Speech by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to full Brisbane City Council Council Chambers, Thurs 26th Jun 2025
We’ve heard a lot over the past week. About economic responsibility, about sustainable growth, about future-proofing our city. But you need only scratch the surface of the spin for this budget to tell a very different story. So I want to ask a simple question: what does good governance actually look like in a city facing the escalating climate crisis? Because if governance means anything, it means protecting people. Planning for the future. Investing in resilience. But this budget offers none of that. In fact, it quietly admits to failure.
Hidden away in the City Governance program itself is one of the most telling items in the entire document. Under Strategy 7.2.1: Financially Sustainable Council, we find the ‘Disaster Recovery Works Recoverable’ item. $23 million in forecast revenue, and $47.5 million in forecast expenditure. It sounds tidy, doesn’t it? A single, straightforward item. But behind that item, like so much of this budget, is a story of real cost, real pain, and real inaction.
‘Disaster Recovery Works Recoverable’ refers to federal and state government disaster recovery funding. To repair the damage after floods, after storms, after trees are felled, roads are damaged, and homes are inundated. Council may not be footing the whole bill. But Brisbane residents are. We pay in stalled repairs. In broken drains. In delays, disruptions, and daily frustrations.
These recovery works take months - sometimes years. And by the time Council clears the backlog, the next disaster has already begun. Is this what responsible governance has become? Hiding shortcomings in spreadsheets to avoid accountability? This budget is full of those quiet admissions - no wonder it’s been so difficult to get any meaningful information on it out of this administration. Let’s take a look across some of the programs.
Program 1: Transport for Brisbane. Over $600 million for bus and Metro maintenance, yet not a single new service for the westside. $90 million on ferries, and no expansion. A billion-dollar program that won’t reduce congestion or give us real alternatives to driving.
Program 2: Infrastructure for Brisbane. There’s another billion dollars - and just two real traffic calming projects across the whole city. No progress on long-promised active transport links like the West End - Toowong Green Bridge. No major investment in making suburban streets safer or more liveable.
Program 3: UnSustainable City? Over $70 million in combined cuts to park funding, stormwater management and flood mitigation. Cuts to the very things that protect us from the climate crisis we’re already living through.
This is not governance for the future. This is governance that sees how the world is changing and decides to go backwards on sustainability and resilience. And so we come back to that disaster recovery figure of $47.5 million this year. But what about next year?
If we keep treating disasters as a single line item, a one-off cost, what happens when it hits $100 million? $500 million? A billion?
We are watching, in real time, as disaster costs climb and Council’s capacity erodes. Not just because of extreme weather, but because of a failure to responsibly govern. A failure to plan our city in a way that is sustainable and resilient. That means making decisions like not building on flood zone 1, just as the Insurance Council of Australia advocates for and which nearly all local governments in Australia, except Brisbane City Council apply.
Council teams are still working through cleanup from the last cyclone. We have excellent Council officers, and they get through a significant amount of work. But they don’t have the resources to keep up.
Maintenance teams are stretched. Infrastructure is degrading. And next year’s “1-in-100-year” flood doesn’t care whether we’ve finished cleaning up from the last one. What assurances do residents get for their 4% rate rise this year? More flooded homes? More damaged roads? More delays in services? Because let’s not forget - this administration is not just failing to plan for disasters.
It’s fuelling them, by letting trees get ripped up, by stalling the active transport transition, and by rubber-stamping inappropriate developments in some of our most flood-prone areas. Residents don’t want to rely on disaster clean-up grants. They want prevention. Stormwater upgrades, resilient design, restoring tree canopy. Sensible long-term planning that reflects the realities of the climate crisis.
Instead, this Council administration gives them Olympic PR stunts and infrastructure that is not maintained. Good governance is about more than balancing the books and reacting to disaster. It’s about protecting people. Planning ahead. Reducing harm. Avoiding disaster, not just clean-up after the fact.
It’s about protecting and expanding our precious forests reserves and cultural heritage listed parks to mitigate against the urban heat island in response to the climate crisis. Brisbane deserves better than a Council administration who treats disaster like a ledger entry rather than recognising the human impact.
Brisbane deserves a Council that plans, adapts, and protects. Because as long as we keep governing by clean-up, we’ll keep falling behind. And that’s why the Greens will keep fighting for a Council that prepares - not just recovers.