‘Lining their pockets’: Salvos fired over Brisbane’s new housing strategy

Brisbane City Council has been accused of lining developers’ pockets in its latest attempt to increase housing supply, with warnings ratepayers would pay the cost of discounts in major project infrastructure charges.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner presented his council’s Housing Supply Action Plan at a Property Council lunch on Thursday.

Brisbane is aiming for “tall and not sprawl”, says Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.Credit: Illustration by Aresna Villanueva

The plan would reduce infrastructure charges for residential buildings in high-density areas by up to 75 per cent, to encourage what Schrinner called “tall and not sprawl” development.

The 75 per cent discount would apply to studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments in inner-city high-density areas that had been approved since January 1 last year.

Similar development applications made this Friday and beyond would receive a 50 per cent discount, while community housing providers would have all infrastructure charges waived.

To qualify, developments must be completed within four years, and the council would also seek to increase allowable heights within inner-city suburbs.

Greens lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan livestreamed from outside the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre’s Plaza Terrace Room, as guests mingled before the lunch.

“Even if the council does reduce infrastructure charges in the name of encouraging more development, what that will actually do is just lead to either developers lining their pockets and pocketing that reduction, or it will lead to land values rising slightly,” he said.

“...Any cost savings, or any potential reductions in the cost of housing will be chewed up by an increase in land value.”

Inside, Schrinner told guests the council’s budget surplus would pay for the initiative.

“You don’t have to go far – in fact, just across the road from this building – to see people living in tents in Musgrave Park,” he said.

“That is the real consequence of not dealing with the housing supply challenges and not bringing on more houses and these problems won’t be fixed just with government housing or social housing.

“They will only be fixed by everyone in this room.”

Sriranganathan said was an irresponsible and “short-sighted” policy that would lead to higher rates.

“If you’re saying that developers are going to pay less towards the cost of new infrastructure, either that means that the central infrastructure like stormwater drainage and intersection redesigns don’t get built, or it means that ordinary ratepayers have to pick up the tab,” he said.

Acknowledging Srinatharangan’s presence outside, Schrinner framed the Greens candidate as his primary challenger, as opposed to Labor’s Tracey Price, who was nominated at the start of August.

“I need you to understand that if you see the way local elections work, there is actually a real chance that person could be lord mayor next year after March. He’s a very real chance,” he said.

“...Make no mistake, there are trends happening here that have a great deal of momentum and there is a real chance that that situation could occur next year.”

City Hall’s Labor opposition, meanwhile, described the policy as an admission of failure from the LNP administration.

Opposition leader Jared Cassidy said Labor had been calling on Schrinner to pull every lever available, including infrastructure fee discounts, to increase housing supply.

“Finally, Schrinner has come clean, and is now claiming Brisbane Labor’s policy as his own,” he said.

The Property Council’s Queensland executive director Jen Williams said infrastructure charges were a major part of the cost of new homes.

“This welcome reduction in input costs will go a long way to getting more homes on the ground, sooner,” she said.

One thing Schrinner said the council could not control was Queensland Urban Utilities’ infrastructure charges, which generally accounted for about half of developers’ infrastructure bills.

“I can’t make a commitment on their behalf,” he said.

“I can put some pressure on, that’s something I can do, but I can’t necessarily guarantee an outcome there.

“But certainly, the council component is what we have control of we can change that quite easily.”

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