51, and I have read it out to you tonight, that when the Chairman is speaking every Councillor in this place will preserve strict silence.


Councillor McKENZIE: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I'd like to raise four local issues, if I could this afternoon, concerning Coorparoo Ward. One is the fete at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The other one is the Gold Star Awards at my local two libraries, which I'm blessed to have. Another is the Golden Boot Awards at the Junction Park State School, and briefly touch upon the Coorparoo Park development, which I attended this morning with the LORD MAYOR.

First of all, Madam Chairman, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, it's one of the largest catholic primary schools on the southside and it happens to be in my ward, which I'm very grateful for. Two weeks ago we had a fete there. The LORD MAYOR was invited to open it and he did a very good job but he did a better job at pulling the first beers of the day. I can see he's very experienced at that. So he got lots of congratulations for that.

Thousands of students and parents, and also past parents, attended this function and there was a board of the history with photos of the classes and the students of days gone by.


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The second issue is the Golden Star and Little Star Awards provided to children who attend the Stones Corner library and the Annerley library. Two lovely libraries, not the biggest libraries in Brisbane but these libraries have a lot of soul; lots of community activity, very beautiful.

I learned when I was at Stones Corner not to ask too many questions, as it ended up like Question Time. I was asked by a little fellow how you become a Councillor. I didn’t have time to tell him and I didn’t want to scare him too much. But it was a wonderful experience and I really enjoy attending those functions.

The third issue is the Junction Park State School, a continuous winner in Active School Travel, the winners of a Golden Boot Award. In fact, about 16% of the students consistently travel to school on—by their own means, which is a very high percentage. So my congratulations to that school and the work they do. It's well worthwhile and it's something that I'll be promoting as much as I can.

The last issue, Madam Chairman, was Coorparoo Park development, which I attended today with the LORD MAYOR. Just to reiterate how important this park is, it's 1.9 hectares of green space and it's unusual because it's smack in the middle of Coorparoo.

The Council has spent some $8 million in purchasing land to promote this park. It does a number of things. First of all, it provides extra open space in this developing area. It manages floods, which occur there. It also extends the green corridor for pedestrians and cyclists. This is a great addition to the Ward of Coorparoo and the area of Coorparoo Junction.

With additional buildings going up around there, residents have told me that they're comfortable living in highrise in units, as long as there's some open space, and this is what the Council has provided. It's part of a larger plan, the Norman Creek Plan, which covers, would you believe, 30 square kilometres of land on the southside, a massive amount of land. We’ll be looking at those other areas in this plan in years to come. Thank you.


Councillor STRUNK.

Councillor STRUNK: Thank you, Madam Chair. As Council's aware, our sporting clubs are an integral part of our respective communities. I'm very fortunate that Forest Lake Ward has teams covering all football codes, in some cases at the junior and senior levels.

Last Sunday, our Wasp rugby club had their trophy day, where the under-sixes, sevens, eights, and the youngest of the players, the Little Stingers, received acknowledgement of the great effort in representing their club. Local representative, Federal Member, Milton Dick, State Member for Algester, Leanne Enoch, Patron, Councillor OWEN, and myself were along to present the trophies to the award winners.

The coaches who had put so much work into their teams, spoke about each of the players individually, which was terrific actually to see that acknowledgement from the coaches on an individual basis. The hard working club committee, led by President Vanessa Poskus, Treasurer Veronica Stickley, Vice President Martin Bowden, Equipment and Grounds Manager, Corey Mosert and Canteen Coordinator Belinda Mosert put a huge effort in to make sure that the resources needed are in place to support players, team managers and coaches.

I also want to acknowledge the parents and their commitment to transporting players to and from practice evenings and home and away games. I also want to acknowledge some of the sponsors; the Heritage Community Bank at Forest Lake is a major sponsor and Hillcross Financial Services is the second major sponsor.

There's plenty of support from the other business community in the Forest Lake and general area. Quicklink Design, Marilyn Thurtell Properties—who does an


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excellent job in the Forest Lake area, Step into Life, the Lowe Building Designs, Poolwerx at Forest Lake, the Civic Centre Veterinary Surgery, Inala C&K, and Centenary Hire.

