Minutes of proceedings

Councillor KING.

Councillor KING: Thank you, Madam Chair; I rise to speak in support of Program 4, Your Brisbane. Before I start, I would just like to say I have not heard one thing positive from the other side of the Chamber, and Councillor MARX is quite correct; I was actually brought up with manners as well, and to say thank you for what you have received in the budget. All I have heard from the other side of the Chamber is vicious personal attacks on the Chairman, Councillor Krista ADAMS, which is uncalled for.

I have seen the festivals that the other side of the Chamber have, and they have a lot more festivals and whatever than I do in Marchant Ward, but can I say thank you to Councillor ADAMS for continuing to support the Lanham May Fair which is the only festival that I have in the Marchant Ward. I would also like to say thank you for the Taste of the World Festival. Even though it is in Councillor WYNDHAM's ward, it is a huge success and our Indian community on the north side do a wonderful job in that multicultural festival.

In Your Brisbane 4.2.1.2 is about libraries. If Sharan Harvey is up there, the Grange Library, I am very thankful for, because it is absolutely amazing, even if we do have to turn off that table sometimes because the kids get a bit rowdy. But it is a fantastic facility, and a real community hub for the Grange area.

In this financial year, we are talking about the new Chermside Library. I have seen the plans for the new library, and quite excited about the completion, can I say, of the library. The redevelopment of the Chermside Library will deliver an exciting new regional library with increased floor area from 2,000 square metres to 3,000 square metres. It will have three large meeting rooms that, when combined, will create a space for up to 200 people. It will be first-class Wi-Fi bench area, I can imagine. As Councillor WINES said, each library gets better, so it will be interesting to see how they can improve from the Grange Library.

It will include quiet rooms and more seating options; larger children's area, and a young adults’ area. I am truly thankful for this, because we do get a little bit of complaints from the Chermside Library because the children's area is right in the midst of the adults' area. As a mother, I know that children can be quite vocal at times. So for that, the residents of Chermside and the surrounding suburbs will be extremely happy.

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete in the Chermside area without a coffee shop, so it will include another coffee shop. But the North Regional Office is also moving to that site, over with the Chermside Library. So it will bring all of us together—the customer service, the call centre, the local Asset Services guys and my office will all be moving over to one spot which will work really well and connect with the community a lot better.

The Chermside Library, as of next month, I believe, is moving over to where my office is at the North Regional Office, so that will be interesting, Councillor ADAMS. I will say thank you for that. It will be a lot smaller, but I think it will work really well and the building and the modifications to that building are well and truly on the way. I think our electricity goes out this weekend to do some more work in preparedness for the library to come over to the North Regional side.

Just again, we can say thank you for the things that we get in our budget without whinging and whining. This truly is where this service brings our whole community together, and I would like to say thank you again to Councillor ADAMS.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor ABRAHAMS.

Councillor ABRAHAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to say a few comments, and I might first start off with just refuting some of the comments we have heard so far. We, on this side of the Chamber, are very used to the LNP talking about the Soorley ages, but to go back to the Dickensian period, which we have just done, is really going a long way back. In response to Councillor MARX, it is not asking for more; it is an issue of what the priorities are for the funding.

This program, which is really where the people of Brisbane are funded so that they have a liveable lifestyle and our city is one in which all of us can enjoy the benefits of living in Brisbane, is one that we would argue on this side of the Chamber should have greater priority. It is not an issue of just more; it is an issue of priority, and it has failed.

I would also just comment about how wonderful it is that we have $50,000 to spend on anything we wish. Councillor MARX, I am sure you actually didn’t mean that as I am wont sometimes to say things that I haven’t thought out properly, in that we have very clear guidelines of how we spend that money, and it has to be spent within those guidelines. Let's be very clear: that was an initiative that David Hinchliffe had to take to Cabinet, had to take it very strongly to get the LNP Lord Mayor at that time for it to become a reality. So we are all now—

Councillor interjecting.

Councillor ABRAHAMS: —indeed, it was $120,000, which was meaningful money that we could do something with. But, Madam Chair, I would just like to focus on the community sport and recreation area—

Chairman: Order!

