Brisbane council election: Greens to boycott fossil fuel users from contracts

Companies with any links to or who profit from fossil fuel projects would be barred from getting any future Brisbane City Council contracts, under a radical Greens election proposal.

Greens lord mayoral hopeful Jonathan Sriranganathan

Companies with any links to or who profit from fossil fuel projects would be barred from getting any future Brisbane City Council contracts, under a radical Greens election proposal.

A Greens-led council would amend tendering policies to cut out private companies that work on, or directly profit from, fossil fuel extraction and associated infrastructure projects.

The tender policy overhaul is part of the Greens’ sweeping climate change reforms, which lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan will announce in full on Thursday.

Greens lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan said the proposal would not involve ripping up current council contracts, only amending tender policies for future contracts.

He said coal, oil and gas extraction projects would be in the crosshairs, as well as supporting projects such as coal train lines, gas pipelines, and related shipping port infrastructure.

The Lord Mayor hopeful said mining companies, as well as supporting engineering and construction firms would be targeted, even those that only subcontract on fossil fuel projects.

Mr Sriranganathan said this would not be a sudden policy overhaul, the Greens would give affected companies time to respond to the plan and potentially adjust their practices.

“It is difficult to definitively say how many companies this would apply to, we would need to do detailed work refining and clarifying our definitions,” he said.

“More than anything, this is about sending a signal to the private sector.

“We’re saying to these industries: You have a choice. Will you keep working on fossil fuel projects that destroy the planet, or do you want the opportunity to work with local governments on positive projects you can be proud of?”

“Many of the projects and services that the council currently outsources to the private sector would be better off handled in-house anyway.”

The Courier-Mail put questions to the LNP council regarding the Greens’ proposal and the LNP council’s climate change policies. The Schrinner administration declined to comment.

Labor lord mayoral candidate Tracey Price said the council’s tendering and contracting systems under the LNP “are broken and should be fixed”.

“As Lord Mayor, my focus would be to try to bring as much work in-house as possible, and deliver value for money for ratepayers if contracts are required, not virtue signalling for the sake of it,” she said.

Mr Sriranganathan said the proposed tender policy changes are part of the party’s broader environmental and climate change plan.

“A Greens-led council would also divest from any investments the council currently has in fossil fuel companies, and would ban fossil fuel companies from advertising on council-owned infrastructure and vehicles,” he said.

The party also previously announced a planned ban on all new developments in Brisbane’s most flood-prone areas.

The Greens have also included greater green space and tree planting requirements within its proposed overhaul of developer regulations.