MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
The 4510 meeting of the Brisbane City Council,
held at City Hall, Brisbane
on Tuesday 8 November 2016
at 2pm
Prepared by:
Council and Committee Liaison Office
Chief Executive’s Office
Office of the Lord Mayor and Chief Executive Officer
[4510 (Ordinary) meeting – 8 November 2016]
/
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THE ?? MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,
ON TUESDAY ??
AT 2PM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESENT:
OPENING OF MEETING:
MINUTES:
QUESTION TIME:
CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS:
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE
AAPPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO THE BCC COUNCILLOR CONDUCT REVIEW PANEL MEMBERSHIP POOL
BLOWER OXLEY CREEK NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
CPROGRESS ROAD STAGE 4 UPGRADE PROJECT – PRIVATE PROPERTY RESUMPTIONS
PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT PARK ‘N’ RIDE STRATEGY
INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – STATE CONTROLLED ROADS
CITY PLANNING COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PUBLIC ART
ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – IWA WORLD WATER CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION
BCOMMITTEE REPORT – BUSHLAND PRESERVATION LEVY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED JUNE2016
FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BRISBANE BIN AND RECYCLING APP
LIFESTYLE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PARKINSON AQUATIC CENTRE
FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
ACOMMITTEE PRESENTATION – VALLEY MALLS ACTIVATION
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS:
GENERAL BUSINESS:
[4510 (Ordinary) meeting – 8 November 2016]
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PRESENT:
The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK) – LNP
The Chairman of Council, Councillor Angela OWEN (Calamvale Ward) – LNP
LNP Councillors (and Wards) / ALP Councillors (and Wards)Krista ADAMS (Holland Park)
Adam ALLAN (Northgate)
Matthew BOURKE (Jamboree)
Amanda COOPER (Bracken Ridge)
Vicki HOWARD (Central) (Deputy Chairman of Council)
Steven HUANG (Macgregor)
Fiona KING (Marchant)
Kim MARX (Runcorn)
PeterMATIC (Paddington)
Ian McKENZIE (Coorparoo)
David McLACHLAN (Hamilton)
Ryan MURPHY (Doboy)
Kate RICHARDS (Pullenvale)
Adrian SCHRINNER (Chandler) (Deputy Mayor)
Julian SIMMONDS (Walter Taylor)
Steven TOOMEY (The Gap)
Andrew WINES (Enoggera)
NormWYNDHAM (McDowall) / PeterCUMMING (Wynnum Manly) (The Leader of the Opposition)
Jared CASSIDY (Deagon) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)
SteveGRIFFITHS (Moorooka)
Charles STRUNK (Forest Lake)
ShayneSUTTON (Morningside)
Queensland Greens Councillor (and Ward)
Jonathan SRI (The Gabba)
Independent Councillor (and Ward)
Nicole JOHNSTON (Tennyson)
OPENING OF MEETING:
The Chairman, Councillor Angela OWEN, opened the meeting with prayer, and then proceeded with the business set out in the Agenda.
MINUTES:
197/2016-17
The Minutes of the 4509 meeting of Council held on 1 November 2016, copies of which had been forwarded to each Councillor, were presented, taken as read and confirmed on the motion of Councillor Kim MARX, seconded by Councillor Andrew WINES.
QUESTION TIME:
Chairman:Are there any questions of the LORD MAYOR or a chairman of any of the standing Committees?
Councillor RICHARDS.
Question 1
Councillor RICHARDS:My question is to the LORD MAYOR. Last Wednesday you attended the launch of Five Good Friends at St Lucia Bowls Club. Can you update the Chamber on the contributions Five Good Friends is making to in-home care for Brisbane residents, and what the Brisbane City Council is doing to make Brisbane more inclusive and accessible for older residents?
LORD MAYOR:Thank you very much, Madam Chairman; I thank Councillor RICHARDS for the question. It is true that I had the opportunity to attend the launch of a new initiative called Five Good Friends last Wednesday. It was an event that was hosted by well-known media newsreader, Kay McGrath. It was also an event that saw Ita Buttrose as the keynote speaker. Ita Buttrose, of course, is well known as an Order of Australia medal winner, OBE as well, a legendary media trailblazer in this country.
It was good to hear her perspective on ageing, the trends in this nation in terms of the ageing population, and the importance of making sure that the quality of life for those people in an ageing category is at the best that it can possibly be. Five Good Friends certainly is something that will add to the opportunities for people to, in this common known phrase now, age in place.
The reality is that the new service that Five Good Friends provides is a care-based service. It is a paid service, absolutely, but it is a service which I believe is important for people to be made aware of because of the help that it can provide in terms of in-house services. It does provide an opportunity to see people stay within their home and be given an opportunity for the support and care services that they may need to do so.
Again it is another aspect of living that I would endorse. It has founders and executives; I just acknowledge Simon Lockyer, Nathan Bethridge, JuliaLawrence and Tate Johnson as being those key people. But it is reinventing traditional in-home care. We are not talking about going off somewhere else; this is people that want to stay in their home as they age, rather than go to an aged care facility, rather than—
Councillor interjecting.