Councillor ABRAHAMS: —within that, there has been a cut, one of the many cuts in this program that has suffered too many; priority wrong, too many cuts. In the community sport and recreation, the capital is down a third. It was $7.2 million from last year's budget, and it is now down to $14.7 million in this year's budget that we have. Madam Chair, sport is incredibly important to the youth, to the adults, to the health of our city, and the fact that we are having this cut which has always been one of those issues that is more expensive than we'd ever wish to put in place is definitely a wrong priority.

I would like to go to my ward. I have businesses that are sports. I will set them aside; two of those. When you look at some of the real community sports clubs, the Partisans at West End, which is the only sports club in all of the West End peninsula, doesn’t even have a clubhouse. It doesn’t even have a lease. They are desperate for infrastructure that I have put in to have lights. They train against one pole that should have three lights on it, and for the last three weeks has only had one functioning. The need for them to be properly funded is something that is regrettable that it is not in this budget.

The other one is one of the second biggest women's sports clubs in Brisbane in netball, and that is the Metropolitan Districts Netball over in Coorparoo, in Wembley Park. It is huge. I think they have 14 courts. They have an incredibly substandard car park with an entrance in that is so hazardous that that sports club is now paying to have a police person on the gate to control the movement into a sports club. That is a huge cost for any sports club, and I don't believe women's sport, that generally does not have the infrastructure and the resources, should be doing so.

Once those cars are in the car park, it is pot hole after pot hole after pot hole. It is an important job; it is not something that you can just do out of the parking fine footpath trust, because the whole area needs to be appropriately taken back to basic and built up. To make it worse, that area floods. That club is now paying for the insurance of a number of cars that got flooded while the players were playing on the sports field during the recent storm. They came to Council for support, and did not get that support. My cry to the Chair is we really have to look at some of the priorities there are for sports facilities, and I can't imagine what would have more priority than that netball association.

On top of that, they are actually having money being spent on a bikeway that is compounding the problem of the car park, not adding to it. So I would suggest it would really be great if, in a budget review in this sport area, money was allocated so that work on that car park could be undertaken at the same time as the significant expenditure in the bikeway. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor HUANG.

Councillor HUANG: Thank you, Madam Chair. I rise in support of Program 4 of the LORD MAYOR's 2015-16 Budget on Your Brisbane. I would firstly like to thank the LORD MAYOR and Chairman for Lifestyle in delivering a budget that truly looks after Brisbane's diverse communities by providing funding and facilities to ensure Brisbane continues to enjoy a vibrant, cohesive and inclusive social atmosphere.

Brisbane is a vibrant and energetic New World City, offering our residents and visitors a range of cultural and recreational activities which foster inclusion and stronger communities. The social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing of our diverse community is critical to maintain our current high standard of living. Your Brisbane program plays a vital part in building this city's social infrastructure through citywide and locally focused festivals, events and activities which celebrate and strengthen our quality of life and community spirit, and provide relevant communities resources, services and facilities to create opportunities for residents to be active, informed and involved in the community.

Brisbane continues to enjoy the benefits that our multicultural communities bring to our—

Chairman: Order! There is too much talking in the Chamber.

Thank you, Councillor HUANG.

Councillor HUANG: —bring to our city. As a New World City, Brisbane is one of the most multicultural cities in the country. The latest diversity figures show 28 per cent of our city's population is comprised of those born overseas, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census data. Every Council ward in Brisbane can claim residents with ancestries from Oceania, North-West European, Southern and Eastern European, North African, and Middle Eastern, South-East Asian, North-East Asian, Southern and Central Asian, peoples of the Americas and Saharan African.

People from diverse cultural backgrounds not only bring to our city direct economic benefits by contributing their skills or their network in their home country, but most importantly they have enriched the cultural and social fabric of our city. Festivals are one of the most popular ways to showcase Brisbane's cultural richness and the most effective way in bringing the world to us.

Multicultural festivals focus on celebrating Brisbane's cultural diversity, contributing to our aspirations as a vibrant and creative, friendly and inclusive city. Through them, our residents can celebrate, respect and welcome diversity and the richness it brings to the Brisbane culture and lifestyle. Brisbane City Council values its cultural diversity to such an extent that most festivals are enriched by contributions from our indigenous, English speaking and non English speaking background migrants and refugee communities.

