Lord Mayor says new Visy site plans still allow for ‘South Bank 2.0’
Brisbane LNP Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has backed in his state party colleagues’ plans for the riverside Visy recycling factory at South Brisbane, despite being a vocal supporter of the former Labor government’s now-abandoned vision for the site.
The Palaszczuk Labor government bought the site in 2022 for $165 million, on which it planned to build the Brisbane 2032 International Broadcast Centre, which would house the world’s media during the Games.
But the Crisafulli LNP government-commissioned 100-day Olympic review undertaken by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority found: “Preliminary design and costing works have identified that the temporary delivery of an International Broadcasting Centre on the Visy site may be cost prohibitive.”
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner touring the Visy site in 2022 with then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and then-treasurer Cameron Dick.Credit: Matt Dennien
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie confirmed on Thursday that the Visy site had been abandoned as the IBC, with the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre emerging as a possible alternative.
Schrinner, who had been a supporter of the former Labor government’s plans for the site, said the new LNP government’s plan for the Visy factory was also in line with his council’s “South Bank 2.0” vision.
That vision was itself borrowed from former Labor premier Anna Bligh’s 2012 proposal for a South Bank expansion, which was abandoned when the Campbell Newman-led LNP won office later that year.
“South Bank was transformed after Expo ’88 into a fantastic urban precinct with a mixture of homes, retail and parkland,” Schrinner said on Thursday.
“There’s now an incredible opportunity to do the same with the former Visy glass factory site.
“I’m sure residents would agree a site like this in an urban area along the Brisbane River shouldn’t be used again for industrial purposes.”
Bleijie said the state government would work with Schrinner and Brisbane City Council to determine the site’s best use.
“We absolutely want to make sure that site is for the community, with community use, housing opportunities, commercial opportunities, restaurant opportunities,” he said.
The Queensland government bought Visy’s South Brisbane glass manufacturing site for $165 million in 2022.Credit: Matt Dennien
“It’s going to be bigger and better than South Bank and Queenslanders will see an amazing opportunity there to bring uplift to that part of the world – better than international media using it in a tin shed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The council earmarked the largely industrial land at South Brisbane for future urban and cultural development in 2014, more than a decade ago.
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