MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
The 4492 meeting of the Brisbane City Council,
held at City Hall, Brisbane
on Tuesday 26 April 2016
at 2pm
Prepared by:
Council and Committee Liaison Office
Chief Executive’s Office
Office of the Lord Mayor and Chief Executive Officer
[4492 (Ordinary) Meeting – 26 April 2016]
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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THE 4492 MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,
ON TUESDAY 26 APRIL 2016
AT 2PM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESENT:
OPENING OF MEETING:
MINUTES:
QUESTION TIME:
CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS:
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE
AREPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING ON 10 MARCH 2016
BFOURTH NARASHINO AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF NARASHINO, JAPAN, REGARDING THE PROTECTION OF THE YATSU HIGATA TIDELANDS LOCATED WITHIN JAPAN AND BRISBANE’S BOONDALL WETLANDS
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE (Special report)
ATEMPORARY LOCAL PLANNING INSTRUMENT 02/16 – PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTED PRIOR TO 1911
PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PUBLIC TRANSPORT SNAPSHOT
BPETITION – REQUESTING COUNCIL RESTRICT ADVERTISING ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – INFRASTRUCTURE – PORTFOLIO OVERVIEW
CITY PLANNING COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – CITY PLANNING COMMITTEE OVERVIEW
ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PROGRAM 1 – CLEAN, GREEN AND WATERSMART CITY
FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – FIELD SERVICES GROUP OVERVIEW
LIFESTYLE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – CLEM JONES CITY HALL CONCERTS
FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION AND REPORT – NET BORROWINGS – CASH INVESTMENTS AND FUNDING FOR THE MARCH 2016 QUARTER
BCOMMITTEE REPORT – FINANCIAL REPORTS (ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE, RATES, INVENTORY, ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, PROVISIONS AND MALLS) FOR THE PERIOD ENDED DECEMBER 2015
CCOMMITTEE REPORT – BANK AND INVESTMENT REPORT – 29JANUARY 2016
DCOMMITTEE REPORT – BANK AND INVESTMENT REPORT – 26FEBRUARY 2016
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS:
GENERAL BUSINESS:
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN:
[4492 (Ordinary) Meeting – 26 April 2016]
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PRESENT:
The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK) – LNP
The 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)
Fiona KING (Marchant)
Kim MARX (Runcorn)
PeterMATIC (Paddington)
Ian McKENZIE (Coorparoo)
David McLACHLAN (Hamilton)
Ryan MURPHY (Doboy)
Kate RICHARDS (Pullenvale)
Adrian SCHRINNER (Chandler) (Deputy Mayor)
Julian SIMMONDS (Walter Taylor)
Steven TOOMEY (The Gap)
Andrew WINES (Enoggera)
NormWYNDHAM (McDowall) / PeterCUMMING (Wynnum Manly) (The Leader of the Opposition)
Jared CASSIDY (Deagon) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)
SteveGRIFFITHS (Moorooka)
Charles STRUNK (Forest Lake)
ShayneSUTTON (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.
MINUTES:
413/2015-16
The Minutes of the 4491 meeting of Council held on 19 April 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.
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:Thank you, Madam Chairman. My question is to the LORD MAYOR. We have seen in today’s Courier Mail that the State Government’s Cross River Rail project may reduce travel times for commuters. While this project may benefit residents who live on or near the train lines, can you highlight the anticipated benefits for bus users of the Metro Subway System for residents travelling from suburbs often remote from train stations?
Chairman:LORD MAYOR.
LORD MAYOR:Thanks very much, Madam Chairman, and I thank Councillor McKENZIE for the question. There was an article, I noted, in TheCourier Mail of today’s date where there was discussion around the Cross River Rail plan and the travel time improvements expected as a result of that particular project. I think any transportation projects that result in a travel time saving are welcome. We have continuously said that the city certainly welcomes the Cross River Rail project, but equally we have to look towards making sure that the greater used form of public transport—in this case, in the City of Brisbane, buses—are also catered for in terms of that public infrastructure.
The reality is that our city, as I said here last week, lacks rail corridors by comparison to our southern counterpart cities of Sydney and Melbourne. That means that there are some structural issues within our public transport arrangements that mean that we have to look beyond rail infrastructure alone to cater for the public transport infrastructure needs of our city.
So we certainly welcome the proposed travel time savings from a Cross River Rail project. But the Metro, as proposed by us during the Council election, on which we will conduct a business case between May of this year and May of next year, is very much equally as important for the network of Brisbane.
