Dear Neighbours,

Happy New Year from myself and the team at the Gabba Ward Office. Hoping your holidays have been filled with family and friends and a time for rest. For those within the community that are key workers across the Christmas period, thank you! 

The holiday period saw a series of brutal heatwaves and dangerous storms. But the summer isn’t over, so it’s important to be aware, be prepared and help our neighbours, if we can.

Being prepared and informed is the first step. Have you explored the following resources?

• Register for the Brisbane Severe Weather Alert for free severe weather alerts delivered by email, SMS or voice message.
• Register for the Bureau of Meteorology weather app to receive warnings for upcoming events.
• Understand the risks that might be posed to your health in a heatwave event.
• If you have pets, read up on tips for caring for animals during summer from the RSPCA.
• Check in with your friends and neighbours who might be at risk, and see if you can help each other prepare. For friends and family who have a disability, Queenslanders with Disability Network have written this emergency preparedness resource.

Invasion Day Rally JAN 26

Image credit: Sean Gilligan

Each year tens of thousands of people take to the streets on January 26 to demonstrate solidarity and demand justice for First Nations people. It’s clear there is strong support for First Nations Justice among local residents, with the Gabba Ward having one of the highest YES votes in the Country.

With many people across the ward engaged in First Nations justice, and like me disillusioned with the referendum result, Invasion Day is a great way to show support and hear directly from First Nations people about what issues matter to them.

This year's rally will begin at Queens Gardens at 9am and end here in our ward at Musgrave Park where there will be a smoking ceremony, cultural activities, a free BBQ and refreshments.

I also wanted to share other avenues you can take to continue working towards Truth, Treaty and Voice. Please check out the link below.

Gabba Rebuild Update

At the end of last year both major parties started to shift their positions on the wasteful and destructive $2.7 billion Gabba Rebuild. These changes simply would not have happened without the pressure the community and the Greens have put on the major parties. 

After years of unwavering vocal support, the Lord Mayor and LNP Council administration have backflipped and will no longer support the Gabba demolition in its current form. We’ve also pressured the new Labor Premier to include the Gabba rebuild as a part of a 60 day review to be reconsidered along with other Brisbane Olympic infrastructure projects.

The pathway towards a community win on this campaign is becoming clearer. Now more than ever, it’s crucial that we use this opportunity to ramp up the pressure on all Labor and LNP leaders at the state and council level to stop the Gabba demolition for good!

We call on the Labor Premier, Leader of the Opposition and all Labor and LNP Brisbane City Councillors to urgently withdraw their support for the $2.7 billion Gabba Olympics rebuild, and to do everything they can to stop this community-wrecking project from going ahead.

Do you want to help get active? Join Rethink the Gabba!

Dockside and Mowbray Park Ferry Terminal Update

Works will start for the Mowbray Park Ferry Terminal upgrade in late January 2024, with the ferry terminal planned to close in March 2024 pending completion of the Dockside Ferry Terminal.

This means pretty soon, the new Dockside Ferry Terminal will be completed, and become a the City Cat stop as Mowbray Park Ferry Terminal undergoes upgrades.

Metro Arts defunded - Can you help?

In late December 2023, Creative Australia announced its decision to defund Metro Arts from 2025 onwards. A dedicated arts organisation that calls West End home, Metro Arts services independent arts in both the visual and performance space. This cut in future funding will undeniably have a reverberating effect not only for Metro Arts, but also the arts and cultural communities in West End, across Brisbane and beyond. 

Metro Arts has created an open letter to be delivered to Creative Australia in the coming weeks. You can sign the letter and learn more about the situation below.

Feeding 4101 West End Croquet Club Activation

A big thank you to incredible community members who volunteered to activate West End Croquet Club as a place of respite and support for rough-sleepers in January. Thanks also to all the residents and local businesses who dropped by to contribute much needed donations of food, clothing, toiletries and shoes. A special shout out to Feeding 4101 who organised the West End Croquet Club activation and worked onsite the whole time. 

The mix of punishing heat and extensive rain and storms have left many of the most marginalised members of our community even more vulnerable. Over 130 people connected with the West End Croquet Club across 4 days; accessing food, clothing, a place for connection, a cuppa, conversation and importantly a point to triage for support and advocacy for housing and other social services. 

No one chooses to live in a tent in a park, but the housing crisis is visibly growing across our city. New Farm Park, Roma Street Parklands, Musgrave Park, Kurilpa Point, Victoria Park and Brisbane CBD have all seen an unimaginable increase of rough-sleeping. 

Our communities' care and compassion in response is something to be proud of. My office has been inundated with residents asking what they can do to support people sleeping rough in their neighbourhoods. It has been truly humbling to receive so many offers of support.

This housing crisis is the worst we have seen since the Great Depression. The situation will continue to get worse until governments at all levels start treating housing like a human right rather than a speculative investment. As a start, we need to ramp up our construction of public housing and affordable housing. We also need a Rent Freeze today.

The Town of Nowhere campaign brings together a coalition of community organisations and everyday Queenslanders dedicated to ending our state’s housing crisis, spearheaded by QCOSS. Please check out the website to read the evidence and support their advocacy if you can.

Greens Brisbane City Council Housing Justice Platform can be found below.

281-297 Montague Road Development Approved 

Just days before Christmas Council approved an unsustainable, excessively tall luxury development on the site of the current TOMRA facility and QBCC building right next to Davies Park. There was strong community opposition to this proposal, with 638 submissions made and a petition organised by our State MP Amy MacMahon receiving over 1500 signatures.

While we had been pushing for the entire site to be acquired by Council, a groundswell of community pressure has worked and we have won some concessions. The two 26 story towers were reduced to a 20 and 18 story tower - these are still 8 and 12 stories over the height limit for this site respectively. There was also a small increase in deep planting and 600 square metres of land will be handed over to public ownership as an extension to Davies Park.

Street & Park tree updates

• Five Water Gums (Syzygium francisii) will be planted around the basketball court in Davies Park this month.
• Energex has received approval to remove two Leopard Trees (Caesalpinia) near 54 High St, Dutton Park. A replacement tree will be planted.
• Council will remove a Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifoloius) near 147 Park Rd, Woolloongabba due to poor health. A replacement tree will be planted.
• Council will remove a Tuckeroo Tree (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) near 2 Balaclava St, Woolloongabba due to poor health. A replacement tree will be planted.
• I have been advised that Council will not be planting any new street or park trees until March (with possible extension to May). The official reason given is that the wild weather, both extreme storms and extreme heat, has meant many new plants do not survive planting over summer.