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
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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.”
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