Labor questions Brisbane Metro's $380,000 marketing budget

Brisbane City Council expects to spend more than $380,000 on marketing for its key transport project, the $1.2 billion Brisbane Metro, in the coming financial year.

The figure is on top of $432,622 spent on marketing for the high-frequency turn-up-and-go public transport project in 2018-2019.

The Brisbane Metro has blown out from $944 million to $1.2 billion.Credit: Brisbane City Council

During the council's budget debate on Wednesday, public and active transport committee chairman Ryan Murphy confirmed the spend.

By July 2021 the council expects to have spent $812,622 in just two years promoting the Metro.

Cr Murphy said the cost covered promotions including drone footage, graphic design and letterbox drops informing residents about Brisbane Metro.

"We hear a lot about the $5.7 billion Cross River Rail project, but never forget it's actually the bus network that performs 66 per cent of the public transport task here in Brisbane," Cr Murphy told the chamber.

"Unlocking the congestion on the Victoria Bridge and unleashing the potential of our network is critical. This is Brisbane's most important public transport project."

In budget announcements last week, lord mayor Adrian Schrinner confirmed the Metro had skyrocketed from its original $944 million budget to $1.2 billion, blaming delays to its construction, the decision to electrify the Metro buses and labour costs.

The council's decision to switch the Adelaide Street tunnel construction method from cut-and-cover to boring will also cost an extra $25 million but reduce the impact on traffic.

Cr Murphy said the council had also purchased more land at Rochedale to accommodate future expansion of the Metro depot currently under construction.

But the advertising funds prompted criticisms from opposition councillors, who questioned the high cost of marketing a project that had been delayed for a year and already seen a total budget hike of $300 million.

Opposition leader Jared Cassidy said the Metro was "one big marketing project" that "only exists on glossy brochures".

"We will have seen over $1 million spent on Metro advertising in the last three years and still have nothing to show for it," Cr Cassidy told Brisbane Times.

"No wonder people are confused about what Metro is. Council spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year telling them it's one project, then the following year changes it, then advertises that."

Independent councillor Nicole Johnston also criticised the cost of marketing, saying "council has prioritised selling a botched project rather than delivering a reliable bus solution for Brisbane".

"It's a triumph of spin over substance and all Brisbane ratepayers are paying," she said.

Last year the council and the state government had a long-term disagreement over the size and location of the Metro's flagship underground Cultural Centre station.

Cr Schrinner finally announced weeks before the 2020-21 budget that the council and state had agreed to delay the Cultural Centre station indefinitely, with the lord mayor saying upgrades to the existing bus station would sustain Brisbane's travel needs for up to 10 years.

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