Labor mayoral candidate’s bold plan to fine developers sitting on land

Developers will be slapped with a penalty for sitting on empty land across Brisbane under a proposal from Labor’s mayoral hopeful Tracey Price.

Developers will be slapped with a penalty for sitting on empty land across Brisbane under a proposal from Labor’s mayoral hopeful Tracey Price.

In a daring bid to dethrone the Liberal-National Party’s stronghold over the country’s largest council, Labor’s candidate has targeted the housing crisis for the party’s first major policy announcement ahead of next year’s local government election.

Labor’s plan to address the pressing need to increase housing supply across Brisbane, exclusively revealed by The Courier-Mail, also includes medium to high density in the city’s suburbs as opposed to concentrating population growth to high-rise apartments in the inner city.

She has also endeavoured to audit all current development approvals that have not started within approved time frames as well as auditing all vacant land in the high density zone to encourage owners to build on vacant land.

The mayoral hopeful said she will investigate measures to instigate building on undeveloped land such as penalties for land banking and build to rent incentives.

Tracey Price, the Labor mayoral candidate, has provided a glimpse into the party’s housing strategy. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“We don’t want to just come in and do an audit and then start applying penalties everywhere,” Ms Price said.

“We’ve got to work with these developers to make sure that we can move things along amicably to the benefit of both what they’re trying to achieve and what we need to achieve as far as our social housing and affordable housing.

“The penalties are more applicable to large developers who land bank large sums of land for a long period of time to try to get a substantial increase on that land.”

The candidate said she opposed Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s Kurilpa proposal, despite the Labor state government recently approving the council’s bid to build beyond the current height restrictions at the South Brisbane precinct and applauding the Mayor’s efforts to increase supply.

“It’s not what the community want in that area,” Ms Price said.

“They’re concerned about flooding … they’re concerned about the lack of infrastructure — if you go and put 92 levels in that area, what’s going to happen with the roads, the parking, the schools?”

Ms Price faces the daunting prospect of challenging a formidable incumbent whose party has dominated Brisbane’s local government for many years as well as Greens’ mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan, who has carved out a significant following despite his unorthodox policies.

But the former lawyer declared she’s determined to run her own race while delivering a thinly veiled dig at her high profile competitors.

“I’ve held many leadership roles over the years and I’ve built a lot of real connections across different communities of Brisbane,” she told The Courier-Mail.

“I understand a lot of those real-life situations.

“I’m trying to connect with people at the grassroots rather than relying on the fact I have a profile or a presence — it’s about making real connections across the community.”