The Kurilpa Precinct in South Brisbane and West End has become the latest battleground between Adrian Schrinner’s LNP Council, local Greens representatives and Labor in Council.
The Lord Mayor, and his Deputy, Krista Adams, argue that their proposed Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) for the area will open the way for new and affordable housing, and they accuse opponents of standing in the way of a solution to homelessness.
“The Greens have opposed 10,000 new homes in the Kurilpa Precinct alone, just like they have opposed virtually every neighbourhood plan aimed at creating new homes in Brisbane”, Cr Adams told the Westender.
“The destructive Greens are the ultimate hypocrites when it comes to housing. The Greens are making people wait longer for housing and making homelessness much worse.”
Cr Adams, said there will be a full precinct planning process for the Kurilpa precinct, which will include full community consultation.
The Lord Mayor weighed in on Friday, telling the LNP Sate Conference that a “Green/Labor alliance won’t solve the housing crisis.”
“Meanwhile – in the midst of the housing crisis – we’re still waiting for state government approval for our Kurilpa plan”, Cr Schrinner told the LNP Conference.
The Deputy Mayor and the Developers
On 24 July, Cr Adams will be the keynote speaker on a panel with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) titled “Kurilpa and beyond: unlocking Brisbane’s 5 priority growth precincts“. All of the other panellists are developers.
The Deputy Mayor confirmed with The Westender that she was asked if she would be interested in being on the panel on 1 June.
The TLPI is currently being considered by the Planning Minister and many expect a decision within days.
Deputy Premier to determine the fate of council’s Kurilpa precinct plan.
No Seat on Panel for Local Councillor
Given its focus on the Kurilpa Precinct, The Gabba Ward Councillor, Trina Massey, approached organisers for a seat on the panel. Her request was rejected by the ULI, a non-profit research and education organisation with ‘a mission’ to “’shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.’ Its members are real estate and land use experts.
Cr Massey said the discussion on 24 July is specifically about Kurilpa.
“In the response we’ve received, we were told it is a private event and non-political. This is interesting since the Deputy Mayor, LNP Councillor Krista Adams, is the keynote speaker. I think it Is shocking. The panel members are the Managing Director of Stockwell, the CEO of Pinkos group, and the Acquisitions Manager at Mirvac. So, we’re talking about a conference of developers with the Deputy Mayor, discussing development in Kurilpa without any sort of inclusion for the local member or even the State Member.
“This is a discussion about what will happen to communities, specifically Kurilpa, without any sort of engagement with the community. And that’s playing with their lives.”
Cr Massey said it is incredibly bold of developers to put on this event and to have the Deputy Mayor as the keynote speaker for an area where she is not the local member.
“It’s a key indicator that this LNP council wants to supersede any sort of local planning, any sort of community consultation, any sort of transparent conversation, and to have developer-led planning across the city.”
“A thriving community is not just buildings. It’s the community of people that live there already: it’s the schools, it’s the green spaces, the community hubs, it’s the connections and the identity of the suburb. The diversity of suburbs and the kind of culture that exists within them is very different.”
“The idea that developers can discuss creating thriving communities in a private event, where they are only listening to each other, and say it’s non-political, with the Deputy Mayor as the keynote speaker, is the complete opposite of how you create a thriving community.”
Cr Trina Massey
Community campaigns to stop the TLPI
Local community groups continue campaigning for the Deputy Premier to refuse the Council’s TLPI proposal.
Seleneah More from West End Community Association said that through the TLPI, the Deputy Mayor is signalling to the property industry, “that they are an open shop for commercial gain.”
“The Liberals are prepared to ride roughshod over communities to stuff the election coffers. Their intention is to use the mechanism of the TLPI to densify in flood prone areas and to shift the costs onto communities and State Government. It is a short-sighted play.
“In the height of a housing affordability crisis which is the result of market failure, constituents are attuned to real solutions. The LNP manipulation of real hardship (lack of affordable housing issues), densification without social infrastructure, and denial of citizen engagement, for political and commercial gains shows their true character.”
Pam Bourke, a spokesperson for West End the community group, aptly named in this context, Kurilpa Futures, said that when the Mayor and Deputy Mayor make these issues about party political rivalries, they ignore the campaign against the TLPI is a coalition of concerned local residents. She said it is a community response against bad planning, supported by people of all political persuasions.
“The unjustified use of the TLPI, bypasses normal planning processes by cutting out any public rights to participate. It erodes any public confidence in the planning process and sets a bad precedent for the whole city.”
“When Cr Adams says there will be full community consultation, she is engaging in post decision consultation, or as it Is often referred to, DAD, “decide, announce, defend”.”
Ms Bourke said Kurilpa Futures was disappointed when Cr Massey’s request for a place on the ULI panel was refused.
“The ULI justified their refusal by saying that the event was not political. I beg to disagree. This event is highly political:
- the LNP Deputy Mayor is using the forum to promote a Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) that will facilitate the development of an additional 48,000 units and buildings up to ninety storeys in Kurilpa. This will have devastating social and environmental impacts on the Kurilpa Peninsula without any prior community engagement. The total disregard for local democracy is a political issue.
- the area in question has suffered major flooding twice in the past 11 years including devastating impacts on people, property and infrastructure: This is a political issue.
- The TLPI will increase traffic, put pressure on existing infrastructure such as schools and open space and will do nothing to deliver badly needed affordable housing. This is a political issue.
“When you only allow people to hear one side of a story you have created a political issue,” Ms Bourke said.
“Let our local representative speak.”
The TLPI Kurilpa Precinct Plan exposes the BCC and developers as operating along the lines of what we are witnessing with the fallout of Robodebt. People in high places who are out of touch with those they should be serving and to whom they should do no harm. The ‘Plan’ if implemented in its present form on this peninsula will not address what it claims as its genesis – a housing crisis. It is a tawdry profit scheme that lacks soul and vision for Kurilpa and Brisbane.
Talk to our community representatives. This is where it should start.