Adrian Schrinner announces new bridges after being voted Brisbane Mayor
Adrian Schrinner wasted no time getting down to business after being voted in as Brisbane Lord Mayor, using the opportunity to announce five new bridges for the city, worth about $550 million. SEE WHERE
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ADRIAN Schrinner will be Brisbane’s new Lord Mayor after he was catapulted into the city’s top job following the shock resignation of Graham Quirk.
The city’s new civic leader wasted no time getting down to business, using the opportunity to announce the council would build five new green bridges.
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Cr Schrinner thanked his LNP councillor colleagues for voting him into the job at Sunday’s party room meeting, where he defeated Paddington Ward councillor Peter Matic for the coveted role.
He said he could not think of a greater honour than to serve as the city’s Lord Mayor.
“As Lord Mayor, my focus will be on one thing — making sure the Brisbane of tomorrow is better than the Brisbane of today,” the 41-year-old said.
“With generational change at City Hall, you can expect a new, exciting agenda.
“It’s an agenda that is 100 per cent focused on the future. It’s an agenda that is about building and protecting.”
Cr Schrinner has spent the past eight years as Cr Quirk’s deputy mayor, and was first elected to Brisbane City Council to represent the Chandler Ward in 2005.
Promising a vision of long term projects, the Lord Mayor-elect announced the council would build five new green bridges at a cost of more than half a billion dollars.
The bridges will link Kangaroo Point to the city, Toowong to West End, St Lucia to West End, Bellbowrie and Wacol as well as another across Breakfast Creek from Hamilton to Newstead.
As Lord Mayor elect, today I have announced that our team is committed to building 5 new Green Bridges on the Brisbane River. This is all about ensuring our city is cleaner, greener & more active. #buildingandprotectingBNE pic.twitter.com/bI9B45FiCw
— Adrian Schrinner (@Schrinner) March 31, 2019
“These bridges will accommodate, in some cases, public transport,” Cr Schrinner said.
“But they will also accommodate walking and cycling to get people out of their cars, to reduce traffic congestion and create a cleaner, greener Brisbane.”
The bridges are expected to be delivered within five to ten years, with the council planning to fund at least two-thirds of the project.
Cr Schrinner also pledged to deliver the “biggest investment in parks and green space our city has ever seen”.
“To me, this ‘clean, green agenda’ is a natural extension of the work I have done over the last three years leading the Brisbane Metro project and rolling out new bike paths and cycling infrastructure across the city,” he said.
“Investment in parks and green spaces is an investment in our lifestyle and liveability.”
The city will also have a new Deputy Mayor, with Holland Park Ward councillor Krista Adams voted into the role by the party room.
She has played an influential role in the LNP administration, recently serving as the city’s finance chairwoman where she was responsible for delivering the council’s $3 billion budget.
“I think people know me as somebody who is authentic, works with the community and works with her team,” she said.
I am so humbled by the support of my colleagues today. With generational change in City Hall
— Adrian Schrinner (@Schrinner) March 31, 2019
comes an exciting new agenda that’s 💯 focused on the future. It’s an agenda that’s about building a better city & protecting what’s great about Brisbane. #buildingandprotectingBNE pic.twitter.com/3szQ75v2gf
The new team will be officially sworn in at a special meeting of the council next Monday.
Outgoing Lord Mayor Cr Quirk congratulated his successor, acknowledging that it reflected generational change in the leadership of the city.
“In spite of that generational change, this is an experienced team that will provide a great deal of stability and ensure that this city continues to be in very good hands,” he said.
Cr Schrinner celebrated his elevation to the top job on Sunday with wife Nina and their four young children, Octavia, Wolfgang, Monash and Petra.
Before entering Council in 2005, Cr Schrinner worked as an advisor to a number of local and federal politicians and also joined the Royal Australian Air Force when he left school.
He undertook his first solo flight in a light aircraft when he was 16.
“I love this city,” he declared yesterday.
“I was born here, I grew up here, it’s in my blood.”
I want to sincerely thank Graham Quirk for his incredible 34 years of service to Brisbane. He’s not only been a fantastic Lord Mayor, but also a great mentor, teacher and friend. Graham, we salute you! (Photo source: Jack Tran, @couriermail) pic.twitter.com/i5QKsGagMg
— Adrian Schrinner (@Schrinner) March 31, 2019
Cr Schrinner will now lead the LNP team to the next Council election scheduled for March 2020, where he will square off against Labor’s lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding.
Mr Harding described Cr Schrinner as a “caretaker Lord Mayor”.
“He’s not elected by the people,” he said.
“I’m going to be spending the next 12 months out talking to residents and telling them why a back to basics strategy is the one for Brisbane.”
FIVE THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ADRIAN SCHRINNER
● He was born in Brisbane to a German father and Australian mother
● Became Deputy Mayor at age 33, the youngest in the city’s history
● Has a passion for aviation and made his first solo light aircraft flight aged 16
● Had the highest first-preference vote of any Brisbane councillor in 2016 election, with more than 70 per cent support
● Married to wife Nina, with four children aged six and under
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