‘Tower of power’ mining-free zone

Mining helps fuel the Queensland economy, but it seems Labor is fearful of any association with the industry going by what has just unfolded at 1 William Street, aka the Tower of Power.

Coal billionaire Chris Wallin

It seems Labor’s fear of any association with the mining industry, let alone coal mining, has been exposed by its strange advertising policy at 1 William Street, aka the Tower of Power.

City Beat readers will recall that QCoal, with its partners under the Energy Resources Queensland (ERQ) group, has been running a campaign against the Queensland Government over its decision to close a camp at the Byerwen coal mine near Mackay, affecting 800 workers. As part of the campaign, the group headed by richlister Chris Wallin had booked digital billboards inside 1 William Street, the building operated by JLL and owned by CBUS and ISPT super funds.

The original digital billboard, with the message ‘Tell Labor Where to Go,’ was rejected as being too political. The Brisbane Airport Corporation rejected a similar message on a billboard on their site as well.

QCoal ad campaign. Picture: Supplied

When ERQ was forced to give up the ad booking, QCoal decided to take it up for some generic branding for itself. The new sign was ‘QCoal – a strong commitment to regional Queensland.’

Pretty uncontroversial stuff most people would imagine. However, this also was rejected because it has been flagged by the tower management as being ‘in conflict’ with another tenant. “1 William has an existing restriction for the mining ad category so we will be unable to schedule the brand creative here as mentioned before,” the building managers told QCoal.

So, the building built by mining royalties and the State Government funded, by its own admission, by mining will not allow advertising supporting mining and miners because it is a ‘tenant conflict’.

The only tenant of 1 William Street is the State Labor Government.

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works says commercial advertising in 1 William St is managed by the building owner’s property team JLL Australia. “JLL Australia review and approve advertising content,” the spokesperson said. JLL did not respond to a request for comment.

High Flyers

Given the above, we hear there were some interesting conversations between Wallin and a Labor senator at the Royal Flying Doctor Service launch in Bundaberg last week Friday. Wallin, who is the chair of the QCoal Foundation, was part of the crew officially opening the RFDS Bundaberg training facility on October 4.

Burdekin MP Dale Last calls for meeting with QCoal, Glencore, state government and Isaac mayor

Senator Anthony Chisholm. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Wallin was joined by Federal Assistant Minister for Regional Development Senator Anthony Chisholm and Bundaberg Mayor Helen Blackburn for the opening and tour of the new facility. The QCoal Foundation is a founding partner of the RFDS Aeromedical Training Academy in Bundaberg.

Apart from providing vital training for RFDS pilots, the facility will earn essential income for the charity as a training facility for pilots across the southern hemisphere.

Wallin was one of a select few invited to try out the state-of-the-art full-motion King Air B350/360 Fusion flight training simulator last month.

Fun and Games

Queensland’s digital games sector is continuing to gain momentum with Screen Queensland announcing 12 games had receiving a share of $1.3 million in funding.

Globally, the digital games market is estimated to be worth $294 billion while Australian sales have risen to $4.21 billion.

Games development in Queensland is rapidly expanding, with local employment increasing by 68.5 per cent across studios supported by Screen Queensland in 2023–24, equating to 263 jobs. Games grants funding backs projects across all stages of development with up to $200,000 per round and a lifetime project cap of $300,000.

This latest round includes all-new titles from MAXART, Fuzzy Ghost, and Spitfire Interactive, as well as the full release of 5 Lives Studio’s Cozy Caravan.

Originally published as ‘Tower of power’ mining-free zone