Disgraced former Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale is in jail but we’re still driving over a bridge named after him
Why do we still have streets, bridges and parks named after now-disgraced former public officials? Following Paul Pisasale’s seven-and-a-half year sentence for 33 offences this week, fresh questions are being asked about a controversial public crossing.
City Beat
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Why do we still have streets, bridges, parks and other amenities named after now-disgraced former public officials?
That question took on fresh urgency this week when ex-Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale was sentenced to 7½ years in the iron motel after he pleaded guilty to 33 criminal offences including corruption, fraud and sexual assault.
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Despite his fall from power three years ago, plenty of motorists every day continue to drive across the Paul Pisasale Bridge, which opened at Springfield in 2007.
It’s now covered in obscene graffiti.
The man who launched the satellite city southwest of Brisbane, Maha Sinnathamby, told City Beat it was in issue for the Ipswich City Council and he didn’t want to weigh in.
When we pressed him for his personal view of what should happen, he declined to comment.
A council spin doctor assured us Friday that there’s no burning desire for change.
“It’s certainly not a priority with ratepayers or the council. They’re not going to leap into action just because he’s been jailed,’’ he said.
Back in June, the council commissioned a report on the issue, which noted that they have the power to rebadge roads and other infrastructure if these places are named after someone who has been convicted of a range of offences.
But the council can also make changes if 75 per cent or more of affected business and property owners agree. That means they can still expunge the names of members of the former council sacked in 2018 over corruption and poor governance allegations but who were never charged.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said earlier this year that she favoured making alterations but that cost and resident feedback had to be factored into the mix.
“To have a bridge, park or road named after you is a great honour and should only be bestowed to those who deserve the recognition,’’ Harding said.
“Any decisions will involve community consultation and a full understanding of the costs and impact to affected residents and landowners.”
SHED YOUR BED
The blight of homelessness is personal for Norm McGillivray.
His dad died at the age of 42 after sleeping rough on the streets of London.
So McGillivray, a former top gun at QMI Solutions in Brisbane, launched the Beddown charity two years ago to deploy pop-up accommodation in places that are left vacant at night such as parking lots.
In a new fundraising initiative, he’s promoting something dubbed the “shed your bed challenge’’ next Saturday, October 10, to coincide with World Homeless Day.
Sponsored volunteers are encouraged to sleep anywhere but their bed.
Couches, offices, classrooms and backyards are all on the agenda for participants, who have already raised more than $12,000 in sponsorship pledges.
The youngest volunteers are just 7 and 11 years old, while a bunch of QUT students will be bunking down on campus.
Organisers are hoping to raise in excess of $50,000 and have the backing of the staff at Grill’d Healthy Burgers, Ray White Special Projects, Wolter Consulting Group and Urbaine Communications. Indeed, the entire Wolter team is taking part.
More than 8000 Aussies are sleeping on the streets and McGillivray fears the problem is about to get a whole lot worse since a ban on rental evictions ended in Queensland this week.
“We are the first state to end the moratorium and will be the first to feel its impact,’’ McGillivray warned.
“Jobseeker payments have also been reduced and this is coinciding with the end of the crisis accommodation support provided to at-risk people during COVID.
“Homelessness was already a crisis before COVID. Now it’s heading towards the edge of a cliff.”