Speech by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to full Brisbane City Council Council Meeting, Wed 24th Jun 2026

‘Keeping Brisbane Moving’. That’s one of this LNP Council’s favourite lines. 

‘Keeping Brisbane Moving’. Brisbane has the worst congestion of Australia’s capital cities, but we’re ‘Keeping Brisbane Moving’.

Most of Brisbane has no frequent public transport, but apparently that’s ‘Keeping Brisbane Moving’.

How is it possible that under this LNP administration, over the past decade, not a single new service runs every 15 minutes?

This LNP administration is going to argue that the Metro buses should count. 

They’re frequent, and they do have more capacity, and they’re easier to stand on than your average bus. But they just replaced 2 existing routes!

The 66, and the 111.

And in Strategy 1.2.4 of this budget, this LNP administration has admitted that they won't fund the Metro expansions that they proposed in the first place!

They won’t be funding the trunk of the new ‘trunk and feeder’ system that they’ve been promising the people of Brisbane. Not even a dollar is set aside for after the business case is finished!

How will that keep people moving?

Even if we get bailed out by other levels of government, we won’t see those expansions for at least 6 years! 

And even then, the LNP forgot about an entire cardinal direction! What happened to Brisbane's West? 

Doesn’t congestion on Coronation Drive and Milton, Moggill, Musgrave, and Waterworks Roads, caused by no practical alternative to driving, get in the way of ‘keeping Brisbane moving’?

Then onto strategy 1.1.1: providing bus and metro services and maintenance, and strategy 1.2.2: supporting bus and metro services and maintenance. 

For the fastest growing capital city in Australia, this LNP administration is only planning to raise the budget for bus services by a couple percent each year.

Let’s be clear: that won’t even match inflation.

Let alone Brisbane’s growing population. And it certainly won’t include plans for a citywide frequent public transport network. 

How will this be ‘keeping Brisbane moving’?

The Lord Mayor has once again told us about the fabled Gold CityGlider that’s just around the corner. 

This CityGlider has been ‘about to start running’ for half a decade now! And now apparently it will start in 2028, using state money. 

Frankly, it’s embarrassing that this LNP administration won’t just fund that Glider itself.

But we need more than just one new frequent bus service in 2 years time. 

We need citywide, frequent public transport.

We need buses running every 15 minutes, on bus and transit lanes, between the suburbs and into bus and train stations, not just into the city.

Now to strategy 1.2.1: Provide ferry services and maintenance.

This LNP administration isn’t buying any more ferries. 

Milton sits in my ward. And the patch between the railway and Coronation Drive contains 10 to 20 storey apartment and office buildings, with 25 storey towers approved for development.

This Council administration installed metered parking on several streets, removed several ‘resident permit accepted’ parking bays, and raised the cost of metered parking in the area. All without giving local residents and businesses a say. 

I didn’t even get a notification, and I’m the Councillor!

It would have been A lot easier for people to ditch their cars if this LNP administration didn’t cut ferry services to Milton almost in half, without notice, 1 year prior.

Now, this dense and growing precinct, right next to the CBD, only sees a ferry every 30 minutes!

This budget, which doesn’t buy any more ferries, guarantees that Milton will see less visitors, and that Milton’s residents will stick to their cars.

Just across the river, West End has been crying out for a new ferry terminal at the Montague Road precinct for 15 years. This budget, under strategy 1.2.1, doesn’t set aside funding for that new ferry terminal, nor the new ferries to actually service the area.

How can this LNP administration claim to be ‘keeping Brisbane moving’ without funding more ferry services to these dense and growing precincts?

I understand that this Council is going to be negotiating to get more money from the State government for public transport in the near future. 

So we could see our transport grow, if this Council decides to be ambitious. If it decides to fight for Brisbane’s residents. If it really wants to keep Brisbane moving.

So let me set out what this Council should be fighting for in strategies 1.1.1, 1.2.1, and 1.2.2.

For strategy 1.2.1, we should fight for a bigger ferry fleet, and funding to finally build a second ferry terminal for western West End, so that riverside neighbourhoods are guaranteed frequent ferry services.

For strategy 1.1.1, we should obviously fight for funding for the new Golden CityGlider, which we’ve been promised for years.

But crucially, for strategies 1.1.1 and 1.2.2, we must fight for funding to run a frequent, citywide, public transport network.

This Council’s new bus network consultation took feedback from tens of thousands of residents. And it said what the Greens have been saying for years.

Residents are calling for more high-frequency BUZ services!

They’re calling for fast and reliable service, which requires bus priority on our main roads!

And they’re calling for these fast, frequent, and reliable services both into the city, and between suburban high streets and stations.

We don’t have to start from scratch. 

Out of strategies 1.1.1 and 1.2.2, bus routes like the 380 along Musgrave and Waterworks Road, the 390 on Kelvin Grove, Enoggera, and Samford Road, and the 470 on Milton Road, would just need more funding for BUZ frequencies to bring frequent public transport to some of Brisbane’s most congested main roads. 

The same goes for the 175, the 192, the 235, and the 220. Tens of thousands of residents would get access to frequent bus service.

The Greens have called for all of these to be upgraded to high-frequency routes, that run at least every 15 minutes, every day of the week.

But to seriously create frequent citywide public transport, we also need to run frequent bus routes between our suburbs, not just into the CBD.

We need frequent buses from Indooroopilly and Toowong to Ashgrove and Enoggera. 

We need them from Northgate and Nundah to Chermside. 

We need them from Cannon Hill and Carindale to Mount Gravatt. 

We even need them between Teneriffe, Herston, Kelvin Grove and Milton. 

That’s what residents are calling for, and that’s what the Greens are calling for.

Most drivers on Brisbane’s roads aren’t heading to the city. They’re doing school drop-offs, or heading to the local shops. 

They’re visiting friends and family, or heading to work at a neighbourhood centre. 

These people need cheaper, reliable public transport, to be able to leave their cars at home.

This is the public transport network that this Council should be fighting for and funding.

This is the kind of bus boost that we need to ‘keep Brisbane moving’.