MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
The 4451 meeting of the Brisbane City Council,
held at City Hall, Brisbane
on Tuesday 4 November 2014
at 2pm
Prepared by:
Council and Committee Liaison Office
Chief Executive’s Office
Office of the Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer
[4451 (Ordinary) Meeting – 4 November 2014]
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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THE 4451 MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,
ON TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2014
AT 2PM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS i
PRESENT: 1
OPENING OF MEETING: 1
APOLOGY: 1
MINUTES: 1
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: 1
QUESTION TIME: 7
CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS: 19
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE 19
A HEALTH, SAFETY AND AMENITY AMENDING LOCAL LAW 2014 43
B PUBLIC LAND AND COUNCIL ASSETS LOCAL LAW 2014 45
INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE 47
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – LEFT TURN ON RED 49
B PETITION – TRUCKS TRAVELLING ALONG KATE STREET, ELLENSTREET AND PRESTON ROAD, CARINA 50
C PETITIONS – TRAFFIC ISSUES ON WATSON ROAD AND MORTIMER ROAD, ACACIA RIDGE 51
D PETITION – PARKING CHANGES IN MARMION PARADE, TARINGA 54
PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE 55
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – NORTH BRISBANE BIKEWAY 58
B PETITION – NEW ACTIVE TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE - BRIDGEMAN DOWNS 59
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE 62
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT BILL 69
ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE 71
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – STORMWATER HARVESTING PROJECT WHITES HILL RESERVE 73
B PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL PROVIDE A SMALL DOG OFF-LEASH AREA AT CURLEW PARK, SANDGATE 74
FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE 75
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – MOSQUITO CONFERENCE REPORT 76
BRISBANE LIFESTYLE COMMITTEE 79
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – HOARDING AND SQUALOR REDUCTION INITIATIVE 81
FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE 83
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – EXERCISE TEMPEST 89
B PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL FACILITATE A COMMERCIAL CINEMA AT THE OLD WYNNUM CENTRAL STATE SCHOOL SITE 91
C PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL CREATE GREEN SPACE ON THE OLD WYNNUM CENTRAL STATE SCHOOL SITE THAT IS 3,200SQUARE METRES IN AREA WITH 40 METRE FRONTAGE TO BOTH FLORENCE AND CHARLOTTE STREETS 92
D PETITION – REQUESTING RELEASE OF COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR THE WYNNUM CENTRAL STATE SCHOOL SITE 93
E PETITION – REQUESTING PARKLAND AT THE PROPOSED WYNNUM CENTRAL STATE SCHOOL SITE 94
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS: 95
GENERAL BUSINESS: 96
QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN: 101
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN: 101
[4451 (Ordinary) Meeting – 4 November 2014]
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PRESENT:
The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK) – LNP
The Chairman of Council, Councillor MargaretdeWIT (Pullenvale Ward) – LNP
LNP Councillors (and Wards) / ALP Councillors (and Wards)Krista ADAMS (Wishart)
Matthew BOURKE (Jamboree)
Amanda COOPER (Bracken Ridge)
Vicki HOWARD (Central)
Steven HUANG (Macgregor)
Fiona KING (Marchant)
GeraldineKNAPP (The Gap)
Kim MARX (Karawatha)
PeterMATIC (Toowong)
Ian McKENZIE (Holland Park)
David McLACHLAN (Hamilton)
Ryan MURPHY (Doboy)
Angela OWEN-TAYLOR (Parkinson) (Deputy Chairman of Council)
Adrian SCHRINNER (Chandler) (Deputy Mayor)
Julian SIMMONDS (Walter Taylor)
Andrew WINES (Enoggera) / Milton DICK (Richlands) (The Leader of the Opposition)
Helen ABRAHAMS (The Gabba) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)
PeterCUMMING (Wynnum Manly)
KimFLESSER (Northgate)
SteveGRIFFITHS (Moorooka)
VictoriaNEWTON (Deagon)
ShayneSUTTON (Morningside)
Independent Councillor (and Ward)
Nicole JOHNSTON (Tennyson)
OPENING OF MEETING:
The Chairman, Councillor Margaret de WIT, opened the meeting with prayer, and then proceeded with the business set out in the Agenda.