I have been on the record previously as saying that I am not a strong proponent of multimodal trips. That is for a number of reasons, and I will explain those in a moment. But it was on that basis that people were sometimes a bit quick to judge the Metro to say, well, that’s a multimodal trip; you are getting people off buses and on to the Metro. That is true. But the key to all of these things is the amount of time that is used, the amount of convenience or inconvenience as the case may be, that people are put to in terms of their public transport trip.
So, in the case of the Metro, it is an easy transfer from one platform to an adjoining platform without the need to swipe on or swipe off, with a guaranteed faster travel time, and I will refer to that more in a moment. My concern has always been if you make the multi-modal trips such that the trip time expands beyond what it otherwise would be with a single mode of travel, and I am also concerned about the interchange arrangements, so that an example of a wet day, we are not putting people at a significant inconvenience, and in a case due to the elements of weather, to a position where it would be easier for them to take a motor vehicle than to undertake a multi-modal trip.
When we are talking about Cross River Rail and Metro together, I think they can produce a very, very strong public transport outcome for our city. We have always at our level of government been engaged in buses and trams before that, but we, as a city government, as I said last week, we built the Eleanor Schonell Bridge and we are now very focused on delivering, over time, the Metro to this city.
The Metro will do two things. It will save significant travel time for residents, reducing that currently scheduled 12-minute trip from Woolloongabba to the city—but which is often a 20-minute trip because of delays around the cultural precinct, over the Victoria Bridge—and it will reduce that down to six-and-a-half minutes. The travel from Herston will be five-and-a-half minutes, down from the current scheduled nine minutes. So these are significant savings, and the good thing about it is that they are a guaranteed time through to 2031 and beyond. That is the problem with the existing system if we leave it unchecked; the current 12-minute schedule, 20 minutes from the Gabba, is only going to get longer. It will get longer as more and more buses are required to bring residents to the city.
The fact of the matter is, because we don’t have a larger number of rail corridors, a lot of people are still going to have to use buses, regardless of the Cross River Rail, because of people’s travel time distance to the nearest railway station. Where I live at Eight Mile Plains is a single example; it is a long, long way to the nearest railway station. So, Madam Chairman—
Chairman:LORD MAYOR, your time has expired.
LORD MAYOR:Thank you very much.
Chairman:Further questions?
Councillor CUMMING.
Question 2
Councillor CUMMING:Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. My question is to the LORD MAYOR. You were the Infrastructure Chairman responsible for delivery of the Go Between Bridge which was initially going to cost $240 million and deliver the city a big fat cheque. The cost of the bridge blew out to $317 million, and finally ended up costing ratepayers $370 million, and the big fat cheque has never eventuated. The number of vehicles currently using the bridge is nowhere near the original traffic projects.
Isn’t it true that your Brisbane Metro is on track to be your next Go Between Bridge with cost blow out after cost blow out and servicing a radically reduced number of patrons?
Chairman:LORD MAYOR.
LORD MAYOR:Well, thanks very much, Madam Chairman. I appreciate that this is the first time now in some months that we have heard the Labor Party talk in very negative terms about proposed public transport infrastructure in this city. It seems now that this is what they were thinking all along, that they were never serious about a light rail proposal, and Councillor CUMMING has confirmed that today.
Councillors interjecting.
LORD MAYOR:He has confirmed that today.
Chairman: Order!
LORD MAYOR:They were really thinking that we should not be building public transport infrastructure.
Councillor interjecting.
Chairman:Councillor CASSIDY.
LORD MAYOR:We have built a lot of infrastructure in this city—
Councillor interjecting.
Chairman:Councillor JOHNSTON.
LORD MAYOR:I remind Councillor CUMMING and the Labor Party that all of this infrastructure is going to provide capacity in our network into the future.
One of the things that this city suffered from each and every week was when there was an accident that involved one of our river crossings, we did not have the crossriver capacity to deal with it. So, every time that one of those bridges, whether it is the Story Bridge, the William Jolly Bridge, Victoria Bridge—when one of them went wrong, there was chaos in this city.
So the Go Between Bridge has provided a very terrific opportunity in terms of the extra cross-river capacity and it builds that capacity not only for today in 2016; it has the capacity for the future. The same applies to Clem7, to LegacyWay, to Airportlink, to all of those projects.
Councillor interjecting.
Chairman:Councillor SUTTON.
