Ratepayers to fund $10m road upgrade for Brisbane cruise ship terminal

Brisbane ratepayers will be slugged $10 million for vital infrastructure servicing the city’s new cruise ship terminal — and a pair of rogue councillors aren’t happy.

A concept design for Brisbane's planned mega-cruise ship terminal

RATEPAYERS will pay millions to upgrade the corridor to Brisbane’s incoming $158 million cruise ship terminal in a move that’s angered two maverick councillors.

Brisbane City Council and Port of Brisbane will split the $10 million price tag to upgrade the road network between Kingsford Smith Drive and Luggage Point.

First look at terminal

Terminal gets green light

Historic cruise ship photo

Greens councillor for the Gabba Jonathan Sri said more cruise ships in Moreton Bay would hurt dugongs, turtles and the bay’s seagrass beds.

“Encouraging more shipping and particularly large cruise ships in that part of the bay is going to have significant downstream negative environmental impacts,” he said.

Independent councillor for Tennyson Nicole Johnston asked why Brisbane ratepayers were being asked to subsidise a state government and multinational consortium to the tune of “millions and millions of dollars”.

“If the Port of Brisbane Corporation has a major project it would like to do, why aren’t they funding it?” she asked.

More than 148 cruise ships already dock at Brisbane each year, making it Australia’s second most visited port after Sydney, and resulting in $345 million in direct expenditure.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the cruise ship terminal was a “very, very important step for Brisbane and its future”.

He said in a bid to ensure the project “stacked up”, the council assisted in commitments for improvements to the road network.

The tender for the works will be released this Friday.

It includes raising road levels to improve flood resilience and constructing a new road to extend Marine Rd, Pinkenba, to the terminal, and other improvements.

The project was supported by the Labor opposition.

A concept design for Brisbane's planned mega-cruise ship terminal