The club is growing from strength to strength and one of the goals is to bring cricket to the Forest Lake community, and it looks like they're well under way to achieving that. Thank you.


Councillor JOHNSTON: Yes, Madam Chairman.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON.

Councillor JOHNSTON: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise on a very brief matter of general business related to what happened during the adjournment last week, and I'm going to place what happened on the public record, and I am seeking an apology from you, I will flag in advance.

Last week you called an adjournment to seek copies of a motion that Council was considering. The adjournment was moved and you closed the meeting. I was the second last Councillor to leave the Chamber. Councillor GRIFFITHS followed me out of the Chamber as well.

I then went to the media room, which is in the hallway outside the council Chamber. As I was attempting to enter the media room you, Madam Chairman, screamed at me to get out of the Antechamber. Now, Madam Chairman, obviously I'm entitled to walk in the corridors of this building. I think that your actions last Tuesday night were absolutely abhorrent, inappropriate, and you have no power to direct me to stay out of the media room in this place.

This is the second time in the past year that an incident like this has occurred, the other being when Councillor Margaret DE WIT was the Chairman, when I was having a cup of tea in the Council kitchen and Councillor DE WIT told me I had to get out of the kitchen. You were sitting with her, Madam Chairman, at the time and a security guard was called up to stand over me while I had a cup of tea in the Council kitchen.

Now if any of these incidents had happened in any other place, there would be some very serious consequences that occurred. What I will say, Madam Chairman, if you are not prepared to apologise on the record today about what you did last Tuesday in this place during the adjournment, I will most certainly take it further.

It is clear that you are applying standards to me that you are not applying to any other Councillor. Other Councillors appear to be able to walk through the Chambers of this place without being yelled at by you, and it is not reasonable that you do that to me.

Now, Madam Chairman, I do expect you to make sure that you do not do this again and I also expect that you will apologise because I intend to keep walking in the corridors of this place and you have no authority to tell me not to. You certainly have no authority to tell me not to speak to the media, which is where I was when you saw me through the doors and yelled at me.

So I want to place on the record that a new tactic has happened today as well. I am very concerned about what is going on but I will go about my business in this place without threat and intimidation from you and I would like an apology.


Councillor MARX.

93/2016-17Councillor Kim MARX, moved, seconded by Councillor Ryan MURPHY, that the meeting conclude. Upon being submitted to the Chamber, the motion was declared carried on the voices.

Chairman: I declare the meeting closed. See you next Tuesday, Councillors.


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QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN:(Questions of which due notice has been given are printed as supplied and are not edited)

Submitted by Councillor Nicole Johnston (received on 18 August 2016)

Q1. Please provide a list by date, address and value of all City of Brisbane Investment Corporation residential development transactions or investments in the following table:

Date Address Value $

Q2. Please provide a balance for each Ward Footpath and Parks Trust Funds as at 29 February 2016?

TennysonChandlerJamboreePullenvaleHamiltonWalter TaylorMcDowallParkinsonMcGregorBracken RidgeMarchantCentralKarawathaToowongThe GapEnoggeraWishartHolland ParkNorthgateDeagonThe GabbaRichlandsMorningsideWynnum ManlyMoorookaNorthgate

Q3. Please provide a balance for each of the following wards Footpath and Parks Trust Funds as at 31 March 2016?

CoorparooForest LakeCalamvalePaddingtonCalamvale

Q4. On 25 June 2015 $448,000 was allocated to the Tennyson Ward Footpath and Parks Trust Fund via the 2015-16 Brisbane City Council Budget. On what date did Brisbane City Council approve a cut of $8,862 to the Tennyson Ward funding allocation made in the Budget creating negative balance of $19,739?

Q5. Please provide a list by ward name and value of all cuts to Ward Footpath and Parks Trust Funds made to the 2015-16 budget allocation?

