Speech to Chambers

Delivered by Councillor Seal Chong Wah, to the Debate on E&C Committee Report Clause A –  Amendments To Brisbane City Plan 2014 – Stones Corner Suburban Renewal Precinct, Tues 16th September 2025

I rise to speak on the E&C Report Clause A, about the Stones Corner Suburban Renewal Precinct Plan.

This plan is a missed opportunity. It doesn’t plan for a sustainable future. It doesn’t plan around flooding, it doesn’t plan for social or affordable housing, and it doesn’t plan for Brisbane’s canopy.

Let’s start with flooding. 

All of the lots between Cleveland Street and Lincoln Street will be getting upzoned. But on the other side of Lincoln Street is Norman Creek. The creek that already floods into Stones Corner.

Take number 11 Cleveland Street. It was flooded by Norman Creek in 2022. This Council plans to allow 12 storey apartment buildings there.

Number 17 Cleveland Street would be upzoned as well, to 15 storeys. This site is in the ‘flood planning area 2’, one of the most flood-prone sites in Brisbane.

The same goes for lots around the Stones Corner bus station. They already flood atrociously, but this plan will keep on letting developers build higher.

And to be clear, the Council’s flood modelling of Norman Creek is out of date. If Breakfast Creek is anything to go by, Norman Creek is probably going to flood far more severely in the years to come because of climate change. 

Thousands more properties will be in the mapped flood zone, in just a few years.

Just like in Newstead, this Council administration is letting developers build towers in high risk flood zones. 

Those developers will make millions selling to people who need somewhere to live.

Then those thousands of residents will be hung out to dry when new studies show that these new buildings will flood.

Then there’s the deep planting. The Council is missing a chance to improve this city's tree coverage.

This Council is letting Brisbane’s canopy be cut down, losing 3% coverage across the city, in the ten years to 2019. 

That’s roughly 4000 hectares, wiped out. 

Why not require more deep planting in this Precinct plan, like the 15% requirement in The Gap neighborhood plan? 

Or 15% or 20% deep planting required in the Nathan-Salisbury-Moorooka neighbourhood plan.

We know that in practice, with trade-able ‘performance outcomes’ any listed deep planting target will not be met. 

With a standard 10% deep planting target in Stones Corner, we are likely to actually see an average 3% of approved deep planting, as we are seeing in high density Milton.

We will see yet another unsustainable concrete jungle in Stones Corner, rather than a green, livable contemporary urban design that meets the challenges of our climate emergency.

What about affordable housing? 

This Council hasn’t included any requirement for new homes in Stones Corner to be public, or social housing, or even affordable by any definition.

How does this Council expect ordinary renters to live in this city while rents are skyrocketing?

How can anyone hope to build a life here when rent costs half of their income?

The Greens have been calling for 25% of new multiple-unit developments, with over 10 dwellings, to be public or social housing. Genuine affordable public and community housing is the only way to guarantee people that are struggling can afford to live in this city.

It’s a shame that this is the plan that we’re voting on today. 

This could’ve been a chance to prepare for a flood-safe, cool, and affordable future. 

But instead, we’re staying stuck in the past.