Brisbane councillor slams state politicians over shelved Hamilton Rd and Western Ave upgrade criticism
A war of words between Brisbane City Council and the state government has reignited over a notorious intersection and multimillion-dollar plans for a vital upgrade to the scene of a fatal crash.
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A Brisbane City councillor has slammed state government politicians for criticising the shelving of an upgrade of an intersection where a nurse was killed, only hundreds of metres down the road from the “worst intersection in the city”.
At the Brisbane City Council committee meeting on June 4, the chair for BCC’s infrastructure committee Cr Andrew Wines hit out at Member for Stafford Jimmy Sullivan MP and Transport Minister Bart Mellish MP for their criticism of council for deferring immediate works on the proposed Hamilton Rd and Western Ave intersection upgrade in Chermside.
The four-way intersection upgrade, which includes an upgrade to the state government owned Prince Charles Hospital entrance, is expected to cost at least $21 million.
According to Brisbane City Council, the organisation has investigated several options to improve the intersection, which is near where nurse Solita Honorio, 52, was killed in a horror crash in November, 2018, while leaving work at the hospital.
In 2019 the intersection of Staib Rd, Zenith Ave and Hamilton Rd was slated for $1.5 million towards an upgrade.
“Council has investigated many options to improve safety and access in this area and previously proposed an upgrade of the Hamilton Road and Staib Road intersection which was dependent on funding from the state government,” the project statement read.
“While this was investigated, an interim option was proposed that failed to gather community support.
“In late 2022, council proposed a design to install traffic lights at the intersection of Hamilton Rd and Western Ave.
“The proposed design for an upgrade to the intersection was deferred following a review of council’s infrastructure program.”
A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said the project has been deferred from immediate works and delivery due to the pending negotiations with the state government for the funding agreement.
“It is not in the current infrastructure program as it is pending state funding,” a council spokeswoman said.
“This upgrade is something council is supporting and committed to delivering as a jointly-funded project with the state government.”
In a video posted to social media, Mr Sullivan and Mr Mellish criticised Brisbane City Council over the postponed project.
“The state put money on the table to try and get an intersection here so it was safer for everybody, that’s been on the table for two years and council have just rejected that,” Mr Sullivan said.
“Council has got to come to the party, their silly solution, can you believe it, in trying to fix the problem of having a safe entry and exit point to the hospital was to make a T-junction that didn’t include an entry in and out of the hospital.
“We know how busy Hamilton Rd is, it’s a council road they need to do their bit.”
Mr Mellish called on Brisbane City Council to step up and provide funding for the project.
“We’ve got some big money invested in fixing road congestion across the northside and we really want to step up and make a contribution,” Mr Mellish said.
“But what we can’t do is we can’t fix all of councils roads for them, if they’re not willing to make a contribution.
“We’ve got money on the table and we really want to help out, but council has got to step up.”
In response to the criticism levelled at council, LNP-aligned Mr Wines hit out at the Labor Government’s track record of inaction over improving Hamilton Rd.
“Hamilton Road is a key east-west link through the central-northern suburbs of Brisbane City and it has some of the worst intersections, excuse me it has the worst intersection I think in the city which is of course Hamilton Rd and Gympie Rd which Anika Wells promised to provide some money for, which has yet to appear, which Stirling Hinchcliffe, despite my advocacy, refused to address,” Mr Wines said.
“Now the state government has the temerity to say that we are not acting properly on some of our intersections.
“Bart Mellish and Jimmy Sullivan need to stop all the stunts and start stumping up cash to fix this road.
“Locals would have a new and improved intersection already if they had a state government willing to support the project rather than play silly political games.”
Mr Wines claimed Mr Sullivan’s refusal to meet with Fiona Hammond in her capacity as the former divisional councillor over the intersection upgrade, partly inspired her decision to run as the LNP-candidate for Stafford at the upcoming state election.
“Retired councillor Hammond tried to meet with Jimmy Sullivan on 19 occasions and was refused at each and every one of them,” he claimed.
“The fact that he was quite dismissive about this particular matter is one of the reasons that retired councillor Hammond is seeking to be the Member for Stafford.”
Mr Wines also hit out at the manner in which Mr Mellish claimed they had money for the project, posting a video to Facebook, rather than directly approaching council.
“Here we have big money Bart Mellish telling us there’s money available for Hamilton Rd,” he said.
“Yet the first sign of activity, the first approach they made to us, isn’t to reach out to us and offer mutual support, which we have written to them a number on a number of occasions seeking, but rather to go to Facebook, make a very bad video where they say there’s big money available.
“Well I look forward to seeing that big money from big money Bart Mellish and that they make a meaningful contribution.”
It is understood that there is $1 million of state funding allocated through the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program (TRIP) for this project.
Ms Hammond verified Mr Wines’ claims, stating that Mr Sullivan refused to meet up with her on over a dozen occasions.
“Jimmy Sullivan refused to meet with me on more than a dozen occasions, and Steven Miles also refused to meet with me and take this issue seriously,” Ms Hammond said.
“Labor only showed interest when they thought this project could help them hold onto power – Queenslanders expect their MPs to put road safety first.
“Sadly, Jimmy Sullivan is more focused on his own political future than the future of our community.”
Mr Sullivan has been contacted for comment.
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