Speech to Chambers

Delivered by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to the Debate on E & C Information Report Clause A and B: the Upper Mt Gravatt & Chermside Centre Suburban Renewal Precinct Plans, 10th February 2026

I am speaking to the E & C Information Report Clause A and B: the Upper Mt Gravatt & Chermside Centre Suburban Renewal Precinct Plans.

We don’t yet know the plans for these precincts. But the LNP’s track record on new precinct plans is shocking. 

Just look at Wynnum. 

Yes there are consultations. Hundreds of people write in to have a say about their neighbourhood. 

Residents call for new parks, more deep planting, stormwater upgrades, protected bikeways, more frequent public transport. Just like they will here.

Residents flag that this administration already isn’t funding infrastructure upgrades to keep up with growing neighbourhoods. 

Residents worry that big landbanking developers are just being handed a payday by the LNP for no public benefit. The same developers that have sat on the land for years without building anything.

But then what happens? The LNP pay lip service to people who’ve given their time to have a say. But that’s it. 

The taller height limits go in. Key infrastructure isn’t built. Developers make millions in speculative land value.

Brisbane can’t sustain this.

This city already swelters under heatwaves every summer. Our research suggests that deep planting requirements of 10% have only been translating into an average development approval of just 3%. This is part of the reason Brisbane is losing many hectares of its precious tree canopy. And this Council isn’t investing in new urban park space. Combined, these make our city even hotter, through a lack of shade, and the urban heat island effect.

This council must mandate 20% deep planting in every new precinct plan and we must build more parks for the growing population. When we ask more people, especially families, to live more densely in apartments, it’s Council’s job to provide the parkland to replace their yard. 

We also need the infrastructure to get around safely. In new, dense precincts, the best mode of transport should be walking, followed by cycling, and taking public transport. But right now, the LNP administration only funds 1 or 2 pedestrian crossings each year CITYWIDE. Only 2 streets in all of Brisbane received traffic calming this year, after only 1 street last year. Only a few kilometres of protected bikeway are built each year, if that. What about the rest of our streets?

The Council needs to urgently prioritise walking and cycling infrastructure around these precincts. At Mt Gravatt it should connect dense neighbourhoods to the veloway, and at Chermside it should connect the Downfall and Kedron Brook bikeways via these dense developments with safe, protected bike lanes.

And developers should be paying for this. At the height of a housing crisis, when developers are making higher profits than ever, this Council must call on the State government to lift the limit on infrastructure charges. This is how developers give back to the public.

Lastly, this Council must use these precinct plans to address homelessness and soaring rents in this city. 

We all know the State government isn’t funding enough public housing, but buckpassing won’t drop the rent. It won’t keep young renters from couchsurfing. It won’t stop pensioners sleeping in their cars. It won’t help the 11,500 people in this city on the social housing waitlist.

If the State won’t help, then this Council must implement mandatory inclusionary zoning.

Before these precincts are redeveloped, this Council must require that every development with over 10 dwellings provides at least 25% of dwellings to public and community housing providers.

This would provide hundreds of social homes in these precincts alone. People could recover from bad situations, and find their feet in a mixed-income building, close to services and public transport.

This isn’t a new idea. Mandatory inclusionary zoning is used by hundreds of cities worldwide. Paris, London, the City of Sydney, and New York City are just a few examples. This helps everyone, especially the most marginalised people in society. This works.

These are the basic things that this Council needs to do to make this city sustainable.