Chairman:Order!
LORD MAYOR:—go to a retirement village. Yes, I know you know everything. So, MadamChairman—
Councillor interjecting.
Chairman:Order! Order!
LORD MAYOR:So, Madam Chairman, the point being here: this is a new technology; it is creating the use of technology which does two things. It provides a link for people to have the opportunity to get this in-home care assistance, and importantly for relatives, it also provides an opportunity through the technology for them to be updated, to know that their parent in lots of cases or relative is okay.
Again, Ita Buttrose was giving a number of examples in the case of her own father that she’s been a carer for, in spite of her other busy roles, and giving some clear examples of how this will add to the quality of life on the one hand for the person who is ageing, and also add to the level of comfort for those who are caring for that person.
This is in the space of what we have been talking about as an Administration. It is in the space of a more inclusive and accessible community within Brisbane, and that is the basis on which I raise it today, because it is facility which I believe Brisbane people ought to be made aware of. We, of course, have been doing our own thing in terms of the ageing population in Brisbane by way of incentives for aged care and retirement living. We have set in place a framework—yes, financial incentives, but more so we have flagged the fact that we will be bringing forward regulatory change around aged care and retirement facilities to make it easier to get a better spread of those facilities across our city.
So, Madam Chairman, in the same way that we have invested a lot of money on things like bus stop improvements, as part of the Access and Inclusion Plan—and that is an expenditure that is ongoing. So, too, we can make provision for improved aged care and retirement facilities through the incentives that we provide and through the regulatory change that I speak of.
Chairman:Sorry, LORD MAYOR, your time has expired.
LORD MAYOR:Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairman:Further questions?
Councillor JOHNSTON.
Question 2
Councillor JOHNSTON:Yes, thank you, Madam Chairman—developers. My question is to the LORDMAYOR. A couple of years ago you rolled out additional street signage around Suncorp Stadium and the Gabba in response to resident and visitor concerns about the lack of parking signage in regulated parking areas. But you have done nothing since this trial. Why have you not increased signage in other regulated parking areas, including the Dutton Park Princess Alexandra regulated parking area, and the Tennyson regulated parking area where the Brisbane International is on, to increase residents’ and visitors’ awareness about where these restricted areas are?
LORD MAYOR:Thanks very much, Madam Chairman, and I thank Councillor JOHNSTON for the question. Well, it is certainly the case that we rolled out some signage in terms of the Gabba and Suncorp. We did that as a trial to see how that might be received, how effective it might be. It was, of course, part of the ParkingTaskforce where we had a range of organisations represented, which had 55 recommendations in total.
Clearly what we have done with those recommendations, and if people look at their budget document brought down in June this year, they will see very clear allocations of funds year on year to implement the recommendations of the Parking Taskforce. I can report to the Chamber that the findings of the trial that we have conducted in the Gabba and Suncorp were successful, and it is certainly our intention to roll out more signage in relation to those two venues.
It is also the case that we will be rolling out that same signage in places like Tennyson where there is a parking control area. So we found it to be something that does work. We’ve got to make appropriations of funds in relation to these things, and I can provide at a later time detail around the timing of those things. But if you look at the budget this year, we have allocated quite a bit of money, in the millions of dollars over the next four-year period towards the ParkingTaskforce recommendation rollout.
In the case where the trials were conducted, where those trials are successful, we will implement them. Again, this has been our finding in terms of those two locations, the Gabba and Suncorp. So we look forward to that, in the same way that we rolled out a significant number of recommendations already from that Parking Taskforce.
The most significant one was probably the 15-minutes free parking meter one. That was one of the first ones we rolled out, you will recall, where we saw a 40% reduction in the number of people actually having to pay for a parking meter, because the 40% of people were utilising those spaces for only up to 15minutes. So that was a good result. That was one simple example of those 55recommendations. I can assure Councillor JOHNSTON that we will be coming to a suburb near you, and further detail will emerge with time to come.
Chairman:Further questions?
Councillor MURPHY.
Question 3
Councillor MURPHY:Thank you very much, Madam Chair; my question is to the Chairman of the Finance and Economic Development Committee, Councillor ADAMS. Council prides itself on the timely and efficient collection of rate moneys, but things don’t always go to plan. Can you outline the firm but fair process that Council undertakes when ratepayers fall behind in their rates payments?
Councillor ADAMS:Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank Councillor MURPHY for the question and the opportunity to discuss the process that Council does go through to make sure that our ratepayers are not disadvantaged by people who choose not to pay their fair share as well.
This Administration is committed to protecting ratepayers’ interests, and as of 30 September this year, our rates debt was only 1.23% of our annual rates and charges revenue. The benchmark nationally, mind you, is 2.5% for both public and private sector organisations, so we are doing what we can to make sure that we keep that impost down on our constituents.