These multicultural festivals give Brisbane residents the opportunity to truly experience the diverse cultures that make our city special. Take MacGregor Ward for example. There is a strong presence of Chinese, Korean and Islamic cultures in MacGregor Ward. In the 2015-16 budget, we continue to support the local communities through funding to a number of community festivals, ranging from Chinese cultural festival, Korean festival to Taiwanese Moon Festival. The financial support provided by this Council not only allows these community organisations to showcase their culture through festivals, but also give Brisbane residents the opportunity to truly experience the diverse cultures that make our city special.

As we welcome and enjoy these festivals, one of the common issues facing these community organisations is to find a suitable venue to host the events. This year's budget delivers on the LORD MAYOR's election promise to the South Side communities for the Performing Arts Centre to be built in Sunnybank. The Brisbane City Council Performing Arts Centre will be constructed at Sunnybank's DM Henderson Park. This follows the signing of a heads of agreement on 14 June 2014. A design and construction agreement signed in 2014 and development approval being received 13 February 2015; what a good story for Valentine's Day this year.

Council is working in partnership with Sunnybank Rugby Club to develop the combined facility with each organisation contributing $5 million to the $10 million project. The Performing Arts Centre will have a separate entry and a pre-function foyer with access to a bar, box office and canteen. The facility has been designed to maximise flexible use and will accommodate 300 seats in a theatre-style set up, and has the ability to be reconfigured to suit the needs of the local community. The design meets Council's commitment to access and inclusion, by offering an internal lift to arrive into the entry foyer, and all public spaces are accessible.

The theatre is acknowledged in the Youth Strategy and aims to meet the vision within the Creative Strategy to contribute to a network of night time entertainment venues. Contractors have been short-listed via an expression of interest process. Construction is planned to commence in July 2015, and all Councillors are invited to attend. It is anticipated this venue will be completed by mid-2016.

This new Performing Arts Centre will be the new landmark for the cultural life of South Side. On behalf of the local residents and community organisations, I would like to thank the LORD MAYOR and the Chairman for Lifestyle, Councillor ADAMS, for delivering this important social infrastructure that demonstrates the support and dedication to Brisbane's diverse community. I commend this program to the Chamber.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor WYNDHAM.

Councillor WYNDHAM: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I rise to speak on Program 4, Your Brisbane. Firstly, let me say that I am absolutely disgusted that we have people in the Chamber here that spend their days looking at the clock when they are supposed to be in an information meeting. They are all concerned about what is going on around them instead of the information. It seems to me that the clock-watcher seems very content on what she wants in her electorate. Councillor ABRAHAMS is correct; it is not about wants, it is about priorities.

Those that stand up after putting in, I guess, huge budget lists for millions of dollars and complain that they have not got what they want in their electorate, it is not about wants, it is about needs. It is about priorities, and I think it is time that some people in this Chamber here started to realise that it is the priorities and the needs that are an important part of Council, not what you want. Madam Chair, I have learnt over time that needs are extremely important to our community, and I guess it comes back to my background where I was taught as a kid, wants don't get anything; needs get something.

I do note, but, that I guess Councillor DICK in his comments stated about wants and needs, saying that there were wants, and then needs were prioritised, but it seems to me there is a little bit of a mix up there; they are assessed and prioritised. The problem is, when the list comes out, all of a sudden they want more. The needs have been sorted, but they are still wanting—wanting much more.

Just a small criticism of the Lord Mayor's Suburban Initiative Fund from the other side, Councillor DICK at the time was not in this Chamber, and yes, we voted it down for a very good reason: Councillor Kerry Rae at the time was the Chair, and yes, correct, it was $120,000, and correct, there were guidelines, but we voted it down because it was then going to be called the Liveability Committee, and each ward was to have a committee. We saw this as, I guess, not allowing all people to have a say but in allowing perhaps some of the—

Councillors interjecting.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor WYNDHAM: —branches across some of the electorates having more of a say where the money was spent—

Chairman: Order!

Councillor WYNDHAM: —for their Councillors and forgetting that the people who had administered this fund were the Council officers, and there were guidelines to run this program. I am very grateful now to the LORD MAYOR that we have the Lord Mayor's Suburban Initiative Fund with guidelines, and it is running smoothly.

