Lord Mayor hears community 'Loud and Clear'

9/8/2018

On Wednesday 29 August the Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and his Civic Cabinet visited the Wynnum Manly Ward. Council advised they were expecting 100 people. By the time the meeting started, at least 30 more chairs were made available and there were many standing at the back.

The mood of the attendees was decisive. The main agenda was the proposed aged care amendments to the City Plan.

Almost every question from the floor queried the Council’s motivation in allowing more power for the developers and less for the community. The necessity for aged care was not queried, but many speakers noted that the developments were not about caring for the aged, but catering for upwardly mobile older citizens who still had choices. It was felt the amendments would fail to deliver real aged care and instead make it easier for developers to build more luxury units for the general market.

Questions were also raised (but not answered) about the makeup of the BCC Taskforce into Retirement and Aged Care and the over representation of Govt, and Aged Care Providers without any general public or Aged Care advocacy groups being present.

At the end of the questions, which were time limited, the Lord Mayor commented that he was hearing the community loud and clear. The Civic Cabinet then broke up and attendees were able to ask questions of those councillors.

The consensus from the meeting was that Council wanted to push ahead with the amendment package, standing by its claims that the changes were needed to deliver more accommodation for the elderly.

2 Comments

W. Blair

9/11/2018 03:42:27 pm

Extremely disappointed with the Lord Mayor's attitude to this development as it seems he intends to get it passed regardless of the effects it will have on the local community. He does not appear to grasp the fact that it is a money making development for the Anglican Church and NOT about providing reasonably priced accommodation and care for the aging population in this area.

The plan before the Council is only for STAGE 1 approval. Stage 2 for high rise across the cliff face will more than effectively double the number of units to be built. This is a ridiculously unsuited development and will NOT improve care vacancies for the aged at Lota House for which it is known. Once the amendment package is passed the "local community" will be up against an 'as of right' development where appeals will be useless not only for this development but the whole city of Brisbane as we know it.
Shame on you - time to change our votes!

Merete

11/16/2018 10:13:42 am

Dear W Blair,

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on the proposed Anglicare development of the Heritage listed Lota House.

We are buoyed by the community support for our actions but don’t underestimate the difficulties facing us as we fight against big business. Support such as you have shown by taking the time to comment, assists us in knowing the majority of our surrounding community supports this fight.

Please continue to support and if able, attend the Marketing exercise on this coming Tuesday and Wednesday to show your dissent.

Also, if you haven’t already done so, it is not too late to submit an objection on PD online on the Brisbane City Council website:
https://pdonline.brisbane.qld.gov.au/masterviewUI/modules/ApplicationMaster/default.aspx?page=wrapper&key=A004942635

If you would like assistance with putting in a submission, we are ready to help. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks again,
The Bayside Action group

Lord Mayor hears community 'Loud and Clear'

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