Speech to Full Chambers
Delivered by Councillor Seal Chong Wah
15th February 2026
Last week, the LNP State Government continued their trampling of democratic processes in order to fast track Olympic stadiums, again overriding planning, environmental and heritage protections. As part of this latest amendment package, all of Victoria Park / Barrambin, managed by the Brisbane City Council for 162 years, has been handed over to GIICA, the Games Infrastructure Authority. This State legislation was fast tracked without any public scrutiny, transparency, or consultation.
Victoria Park / Barrambin was granted to the Brisbane Municipal Council in 1864 "for use as a park", "and nothing else", before it was gazetted in 1875. This LNP Council and the Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, now have the inglorious claim of willingly giving up 64 hectares of precious inner city heritage parkland, that Brisbane Council managed for 162 years.
Through the Chair, Lord Mayor Schrinner, you will be remembered as the Mayor that conspired with a cabal of LNP elites, and their developer mates to lose 64 hectares of historic parkland and its remaining 4,000 trees. Lord Mayor, through the chair, you will also be remembered as the Mayor to oversee the greatest loss of Brisbane’s Tree canopy. And the first Mayor to actually reduce the amount of Brisbane’s greenspace, rather than increase it!
GIICA, the Games Infrastructure Authority, a powerful independent body that can bypass all heritage and environmental protections, has been given over by the Liberal National party to ex Property Council executives and Property Developers. Now, the latest fast-tracked legislation, hands over this heritage park as freehold land, giving GIICA full control to remove all 4,000 trees, as much greenspace as they want and sell off parcels of land for development. GIICA has advised me that they will start clearing vegetation by the middle of this year.
Of course, the History of Barrambin did not start 162 years ago. I’d like to quote from the ‘Story of Barrambin’ published by ‘Save Victoria Park’, drawn from historical records. “For thousands of years before European settlement, Victoria Park / Barrambin was home to the largest and longest used First Nations camps in Brisbane, with up to 1,000 people living here at different times of the year, their camps positioned along ridges above waterholes where the breezes carried stories and songs. The land was an open woodland of towering blue gums, ironbarks, spotted gum and forest oaks, with fresh waterholes and lagoons that teemed with life. Some of the trees remaining on this site are between 200 and 700 years old and pre-date European settlement. These are not just trees, but living links to ancient history, culture and Country.But this land was more than a home, it was a place of deep spiritual and cultural significance, lying along a songline.”
First Nations have continued to camp at Barrambin right up to the 1950s. There are Aboriginal people alive today who can tell you about living here as children. This is also a place of conflict and loss, with deaths and injuries recorded in newspapers at the time in 1846,1849 and 1864. “In a 1849 attack, two divisions of a regiment stormed a gathering of up to 500 First Nations people at Barrambin, turning a place of community once more into a battlefield.”
This colonial violence continues today, as the Liberal National Party continues this pattern of violence, of disregarding cultural and environmental heritage and taking what they want. Despite this LNP cabal completely disregarding their IOC Host contract banning new venues on heritage listed land, we will continue our campaign to protect Victoria Park including our appeal to the International Olympic Committee.
Over 1,700 residents have already written to the IOC to stop the destruction of this park. Our community will not back down!