Des Houghton: How Labor delivers traffic chaos and secret asset sales
AS AN ARDENT supporter of development, it takes a lot to get me up in arms. But the State Government has managed to do it, says Des Houghton.
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I AM ardently pro-development, so here is a sentence I never thought I’d write: Faceless bureaucrats are trashing much of Brisbane’s unique heritage with an aggressive pro-development agenda.
Along the way the rights of ratepayers to object to many big projects have been quashed.
Worse still, the ratepayer’s right to appeal against many of the approvals has also been expunged.
Don’t blame City Hall for this stealthy attack on your democratic rights.
The State Government has been quietly usurping the planning powers of Queensland councils for 25 years. It happens when the state uses little-known powers to declare a development a Priority Development Area, or PDA.
In Brisbane, there is now 770ha of land being developed under State Government planning controls – not council’s.
And there are many more projects in Queensland regional centres where the State Government has used the PDA to ride roughshod over ratepayers.
One of the biggest PDAs is at Fitzgibbon, 17km north of Brisbane, an experimental “township” that was planned a decade ago. Some of the blocks there are so small there is no space for a backyard. Gardens are tiny.
The State Government, not the council, allowed that.
There are other projects in southeast Queensland where the house blocks are so small there is no room for a garage, so an ugly carport is tacked on to the side of the home.
A completely different project – but another that has bypassed council’s control – is the Northshore Hamilton PDA in the heart of Brisbane.
It wraps up the old wharf precinct and the surrounding industrial space.
Northshore Hamilton is a $5 billion project that covers an area of 304ha and provides for high-rise apartments, town houses, an aged care home and even commercial buildings.
And there are rows of tennis courts, which the State Government says will draw 10,000 people in the first year alone.
Imagine the traffic snarls. Imagine the noise.
I once rented an apartment at Noosa near tennis courts and the thwack of the balls day and night nearly drove me crazy. We bailed out after two days and happily returned home to the tranquillity of Brisbane suburbia.
I’ll concede the Northshore Hamilton area was ripe for urban renewal, but the final planning approvals should have been finessed by Brisbane City Council, not the State Government.
There is another problem with PDAs.
If a project falls under council control, the city can levy infrastructure charges to offset costs such as new roadworks in the surrounding area. Under a PDA, the city council does not receive any infrastructure charges at all, so the ratepayer inevitably is made to subsidise the necessary infrastructure.
I should stress here I am not in favour of every development approved at City Hall, either, and I have an aversion to small-lot developments and those hideous high-rise apartment buildings with faux balconies.
That said, I believe councils are closer to the people and therefore more in tune with community sentiment than George St pencil-pushers who seem oblivious to the impacts of large schemes on neighbourhood suburbs.
But who will stand up for councils? They have copped a hiding recently, but we must not tar them all with the same corruption brush. Most town councils operate efficiently without a whiff of wrongdoing, which is more than I can say for the State Government.
The State Government declared two more massive Priority Development Areas in Brisbane recently, at defunct education sites at Oxley and Yeronga.
Both provide for intense developments including high-rise towers not in keeping, in my opinion, with the gentle nature of Yeronga or Oxley residential pockets.
Both will be under the control of the State Government, so the council will again miss out on the infrastructure charges.
Both will generate a steep rise in residential and commercial traffic.
Matthew Bourke, the planning chief at Brisbane City Council, warned about the projects at the last council meeting.
“Obviously, these two sites are large parcels of land,” he told the chamber.
“There wasn’t this big song and dance made by the State Government about these two new PDAs.
“It all sort of went under the radar. There was a gentle press release that went out from the minister.
“There wasn’t the big fanfare that we have seen in the past by the State Government when it comes to other decisions, like changing the name of a children’s hospital.
“The (State Government) has done it on the quiet, and you can only wonder why.”
He said details of the Oxley scheme were deliberately vague, and the state plan allowed for buildings that may be six or seven storeys high, with residential blocks that may be as small as 450 square metres.
“You don’t have to scratch the surface too far to figure out why they didn’t want to make a fanfare about it, because both of these sites are zoned for educational purposes under Brisbane City Plan.