Councillor interjecting.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor JOHNSTON!

Councillor WYNDHAM: Councillor DICK needs to remember he wasn’t here in the place; he needs to look at some of the history, and Councillor ABRAHAMS was very wrong in what she said about that also.

I am very proud to stand up here after quite a while and look at this program, because there's one thing in this program over the many years that is iconic to Australia and to Brisbane. We are standing in it right now—some of you are sitting—we are here right now. During the term from when Sallyanne had it repainted internally until LORD MAYOR Campbell Newman introduced the policy to rebuild this building because it was suffering from such great neglect, having been administered for quite some time by the ALP, we had to spend $215 million bringing it up to scratch.

I remember the debate. Those on the other side didn’t even want a kitchen put in the building. Renovating a building and not having a kitchen—how ridiculous would that be.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor JOHNSTON!

Councillor WYNDHAM: All I can say with great pride—and everyone in this room should be proud of this building and what we have achieved, because if you google this building, you will find that it has received many awards for—

Chairman: Order!

Councillor NEWTON!

Councillor WYNDHAM: —its restoration; it is iconic in Brisbane; it is iconic in Australia, and this building actually attracts people to Brisbane as tourists. So it is not just an investment in the building, but it is an investment in an icon of Australia, and we all should be very proud of it and not critical of it. I am pleased to see that Councillor ADAMS, in the budget, has moneys to continue the maintenance of it, which is something that the ALP never even considered.

I can remember the first time I came into this building for a citizenship ceremony and I thought to myself, there's something wrong with this building; it lacks a lot of paint; it has been suffering neglect, and it needs serious work. I am sorry, I come from a trade background, and I recognise when something has not been maintained to a standard that it deserves. As part of our history, it deserved the greatest of maintenance, and I am sure under this program and under Councillor ADAMS' stewardship, this building will continue to serve the people of Brisbane for many years and retain its grandeur as we all expect and as the citizens of Brisbane expect.

So I call upon the ALP on the other side to get behind this part of the program and at least support it, because this is our building, this is the city's building, and you should be proud of what has been achieved here, not knock it. Thank you.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor MURPHY.

Councillor MURPHY: Thank you, Madam Chairman; I rise to speak on Program 4, Your Brisbane. This is the program that is all about our community festivals, our libraries, the things that people love, the services that people love to get from Brisbane City Council. Just to deal first up with some of the comments made by some Councillors opposite, first we have Councillor GRIFFITHS' comments that he made earlier in the debate. It is great that we are dealing with a program that involves libraries, because he gets a gold star reading award for his speech before. It was absolutely pathetic, his contribution. Sitting here, I felt like Red Symons, and I had to hit the gong and give him the one out of 10, because it was truly insane what he was talking about.

Councillors interjecting.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor MURPHY: The Toowong pool—

Chairman: Order!

Councillor MURPHY: He got up and he criticised us for not reopening the Toowong pool that they closed in Government. Can you believe the level of hypocrisy and arrogance that it must take an Opposition to get up and to make that claim? There's a lot of things in here, Councillor GRIFFITHS, through you, Madam Chair, that you could have criticised, but the one thing you chose to criticise was a pool that you in Administration closed. Absolutely pathetic.

Then there was the contribution from the Councillor for Tennyson Ward. When it comes to Councillor JOHNSTON, there wasn’t much that she was talking about that had anything to do with policy, but there was plenty of venom, plenty of vitriol for Councillor ADAMS, once again proving that pit vipers are native to Tennyson Ward.

Now, on to the substantive program. We have service 4.1.1.1 Festivals and Events. I want to talk about a few of the great festivals and events that are funded out of this service in my ward.

Councillor interjecting.

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON, stop interjecting.

Councillor MURPHY: Madam Chairman, we have the Brisbane Billycart Championships.

Chairman: Just a minute, Councillor MURPHY.

If you are going to refer to me, you refer to me appropriately, thank you.

Councillor MURPHY.

Councillor MURPHY: Thank you, Madam Chairman. The Brisbane Billycart Championships, which is just—

Chairman: Just a minute, Councillor MURPHY.

