Claims by the Brisbane City Council that the company it approved to operate the Lumina Night Walks show at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens owns the license to operate the night walks in Australia appear to be false.
According to Jérôme De Baecque, Development Director of Canadian company The Moment Factory which owns the Lumina Night Walks installations, the company has not entered into any agreement with Australian-based company Light Dreaming.
In an email to the community advocacy group Mt Coot-tha Protection Alliance (MCPA), Mr De Baecque said Moment Factory’s involvement in the project was never confirmed.
“We are not participating in this project,” he said.
“The conversation with Light Dreaming has been going on and off for several months since 2022 but there was never a proper date defined by them for the project to become official. We were not even aware that it was still going ahead.”
A spokesperson for the Mt Coot-tha Protection Alliance said this revelation called into question the Council’s claims about the project.
“The council approved Light Dreaming to operate the night walks without a formal tender process claiming there was no-one else to go out to tender for the light event as Light Dreaming held the only Australian licence.
“Brisbane City Council minutes from 16 August 2022 record Deputy Mayor Krista Adams stating that Light Dreaming had the exclusive Australian rights to operate the internationally known and renowned Lumina Night Walks.
“Ms Adams is also quoted in an ABC News story of 18 August 2022 making the same claim that Light Dreaming has a license to operate Moment Factory’s Lumina Night Walks installations in Australia.
“Yet the company which owns the Lumina Night Walks says there is no such agreement.
“It really casts doubt on the council’s transparency and credibility in relation to the light shows if it is making claims that are just not true.
“There is strong community opposition to the light shows given the risks to Mt Coot-tha’s nocturnal wildlife habitat.
“The site will also contribute to Brisbane’s light pollution footprint despite Brisbane already being one of the most light-polluted cities in Australia.
“It’s time for the council to put a stop to this proposal and preserve Mt Cooth-tha as a haven for flora, fauna and nature lovers.”
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It seems the Council has some serious explaining to do. They presented this as a done deal and that Luminar had the necessary experience despite there never being any details of the design of the project. and a viable and impact analysis on what is a primary piece of valuable botanical and environmental public asset. The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor have been pushing this through and actually misinforming the community. The project is opposed by nearly every community group in Brisbane, the submissions were overwhelmingly against it on fundamental issues, and it now seems, it is not even being supported by the only business that the Council originally put forward as being the only one with the experience to do it… although this was also questioned.
Best that they kill the project now given it is so toxic and the public has been seriously misled