Jonathan Sriranganathan plans Gabba protest for Annastacia Palaszczuk
Controversial Greens lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan plans to block Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s access to her office in an Olympics protest.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Controversial Greens lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan plans to interrupt the Premier’s workday on Thursday morning, by blocking the entrance to her Brisbane office with a surprise Olympics protest.
Mr Sriranganathan has organised a snap rally to be held at the government’s 1 William St headquarters about 7.45am, around the time Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and other senior ministers would be due to arrive to work.
The Courier-Mail understands the aim of the protesters will be to temporarily block the main office tower entrance as they protest the Gabba redevelopment.
Mr Sriranganathan said he and other attending residents would be calling for the Gabba proposal to be scrapped completely, reminding Labor that community opposition to the $3 billion Gabba rebuild was “not going to go away”.
It comes after Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner accused the government of attempting to extort the council some $50m for the $137m RNA showground redevelopment while the Gabba is rebuilt, before sensationally resigning from the Olympics 2032 intergovernmental forum.
“This (Gabba) project is strongly opposed by the Greens, and has now lost the support of the LNP,” Mr Sriranganathan said.
“Federal Labor didn’t want to fund it, and the International Olympics Committee also indicated it wasn’t required for the Games.
“Queensland Labor are on their own in advocating for this.”
The 1 William St “tower of power” houses ministers, the police and fire commissioners, and thousands of public servants.
Mr Sriranganathan said protesters had resorted to more extreme measures with the weekday interruption, as the state had “ignored the will of the people”.
“A long list of design questions about the Gabba proposal remain unanswered, particularly in terms of traffic impacts, drainage and the connection between the stadium and the warm-up track,” he said.
“But the waste of money at a time when the government says it doesn’t have money for more urgent and essential needs is especially infuriating.”
Qld mayor, councillor husband in election donation probe
The Sunshine Coast Mayor and her councillor husband, himself a former mayor, have been referred for an electoral investigation over claims they might have received campaign donations from property developers.
Crisafulli an ‘absentee MP’: What electorate thinks of Opposition Leader
He may have uprooted his family and moved to Brisbane, but it’s hard to find a David Crisafulli hater in his Gold Coast electorate, where even those who have never met the man, say they like him and plan to vote for him.