Councillor JOHNSTON, I don't know what you are referring to. If you want to call a point of order, call a point of order and do it properly.

Chairman: Sorry?

Chairman: Well, I don't know that he was talking about anyone in particular.

Councillor MURPHY, if you were referring to Councillor JOHNSTON, please withdraw the comment.

Councillor MURPHY: I withdraw.

Chairman: Thank you.

Councillor MURPHY: Thank you, Madam Chairman. On to the Brisbane Billycart Championships, a wonderful event held yearly in the Carindale Recreation Reserve. Which year is it in now, Councillor SCHRINNER? In its 10^th year it has been going, or not quite that long? A fantastic festival; it was meant to start as a billycart championship but it has become a general fair for the local area. I know the hill gets comments every year; why can't we make the hill taller? Why can't we have a billycart race that goes for longer? But we have a lot of young kids that actually get on those billycarts and go into that competition, so I think everyone is happy with just expanding the festival rather than the hill.

We've also got the Brisbane Kite Festival. This was the only festival that was funded through central festival funding from the City Council when I came to Office. It is run by the Port of Brisbane Rotary Club and the Bulimba Rotary Club and they share responsibility for that year-on-year. It is a tremendous festival, and I have said in this place before that it is really great to see kids putting down their iPads, their iPhones, the PlayStations, their Xboxes, and actually just playing with kites for the day—something that I think is lost in this technology-centric society that we live in.

We also have the Carols on the Range. This is a wonderful event just outside my ward in Councillor SCHRINNER's ward, which was started a few years ago when the Wakerley Christmas Carols was canned by my predecessor. It continues this year, and it gives great exposure to the Queensland Rifle Association and the National Rifle Association that is there at the Belmont Range. They do a tremendous event, and they invite the community to share an evening of carols with them on the range. It is really good to see.

We've also got History Alive, a Journey Through Time. I was there representing the LORD MAYOR just a few weeks ago down at Fort Lytton National Park. What an absolutely tremendous event that is, Madam Chairman. You've got to be very careful when you’re down there that you don't refer to the re-enactors as cosplayers, as did an un-named politician who I won't name; he is not from this side of the Chamber, but may or may not be in the State Parliament. They are not cosplayers; they are reenactors, and they take their job of re-enactment very seriously. When you go up and say, Hi, who are you? They say, I'm Augustus Flavius or something like that, and they are completely in character. It is a tremendous event, and I recommend it to all Councillors to actually get down there some time.

I can see here we have also got funding for the Karawatha Family Fun Day, and Councillor MARX, I believe this is something that you started in your ward—the first community festival to be held in Karawatha Ward under your watch, and probably ever, if the speech that you made before is accurate. Murarrie Neighbour Day is a wonderful event that I was able to start a few years ago, getting residents of Murarrie out into the community to meet each other for a casual breakfast. It is truly a good event to see all people from all different cultures and social backgrounds coming out and meeting, having a breakfast, breaking down those barriers of social isolation in the community.

Also, a big shout out to Councillor HOWARD for the work she does with Pride Festival. It is funded through this budget as well. I know that the people that run Pride Festival were very pleased to see us when we were out at International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia the other week, along with Councillor WINES who was there as well.

We also have funding here for the multicultural festivals that we run in Brisbane. Just to name a few, we've got the Chinese Festival, the Luna Festival, Eat Street, Korean Festival Day, the South Pacific Islanders Christmas Celebration—the list goes on. Importantly, this is only $529,000 that is allocated in this budget, but that money goes a really long way, when you take into account the fact that Brisbane City Council is often the anchor sponsorship for so many of these events, and so many of these events wouldn’t go ahead unless they had the credibility of having an event partner like Brisbane City Council on the team. So it is really good to see all those events happening.

We also have in this 2015-16 Budget the library refurbishment at Carina which I am very much looking forward to, and which is well advanced in the design process now. This will add an extra meeting room and refurbished facilities for one of those ageing libraries that was built in the 60s, and has been refurbished continually throughout the time that it has been around, but is in need of having some extra space there for the community to use as a meeting hall, particularly because Carindale is upgraded now, and the residents are going, well, Carindale has got their upgraded library; when can we get our upgraded library? I hope they are not expecting anything as magnificent as Carindale, but it certainly will be fantastic, and they are looking forward to it.

