Graham Quirk can’t remember who came up with zipline idea

Mt Coot-tha’s newly approved zipline has been feted as a boost to tourism and a job creator but the Lord Mayor can’t recall who to thank for the million dollar idea.

An artist’s impression of the Mt Coot-tha zipline.

MT COOT-THA’S newly approved zipline has been feted as a boost to tourism and a job creator but the Lord Mayor can’t recall who to thank for the million dollar idea.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the zipline was a Team Quirk commitment at the last election after Greens Cr Jonathan Sri (The Gabba) asked him who came up with it.

Brisbane City Council has promised $1 million towards the zipline, which it approved on Friday, despite fierce opposition and thousands of submissions against it.

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Cr Sri asked if it was the Lord Mayor himself, former City Planning chairman Cr Simmonds or a different western suburbs councillor who pitched the zipline.

He asked if the idea came from elsewhere in the LNP, from the ranks of the council’s public servants, or the private sector.

“I don’t recall that specifically councillor but it doesn’t matter - it doesn’t matter – because at the end of the day we presented this as a team commitment,” he said.

“It’s a somewhat irrelevant question in many respects because this was a team policy, a team agreed to policy, a commitment that was made to the people of Brisbane.”

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says he does not recall who came up with the Mt Coot-tha zipline. Picture: Tara Croser

Cr Sri’s question at the Brisbane City Council meeting came mere hours after protesters rallied against the zipline’s approval outside City Hall on Tuesday.

The Lord Mayor said the “important issue here” was that the zipline was part of a $15 million package of improvements that the LNP promised as an election commitment.

“We made it very clear at the time that we would be putting $1 million on the table in relation to it (the zipline),” he said.

“There was a subsequent democratic opportunity for people to exercise their view about this and this administration and the policies it was presenting at that election and the result was what you see in this chamber today,” he said.

He said the West End based company that won the tender, Zipline Australia, “understand the sentiment, madam chairman, of the people of Brisbane in relation to Mt Coot-tha”.

“We are committed to this, it was an election commitment, the people had a chance at that election to make a determination but it has it has followed the proper process in terms of tendering and in terms of assessment subsequent to that,” he said.

Protesters at Brisbane City Hall to rally against the Mt Coot-tha zipline. Picture: Mark Cranitch