Labor, Greens seize on cuts to storytime sessions in Brisbane libraries

A war of words has broken out over reductions to nursery rhyme sessions at Brisbane City Council libraries, with Labor and the Greens accusing the LNP administration of misplaced priorities.

The sessions – run as part of the First Five Forever program, known as babies, books and rhymes; toddler time; and children’s storytime – have been reduced from 98 a week across Brisbane to 75.

“As a local mum, I’ve seen firsthand the amazing impact that these programs have for local families,” Labor councillor and deputy opposition leader Lucy Collier said. “It’s so incredibly disappointing.”

Dozens of First Five Forever children’s sessions have been cut in the December program, despite high demand.Credit: Brisbane City Council

Labor leader Jared Cassidy said the cuts had come as libraries had lost 25 staff in the past 12 months while council funding had been redirected to other priorities.

“We’ve seen massive expenditure on parties to open the Brisbane Metro, which is now no longer open ... We’ve seen increases in funding for advertising budgets, but we’ve seen less spent on services, and less spent on staff delivering those services,” he said.

Cassidy’s comments came on the heels of a petition to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek by Greens MP Michael Berkman calling for the sessions to be reinstated. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had received more than 2400 signatures.

The council said while sessions had been cut, each library in Brisbane would still have at least one session a week.Credit: Nick Dent

In council chambers, Greens councillor for The Gabba Trina Massey echoed Berkman’s call, saying the program taught children crucial literacy skills and provided community for parents.

Vicki Howard, LNP councillor for Central ward and committee chair for community, arts and the night-time economy, said funding the program was the state government’s responsibility.

“There aren’t the same number of sessions as we’ve had in the past, but those sessions are still there,” she said. “We will make sure this program continues, but we have to do it sensibly.”

She pointed to a reduction in state funding for the program – from $1 million a year to $711,877 in 2019 – and said the Schrinner council had been “topping that up ever since”.

The lord mayor said highly patronised sessions would be prioritised, and his council was asking the new LNP state government for more money for the services.

“We’ve been doing the best we can to try and pick up the slack left by the state government, but it got to the point where the costs were continuing to increase … we’re no longer picking up the slack,” Schrinner said.

In September, the Makerspace program at Carindale Library was axed with one week’s notice, sparking a community outcry and an online petition.

Speaking alongside Cassidy at a Tuesday press conference, Services Union organiser Tom Rivers said not only were library employees being expected to do more with less, they also had to deliver news of the cuts to library patrons.

“They’ve been given a script, they have been told to sugarcoat these cuts. The community have responded and they’re not happy,” Rivers said.

Cassidy said it was “disgusting and cowardly behaviour” to expect library staff “to deliver the LNP’s bad news”.

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