Council may recover overdue rates or charges by bringing court proceedings for a debt against a person who is liable to pay the overdue rates or charges, selling or acquiring land for overdue rates or charges as well, and this procedure is set out and detailed in Part 12 Division 3 of the City of Brisbane Regulation 2012.
So, Council may, by resolution, decide to sell land for overdue rates or charges for numerous reasons that may come to Council. It may be there are overdue rates or charges on the land; there may be a liability to pay the overdue rates or charges, but not be the subject of court proceedings, or some or all of the overdue rates or charges have been overdue for at least generally three years before they come to Council, if the rates or charges were actually levied on vacant land or land used only for commercial purposes, and the Council has obtained a judgment for the overdue rates or charges within one year.
The most important thing is that we do have that friendly, firm and fair approach to recovering the rates that are outstanding on properties in Brisbane. We must give all interested parties a notice of intention to sell the land as soon as practical, but it is very important to realise that this really is the last resort when it comes to recovering our rates. From time to time we do sell the properties that come through, but this is only after a very extensive effort to ensure the payments can be made or have just not been forgotten by the owner of the property.
Of course we go through the email, post, telephone and internet searches. We also take court actions as well to try and get the attention of the people who have the outstanding debt. Inspections and property visits are done during and/or after business hours, so we try every time of day or night to see if we can get in contact with the property owners. We will contact police stations, neighbours and/or local churches if they might be aware of the situation at the site as well.
We do research death and cemetery records. We consult other branches of Council, including Brisbane City Legal Practice and Compliance and Regulatory Services. In one instance we have contacted the IndonesianEmbassy as the registered owners were believed to be living in Indonesia. It is interesting to note the majority of properties that are actually approved for sale never actually reach auction date as well, because one of the great persuaders for people to pay their rates is the concept that Council might actually sell their property.
We generally serve the resolutions as that incentive for the outstanding ratepayers to do the right thing, and as I said, most of them do. Of the 156properties approved for sale since 2002, only 13 have been sold, so only 8.3% actually got to auction, because it was the wakeup call for those residents to do the right thing. I have one example of an outstanding rates account which gives you the complexity of what we are dealing with in respect of properties in Brisbane. It was a property in Amelia Street, Fortitude Valley that was actually owned by a Mr William Walmsley who died in 1930 and his wife, Sara Anne, who died in 1935.
It was presumed by Council at that time that the property would be passed on through his death through a change in ownership, but was never actually registered in Council records. So there were no records of it passing to anyone else. It is possible that their relatives or heirs may not have even known that the property was here and was theirs as well. That property actually didn’t sell until the 2007-08 financial year when we got around to a State Valuation Service who provided a valuation to the Council. Considering it went out of ownership in 1935 and it was sold in 2007-08, it does take some time on some of these properties as well.
We didn’t actually take any further actions on the family until it actually came under the City of Brisbane Act 2010 to sell the property and collect rates, and there was no one to contact in that stage anyway. We do actually obviously work through the Public Trustee as well who has the responsibility of tracking down rightful heirs if that is the situation as well where there is a deceased estate and we don’t know who the property belongs to as well.
As you can see, we go through a multitude of searches and stages before we come to a Council resolution, and I like to think that we continue on with the friendly, firm and fair to make sure we are giving every resident their property rights to have the opportunity to pay, but we are not letting other constituents carry the extra burden.
Chairman:Further questions?
Councillor CUMMING.
Question 4
Councillor CUMMING:Thanks, Madam Chair; my question is to the LORD MAYOR. In August last year your Council removed security guards from the NightLink 100 bus service which departs Fortitude Valley for Inala at 5.30am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Since that time, there have reportedly been a number of verbal and physical assaults on bus drivers. Will you commit to reinstating security guards on that service in the interests of driver and public safety?
LORD MAYOR:Thanks very much, Councillor CUMMING, for the question. I have to admit I am not aware of that particular service, or of the security guards issue relating to that. What I certainly can say is that I will be happy to have our BrisbaneTransport re-examine that issue. I would, however, make this point: in the last year, what we have seen is a 40% reduction in the number of assaults on bus drivers.
Councillor CUMMING:Why?
LORD MAYOR:Why? I guess there are a number of reasons for that. We have continued to roll out CCTV cameras. We have, of course, our duress buttons available to drivers. We have a two-way link with drivers to the depots. We have continued as an Administration to sell the message that one assault on a bus driver is one too many. There is absolutely no reason, no excuse, no circumstance under which a bus driver ought to be assaulted, either physically or verbally.
That extends well beyond bus drivers. That extends to any operators in the transport sector, anybody performing a public service, anybody going about the performing of their job. There is no circumstance in which assault, verbal or physical, is acceptable.
So as I said, I am happy to examine the circumstances, the reason behind this. Obviously we are engaged with TransLink as well in partnership around these issues. It is in all of our interest to minimise abuse of bus drivers where that occurs, as I say, either in a physical or verbal context. I am happy to take it on board, and I thank Councillor CUMMING very much for the question.