Opinion: Build Brisbane’s new entertainment centre and they will come

WE need job-creation and infrastructure projects and we need them in a hurry! This is what needs to happen now.

QWC

THERE’S a certain irony in talk among business circles that Queensland’s economy has stalled and our stagnant fiscal performance is a wake-up call to the Labor Government that we need job-creation and infrastructure projects, and that we need them in a hurry.

QUEEN’S WHARF: Construction timeline

There’s absolutely no doubt that 2016 is a pivotal year for the Palaszczuk Government.

The Premier needs to crank up the economic agenda in spades or she runs the risk of being a one-term wonder. The irony for the Labor Government is that while the short-term economic outlook is steady at best, and dire at worst, the medium-term horizon for Queensland – and the southeast in particular – is bullish.

Fast-forward to 2022, which is just six years away, and Brisbane is set for a massive infrastructure boost, the likes of which we haven’t seen.

By then, we will have a $3 billion Queen’s Wharf project that will reinvigorate the CBD, stretching along the north bank of the city from Queen St to Parliament House.

There is also a plan for a second Brisbane runway, which would ease congestion at one of the world’s fastest-growing airports.

And today we reveal plans for a city entertainment centre to replace the Boondall facility. It would be situated at West End, near the arts precinct and South Bank.

AEG-Ogden boss Harvey Lister is an entrepreneurial genius who will ensure Brisbane’s new entertainment centre will be world class.

AEG-Ogden, the company proposing the centre, is a global leader in entertainment. Its Brisbane-based boss, Harvey Lister, is without peer as an entrepreneurial genius, and the comforting fact for Government decision-makers is it will be a world-class facility with AEG-Ogden involved. This is exactly the sort of project the Government should be encouraging.

A private consortium has come to it with a $400 million plan to rejuvenate Brisbane’s inner-city entertainment precinct. It’s a gift for a government being accused of not doing anything. Any impediments that are put in the way of this project must be swiftly kicked to the kerb.

A fantastic new entertainment centre with a 15,000-seat capacity attracting the best rock acts in the world is a significant addition to the city’s infrastructure portfolio, and it should be considered in that vein.

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Not surprisingly, bullying is the issue parents are most concerned about.

PARENTS TELL ALL

Our Triple P Sunday Mail-Seven News parenting survey threw up some interesting results today.

The fact that parents are most worried about bullying should not be a surprise, nor should the fact that most parents still discipline their kids with the odd smack.

Parenting is such a subjective art and what works for some people may not necessarily resonate with others.

Whatever happens, parenting should not be looked upon as a chore but a joy. Your kids’ future depends on that.