APOLOGY:
220/2014-15
An apology was submitted on behalf of Councillor NormWYNDHAM (McDowall) - LNP, and he was granted leave of absence from the meeting on the motion of Councillor Ryan MURPHY, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX.
MINUTES:
221/2014-15
The Minutes of the 4450 meeting of Council held on 28 October 2014, copies of which had been forwarded to each councillor, were presented, taken as read and confirmed on the motion of Councillor Ryan MURPHY, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Mr Michael Kane – Coal dust emissions
File number: 137/220/701/199
Chairman: I would like to call on Mr Michael Kane who will address the Chamber on coal dust emissions. Orderly, please show Mr Kane in.
You have five minutes, Mr Kane; please proceed.
Mr Michael Kane: Thank you, Madam Chairman, LORD MAYOR and councillors; I really appreciate this opportunity to address you all on an issue that I think is quite important, and thank you for the nerve-wracking experience that this is for me. I have timed myself and I am just a little under five minutes, so I'm hoping that I can stay under five minutes, so I'd better begin.
Good afternoon; my name is Michael Kane. I am a community organiser for Clean Air Queensland. Clean Air Queensland is an umbrella group for community groups and individuals who are concerned about coal dust and other pollution that is presently occurring in residential and urban areas in South East Queensland. Some of our member groups include: The Friends of the Earth, Oakey Coal Action Alliance, Clean Air Wynnum, Clean Air Morningside, Clean Air Corinda, Clean Air South Brisbane, Six Degrees, Parents against Coal Dust, Stop Brisbane Coal Trains, Rosewood and District Protection Society, Clean Air Toowoomba, and we have allied groups such as Doctors for the Environment and Lock the Gate.
We have been campaigning in Brisbane for the last 12 months, and plan to run effective electoral third-party campaigns in the upcoming elections of all levels of government.
The issue: in Brisbane we currently have about nine million tonnes of uncovered coal wagons passing through our neighbourhoods every year. This means up to 5,000 full and empty coal trains or around 200,000 wagon movements annually passing through 21 suburbs of Brisbane—quite likely, one of your own suburbs in your own electorates on the way to the massive coal stockpile at the Brisbane Port. The wagons are uncovered and emitting significant amounts of PM10, particular pollution and diesel, and this is happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Hundreds of thousands of Brisbane residents are potentially affected, as the coal can travel up to 10 kilometres from pollution point sources. The figure of nine million tonnes could soon double to more than 20 million tonnes per annum if the industry plans to expand the Acland Coal Mine, the Jeebropilly Mine, which is located a few kilometres from Ipswich, the Wilkie Creek Mine and, if the massive planned expansion of the Ebenezer Mine near Ipswich is also realised.
Approval is now being sought for several other mines in South East Queensland, and these are just the ones we know about, but in the Wivenhoe catchment, there is coal mines planned for there. So if they go ahead, then that is a potential pollution source for Brisbane's drinking water.
Why isn't the industry covering up the trains? I don't think there is a good reason. They say it is not a problem. They just say it is just not a problem, and it is too expensive. I disagree with both of those, but I can't really go into that at length at the moment because of time.
Earlier this year the National Pollution Inventory was published. The inventory is a voluntary account of pollution, and figures that are submitted by all sectors of the economy including agriculture and industries like the mining industry. The facts speak for themselves. The coal industry is a polluting industry, and 80 per cent of PM10 pollution in Queensland is emitted by coal mining and related industries, including the mining process itself, and the stockpiling and the transport of coal.
The further east coal travels through Brisbane suburbs, the worse the pollution levels are getting. The Brisbane Port coal stockpile is a major source of PM10 pollution in Eastern Brisbane. It is also important to remember that coal dust can travel up to 10 kilometres, as I previously stated.
Health issues: Particulate matter, like coal dust, is 10 micrometers or less in diameter, so it is very small. It is like smoking a cigarette—the same kind of pollution, and is absorbed by the lungs and enters into the blood stream and is known to cause strokes, heart attack, diabetes, kidney disease, asthma and cancer, and that is the Australian Medical Association that says that.
Heavy metals in the dust cause widespread problems, particularly in children, and is known to cause brain damage and development problems. This is a class one carcinogen rated by the World Health Authority which ranks the same as tobacco smoke and asbestos. I think it is important to remember that 40,000 children in South East Queensland go to school within one kilometre of the coal train line, and more than half of them live in Brisbane suburbs.