We also have in this budget a funding allocation for some refurbishment at Riverstage. I know with interest that, over the last few years, we have had Ed Sheeran, we have had Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, we've had Sting, Foo Fighters, Avicii, some really big name international acts come and play Riverstage. It has capacity there for 9,000 patrons. I actually didn’t know this, but Riverstage is as old as I am. It was born in 1988, and in that time it actually hasn’t had any refurbishments.

Councillor MURPHY: No, I haven’t had any oil changes since then, and I know that I am feeling pretty tired now. We need to make sure that Riverstage has the facilities that visiting artists and acts require these days; the change rooms, the back of house features and facilities to make sure that we continue to attract them to our New World City. This budget provides for refurbishment works of the back of house. Obviously that refurbishment work is being recognised internationally, because we've got some wonderful acts, including Imagine Dragons, Mumford and Sons, Neon Run, the Telstra Ballet, Gardens, Boy & Bear, Hozier and Ben Harper coming in this financial year. So I very much look forward to seeing all those wonderful acts.

I also want to talk about service 4.5.1.1 on page 96; that is an allocation of $1.78 million to enhance our three skate parks at Paddington, Inala and Bracken Ridge. I have quite a few of the smaller skate parks in my ward, and I have a very good relationship with Ben Ventrice from Skate Queensland, and he is very much looking forward to seeing these upgrades implemented through this budget allocation, and very much looking forward to seeing refurbished skate parks in our city, because we know that skating, along with all the other extreme sports, has the ability to attract and to promote international talent in those extreme sports for our city.

In summary, I want to thank Councillor ADAMS and the officers in her division that have worked so hard to put this program together, as well as her staff, the LORD MAYOR and Councillor SIMMONDS. It is a program that delivers all the things that residents have come to love and expect from Council, and I commend it to the Chamber.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor CUMMING.

Councillor CUMMING: Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to mention the Suburban Initiative Fund and my disappointment that it is stuck at a paltry $55,000, having been $125,000 not that long ago. At the time it was reduced, the excuse used was the flooding that had occurred around that time, but that excuse has worn out some years ago, and I think it needs to be increased to a more reasonable amount, or at least indexed every year. It is sitting at somewhere at $55,000, and leaving it there forever, it means it will unfortunately decline in value each year and be less useful to the general community.

The other thing was the festivals. Not too many years ago, the budget used to list the amounts for each of the festivals. I am concerned to know what the amounts are for the festivals. There is no reason they couldn’t list it. Hopefully the Council has made up its mind by now how much each festival is going to get, after last year's experience, and I can't see why they can't be listed in the document.

The Halloween Festival in Manly has actually been cut back by Council in recent years. They have been losing about $1,000 a year, and I am concerned about that, because even though it is a very popular festival, the commerciality of it to be able to raise funds from stallholders and that is limited, because it is a festival where people start arriving at five o'clock; the parade is at six, and most of them have gone home by seven, so that is limited hours for anyone to make any money out of running a stall, et cetera.

So my concern is that Council thinks it is a far more profitable and lucrative festival than it is, because it actually loses money every year, and it is up to the local chamber of commerce to put their own funds or put the money they get from the levy on commercial properties in the area into subsidising that festival.

Finally, I can't find anywhere how much the Wynnum Library is going to get. There is no mention of the Wynnum Library, et cetera. We have heard that the shell of the building is being paid for by City of Brisbane Investment Corporation, is it, or is it Woolies? We don't know. No one will tell me. No one will give me a briefing, so I just keep speculating. But there is an amount obviously for the fit-out of the library, and that is being paid for by Council. So I am interested to know how much that is and where that is in the budget, whether it is in this part of the budget. That information would be gratefully received from the Chair when she sums up.

Chairman: Further debate?

Councillor ADAMS, would you close the debate please?

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair, and interesting Councillor CUMMING's comments that the information would be gratefully received when I sum up. Do you know what? The questions would have been greatly received if they had bothered to ask them on Friday in the two hours. I have just sat here for the last hour and a half—

Chairman: Order!