Q6. Please provide a list by ward name and value of all increases to Ward Footpath and Parks Trust Funds made to the 2015-16 budget allocation?


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Q7. As at 19 March $5,525.64 was cut from the Tennyson Ward Parks Trust Fund for ‘ward boundary realignment’. Please provide a list of developments by address to which this amount relates?

Q8. As at 19 March $5,525.64 was cut from the Tennyson Ward Parks Trust Fund for ‘ward boundary realignment’. Please provide a list of wards and dollar values showing where the $5,525.64 was distributed?

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN:(Answers to questions of which due notice has been given are printed as supplied and are not edited)

Submitted by Councillor Steve Griffiths (from meeting on 23 August 2016)

Q1. Please provide details of the top 5 suburbs for mosquito and biting midge complaints in the 2015/16 financial year.

A1. Mosquito

TingalpaBanyoBrighton HamiltonLota

Biting midge

MorningsideEast BrisbaneKangaroo PointAlbionDeagon and Ransome (tie).

Q2. How much funding has been allocated for the Dowse Lagoon fountain in Deagon Ward?

A2. Funding for the planning and design of the new fountain at Dowse Lagoon will be provided from this year’s budget. This planning and design work will inform the cost of construction in future financial years subject to Council’s standard procurement and tendering processes.

Q3. What is the projected year of completion for the new fountain in Dowse Lagoon in Deagon Ward?

A3. 2019.

Q4. What percentage of Brisbane City Council buses have been equipped with CCTV as at August 12, 2016?

A4. 90% as at 29 July 2016.

Q5. How many driver assaults were reported to Brisbane City Council in the financial year ending June 30, 2016?

A5. Note: It is assumed the question relates to Council buses as per question four above.

There were 26 incidences of physical assaults on Council buses. Physical assaults include spitting.

Q6. How many driver assaults were reported to Brisbane City Council in the financial year ending June 30, 2015?

A6. Note: It is assumed the question relates to Council buses as per question four above.

There were 42 incidences of physical assaults on Council buses. Physical assaults include spitting.


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Q7. How many times did Brisbane City Council bus drivers hit their emergency activation buttons in the financial year ending June 30, 2016?

A7. Note: It is assumed this question relates to bus driver assaults where the emergency activation button was activated.

Council bus drivers have a number of avenues in which to report situations which they deem to be emergencies on board Council bus services to the Bus Network Control Centre. This includes emergency activation buttons which are activated by hand as well as duress alarms which are activated by foot. Some physical altercations are only reported after the offender has left the vehicle at which point a driver may use the Motorola two way radio system to report the incident. The difference between the three methods of reporting an assault are not individually reported.

However, it is assumed that all physical assaults in the above answer to question five were reported by one of these three means.

Q8. How many times did Brisbane City Council bus drivers hit their emergency activation buttons in the financial year ending June 30, 2015?

A8. Note: It is assumed this question relates to bus driver assaults where the emergency activation button was activated.

Council bus drivers have a number of avenues in which to report situations which they deem to be emergencies on board Council bus services to the Bus Network Control Centre. This includes emergency activation buttons which are activated by hand as well as duress alarms which are activated by foot. Some physical altercations are only reported after the offender has left the vehicle at which point a driver may use the Motorola two way radio system to report the incident. The difference between the three methods of reporting an assault are not individually reported.

However, it is assumed that all physical assaults in the above answer to question six were reported by one of these three means.

Q9. Please identify which bus services and routes have security guards aboard.

A9. NightLink services on Saturday and Sunday mornings:

N199N111N154N130N100N184N200N226N392N345 N339 N385 N449 N413

Blue CityGlider services between approximately midnight and 5am on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Maroon CityGlider services between approximately midnight and 5am on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

RISING OF COUNCIL: 6.38pm.


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PRESENTED: and CONFIRMED

CHAIRMAN

Council officers in attendance:

James Withers (Senior Council and Committee Officer)Shivaji Solao (Council and Committee Officer)Billy Peers (Personal Support Officer to the Lord Mayor and Council Orderly)


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