Clean water is also emerging as an issue for Brisbane residents. As I previously said, coal mines are now planned for the Wivenhoe catchment, and according to some politicians, very likely to go ahead.
What we want: we want basically to cover the coal trains. We are not asking too much. Everybody else has to cover them; I don't know why the coal industry doesn’t. We want best practice dust mitigation at stockpiles and mines. So, they're just watering, possibly enclosure and other measures at the moment. I believe we have one of the worst practice stockpiling dust mitigation measures in the developed world. We want safe drinking water. So it is not too much to ask. I think that is fairly reasonable, and I hope that I can get your support for that.
Clean Air Queensland would like to work with the Brisbane City Council towards a coal dust free Brisbane. We understand that Council's legal and legislative powers cannot be easily used to make a difference on this issue, but we also do not underestimate the Council's ability to show leadership on this issue in Brisbane. I think if Council got behind this issue, I think we could make real inroads, and I think we could achieve some pretty sensible changes for the industry practice—
Chairman: Mr Kane, thank you—
Mr Michael Kane: —that would significantly improve this issue.
Chairman: —your time has expired.
Mr Michael Kane: So thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
Chairman: Thank you. Just take a seat, thanks, Mr Kane. Councillor BOURKE, would you care to respond?
Response by Councillor Matthew BOURKE, Chairman of the Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee
Councillor BOURKE: Thanks very much, Madam Chairman. Look, Mr Kane, thank you very much for coming in this afternoon, on Melbourne Cup Day, to speak to us about this important issue to you. In my role as Chairman for Environment, Parks and Sustainability, I obviously take care of all of Council's green initiatives, our sustainability issues, but also our airquality policy. Obviously it is a very controversial issue that you have raised, and one that you have done a lot of detailed work into as well as work with other groups. You have brought together a number of groups to lobby the State Government and also the time you are giving this afternoon to Council.
As you acknowledged in your own speech, there is only limited things that Council can do to influence the outcome with regards to covering of coal trains. It primarily is a State or a Federal issue, depending on the railway that they're on. I know, no doubt, that you have already probably been in contact with the Minister for Transport, Mr Scott Emerson, or alternatively, of course, with Minister Springborg as the Minister for Health.
Obviously I would encourage you to continue pursuing those channels, because the State Government is the level of government that can implement the changes, I believe, that you are seeking. So once again, thank you very much, Mr Kane, for your time this afternoon and for coming into Council.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr Kane.
Mr Warwick Mortensen – Save Pullenvale Reserve community group’s concerns
File number: 137/220/701/197
Chairman: I would now like to call on Mr Warwick Mortensen who will address the Chamber on the Save Pullenvale Reserve community group's concerns. Orderly, please show Mr Mortensen in.
Mr Mortensen, you have five minutes; please proceed.
Mr Warwick Mortensen: My name is Warwick Mortensen. I am here representing residents from Pullenvale in Brisbane's west. Pullenvale residents are in shock that Council and the ward councillor are supporting a proposed development for a large car park in a private exclusive club for the Brisbane Kenmore Bridge Club on a small park and cemetery called Pullenvale Reserve.
This reserve is recognised by Council and State Government documents as, in the 18th century, a cemetery. It homes at least 15 to 20 bodies. It is also known by second and third generation locals as a resting place for some indigenous souls. In fact, the local Turrbal people are watching this development application unfold very closely, but it does not end here. It is going to be built with our rates. According to members of the Bridge Club, Council has promised them the land. Council has also promised them a grant from our rates to build their private clubhouse.
Let me say now: this is not an attack on the Kenmore Bridge Club; this is an objection to an inappropriate use of State-owned land of which Council is the trustee. This is an objection to the question of the development application process. This is an objection to, dare I say, its secret deals with the bridge club to deliver them a long term awaited clubhouse.
Over the years, developers, community groups and even local residents have wanted to build on this reserve. The answer from State Government and local Council has always been a resounding no. So why now suddenly, after all these years, does Council want to build a private clubhouse for their local playing bridge allies. The DA (development application) was rushed through; it is incomplete; it did not secure State Government consent.
The State Minister for Natural Resource and Mines, Andrew Cripps, and the department are now involved. This department instructed Council to follow the proper process that joint consent must be given to the DA submission, yet Brisbane City Council continues to ignore these directives.