LORD MAYOR:All of those projects are not just for today; they are capacity building for the future, and they will serve this city for a long time to come.
So, Councillor CUMMING, we are going to be undertaking a business case, and that business case will be made very public. It will be conducted from the month of May this year through to May of next year. All of the figures will be available at that time. To come out and pre-empt before we have even started the business case about potential cost overruns is interesting.
I hope it is not on the back of that State Government report that Councillor CUMMING previously referred to, which was completely flawed. It was a flawed report because it did not take into the account the statements that I had made at the time when I announced the costings around the initial costing arrangements for the Metro, which was $1.15 billion, which took into account a 50% risk contingency in the construction build. That was part of the total $1.54billion associated with the project.
I think what I would like to hear from Councillor CUMMING is: do you generally support the building of public transport infrastructure? Is it something that our city needs? Because, if the answer to that from Councillor CUMMING is no, then that will clearly confirm that Labor have only been talking about this; it’s been all talk and it hasn’t been a genuine belief in the building of public transport infrastructure in our city.
Councillors interjecting.
Chairman:Order.
LORD MAYOR:It was the same ill-conceived, light-on-detail approach that they took in the election campaign with regard to light rail. They never could explain how Montague Road wasn’t going to have to be closed; how Ann Street wasn’t going to have to be closed to traffic; how all of these other major corridors, including Skyring Terrace, wasn’t going to be able to be closed to traffic. Maybe, Councillor CUMMING, now in the post-election period, you might be able to get up and explain how that was going to work, because it certainly wasn’t explained by the Labor Party during the election period.
Chairman:Further questions?
Councillor WINES.
Question 3
Councillor WINES:Thank you, Madam Chairman. My question is to the Chairman of Public and Active Transport Committee, Councillor SCHRINNER. Brisbane’s bus users know that this Administration is committed to having Australia’s most modern bus and ferry fleet as well as fighting for fairer fares. Can you update the Chamber on the most pressing issue in Brisbane’s public transport system, which is fairer public transport fares, and how this Administration will continue to stand up for the residents of Brisbane?
Chairman:DEPUTY MAYOR.
DEPUTY MAYOR:Thank you, Councillor WINES, for the question. As we saw in this morning’s Public and Active Transport Committee, where the focus was again on fares and affordability, this is the number one issue facing our public transport users in the City of Brisbane and indeed in South East Queensland.
We know it; TransLink knows it; public transport lobby groups know it, but today marks eight months and one week since the State Government commenced their fare review, and we still have no outcome. The latest murmurings from George Street are that we may have to wait even more time, several more months, before we get a result. Let me be very clear: when they do release something, I predict that they will fail to make a decision. They will release something for consultation which will then possibly go on for months and months more. Meanwhile, delaying and delaying any decision and any fare relief for the commuters of South East Queensland. Something has to change, and something has to change urgently.
We all want to talk about fighting traffic congestion. We all want to talk about improving public transport. Here is something that can be done immediately to boost public transport patronage and to reduce traffic congestion. Last week in the Chamber I talked about some comments made by Robert Dow from the RailBack on Track lobby group. As I said at the time, Robert and this Administration don’t always agree, but one thing we do agree on is the need for action right now on fares.
On 31 March, Mr Dow published a post saying, “sort out the fare system now. The community is running out of patience with a government that fails to deliver”. Today, once again, Mr Dow has hit Twitter, and published another post, and he said today, “the March 2016 TransLink performance snapshot has been released, and shows that fare affordability remains the standout issue”. He says it’s time for action. So once again today, Robert Dow calling for action, joining with this Council, and most importantly, Mr Dow is a member of the Fare Review Panel, the expert panel that the State Government appointed to review the fare system. Mr Dow is on there.
He is publicly making comments extremely critical of the State Government’s delay on this fare review; extremely critical. Week after week, day after day, MrDow is reinforcing what we’re saying. I am not sure if, given that he’s a member of the panel, that makes him a disloyal chap, but the reality is he has a right to speak out on behalf of commuters on this issue, just as we will continue to do.
We saw in the Committee this morning, if you take a five-zone fare in Brisbane or a five-zone trip in Brisbane on a bus, a train or a ferry, you are paying 24% than you would on a similar trip in Sydney; you are paying 32% more than you would on a similar trip in Perth, and you are paying 53% more than you would on a similar trip in Melbourne. We are being ripped off in South East Queensland with the level of fares that are being charged by TransLink. People are voting with their feet. They are turning away from public transport because of this.