“But when you look at the documents, both sites will be used for residential development under the State Government’s PDAs.
“Here we have the State Labor Government flogging off two educational blocks of land – asset sales you might call them – flogging them off and rezoning them in the process, and cutting the community out on having a say as part of the PDA process.”
The Oxley Secondary College site closed in 2000, so 18 years it has sat there – 15 of those under a Labor Government – where nothing has happened on this site.
Bourke said the details of the Yeronga proposal provided by the State Government were “gloriously vague”.
I think I know why.
The Palaszczuk Government, not the council, gets a revenue windfall when the old crown land school sites pass into private hands.
The creation of Priority Development Areas is a sneaky way for Labor to flog public assets.
In doing so, it allows massive overdevelopments that draw too many people while creating even more traffic jams.
Outside the chamber this week, Bourke told me:
“Council has a city plan but when you start taking out large areas of land, it starts to look like a big block of Swiss cheese.
“Council has an award-winning neighbourhood planning process, which includes community engagement.
“PDAs create a disjointed assessment process.”
IRRITANT OF THE WEEK
Education Minister Grace Grace for not instantly and forthrightly condemning a petulant young classroom protester who disobeyed a teacher’s orders. By failing to back teachers, Grace may be inviting more disruptive behaviour.
POST SCRIPT
PITIFUL RESPONSE
I HOPE the hullabaloo over the sentence handed to cowardly William O’Sullivan for killing toddler Mason Jett Lee does not become a smokescreen for the profound State Government failings in this tragedy.
We are yet to be told why Child Safety did not check on the boy’s welfare, even though alarms were raised. And why was Mason sent from Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital to Caboolture Hospital, even though his injuries suggested terrible abuse? Why, then, did Child Safety allow him back to the house of horrors where he eventually died? Did police act swiftly enough?
It’s five years since the Tim Carmody child-protection inquiry recommended sweeping changes. Many still have not been implemented. There are about 84,000 children known to Child Safety at any given time. Most social workers have a caseload of 17 children. How many more Masons are waiting to die?
STUDENTS’ GOLD
I WAS delighted to see the students at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism pick up two trophies for their viognier at the Queensland Wine Awards.
Their 2016 Banca Ridge Viognier was declared champion alternative white wine variety, and won the trophy for the champion wine of the show under $20.
There was much intrigue about the gold medal awarded to Peter McGlashan for his 2017 Ridgemill Estate Chardonnay. The judging panel led by Tony Harper pondered the significance of the acronym WYP on the label. I can reveal it stands for Wet Your Pants.
Yep, McGlashan does have an oddball sense of humour. He also had a good show. His 2016 Ridgemill Estate Black Dog Cabernet Sauvignon also won a gold medal. And the Granite Belt didn’t hog all the gold medals. The Clovely Estate 2010 South Burnett Terroir Semillon won the museum class gold medal.
DREAM REALISED
WHEN he was planting his vineyard in the Granite Belt high country 20 years ago, Symphony Hill boss Ewen Macpherson wondered whether one day he would make wine good enough to be included on the Qantas wine list.
“It was a dream I’ve had for many years,” he confides. Macpherson got his wish last week, as three Symphony Hill vintages are now being served to business class passengers on domestic and international flights.
The 2018 gewurztraminer, a 2016 reserve cabernet sauvignon and a 2016 reserve nero d’avola were selected by a panel headed by Rockpool sommelier Jonathan Ross.
“The three Symphony Hill wines were standouts in their category tastings, wowing the entire wine tasting panel,” he says.
LAMING THE VICTOR
ANDREW Laming, the Federal Member for Bowman, easily won his preselection battle last week, despite a spirited campaign to oust him.
I was amazed his detractors dredged up baseless allegations against him that were more than a decade old. Laming says it was part of an orchestrated smear campaign. In 2007 he and fellow Queensland Liberal MPs Gary Hardgrave and Ross Vasta were cleared of accusations they misused parliamentary entitlements.
Laming has held Bowman since 2004 and says he has “a mountain of a job” to hold the Brisbane Bayside seat.
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