Petitions on Pedestrian Safety Infrastructure

 Infrastructure Committee

Speech to Council Chambers, delivered by Councillor Seal Chong Wah on 11th May 2026

I rise to speak on the Infrastructure Committee report, regarding all 12 pedestrian safety infrastructure petitions.

These petitions are signed by over 1700 residents. Even with some duplication, there are over a thousand voices calling for this LNP Council to make streets safer to walk. One with 34 signatures calls for a pedestrian crossing or traffic signal upgrade, so that Moreton Bay College students aren’t forced to sprint across to a refuge between truck traffic.  Another with 224 signatures calls for this Council to build footpaths on ordinary streets, something that should be this Council’s bread and butter. Another with a massive 727 signatures calls for this Council to make a pedestrian crossing safer after a child was hospitalised by a car.

Astoundingly, in response to these 12 petitions, the LNP administration won’t fund a single thing! This is truly shameful! When you consider the near misses, injuries and fatal accidents that have occurred across our city over the years. This is the same administration whose Lord Mayor called traffic lights and pedestrian crossings ‘downgrades’.

At the last election, to fix the exact safety problems that the petitioners have raised, the Greens ran on building 200 new pedestrian crossings, 200 kilometres of footpath, and 100 new traffic-calming upgrades across the city in 4 years. All funded through diverting money from the road and intersection widening. That’s what it means to make streets safe. It means building infrastructure that protects people when they walk, of all ages and abilities.

We have an LNP administration that doesn't care about pedestrian safety. This administration is so wedded to car traffic that they will keep on funding road widenings, which will induce more traffic, while underfunding any alternative.

About 1 in 6 car trips in Brisbane is under 2 kilometres, and another 1 in 5 car trips are between 2 and 4 kilometres. That means thousands of car trips could become a walk, or a short bike ride, if people felt like it was safe and convenient. And if thousands of trips aren’t taken by car, then the people who can’t avoid driving won’t be caught in so much traffic congestion. It’s pretty simple: if you fund car infrastructure, everyone gets caught in car traffic. Everyone is less safe, and more pedestrians get hurt.

However, if you fund the alternatives, like these petitioners are calling for, it’s better for everyone. If you fund crossings, footpaths, and traffic-calming, more people can walk safely. If you fund bikeways, then more people can cycle. And every time someone walks or cycles, there is one less car causing congestion on the road.

We need to rebuild streets for people.