Councillor ADAMS: —being fired—

Chairman: Councillor JOHNSTON!

Councillor ADAMS: —question after question after question that I could have clearly answered on Friday, but not one of them bothered to ask any of these questions. Can I say, for example, that we spent 30 minutes on one Councillor asking the same question because she didn’t like the answer.

Councillor interjecting.

Chairman: Order!

Councillor JOHNSTON!

Councillor ADAMS: Just because you don't like the answer it doesn’t mean it's wrong. But you can ask the same question, and guess what: the answer doesn’t change. I have to say that I am disappointed that these questions that we hear in the posturing today weren't asked on Friday. I am happy to address many of them right now if I can get through them in the nine minutes that I have left.

First of all, I would just like to reiterate to the Chamber, as I seem to do every time I stand up at a budget review or a budget or anything in the last three years, these are not re-announcements in Program 4, these are LORD MAYOR deliverables that we have been working on for four years. Yes, we will announce where we are each stage along the way. That does not make them a re-announcement; it makes them ongoing projects, and many of the fantastic outcomes in Program 4 are ongoing projects.

First, to Councillor NEWTON, some of the questions that she had again that were not asked on Friday, happy to discuss. Arts and culture, a couple of them brought up—arts and culture, it's dropped, it's dropped; what are we going to do with less money to arts and culture? Arts and culture, in a very large budget, had a decrease of $500,000. This is purely around funding arrangements with the Museum of Brisbane; nothing to do with the programming of arts and culture services that are being provided to Brisbane. I don't think anyone on that side of the Chamber will have any problems with that, because they didn’t vote to support the Museum of Brisbane anyway, so there should be no complaints whatsoever if that amount of money is around the funding arrangements with the Museum of Brisbane. It is not about services.

With active and healthy programs, again we did see a decrease in the money, and it was purely an overhead allocation shift—again, something I could have very easily explained on Friday if they had bothered to ask. There is absolutely no reduction to this service in the coming 12 months. We have delivered 2,174 sessions of GOLD n’ kids, with over 19,570 participants. We have seen 287 sessions of Chill Out programs to over 6,400 participants during the school holidays, and over 1,730 walks with the Heart Foundation Walking group. None of these services will be cut in the next financial year.

There were comments about the community facilities maintenance and the changing of the new project called Clubs and Community Centre Structural Repairs and Maintenance. I did explain this one on Friday, and I am happy to explain it to the Chamber yet again. We have got an integration of three programs across the board in facilities maintenance which is going to give us a far more effective prioritisation of work, and targeting of works in areas of greatest impact.

So we are going to be able to look at our information from our proactive programming of asbestos, building condition audits, identified works around maybe roofs, et cetera, that people were talking about in their buildings today, and we can prioritise across all of these works that need to be done. If they are actually then done in the same time on the same building, goodness forbid, we can minimise the cost and save money. Guess what: saving money is not cutting money, it is saving money. So there will be a far more effective way to deliver the upgrades that we need across these three projects being integrated together.

Councillors interjecting.

Chairman: Order! Order!

Councillor ADAMS: It also is supported by our Community Facilities Improvement program which has $1.6 million in it as well. They are all integrated through the priorities that we have.

Councillor NEWTON also mentioned that she is sure she heard two new skate parks. Wrong, Councillor NEWTON; what you heard was two destination skate parks—one on the north side and one on the south side, coming out of the Youth Strategy, and two of the very main initiatives, places for young people to gather and making sure there were more skate parks in the city. These two destination skate parks, one in Bracken Ridge, that will be starting this year, and the one in Inala, which will be starting very, very shortly, are delivering a much bigger enhanced improved skate park than what we have seen anywhere else across the city.

What I actually heard from Councillor DICK when it came to skate parks was whinge, whinge, complain, complain, don't like it, not getting, but I am getting exactly what I wanted. Complaining and whinging because he is getting exactly what he wanted. But then I am not surprised on that side. As I said, this is not just an upgrade of some local drainage at a park; this is a significant enhancement to a destination park.

Councillor GRIFFITHS mentioned about the hard courts and fields, and the leases, and making sure that they were up to scratch. Can I say, in sports fields and hard courts, we have done more on this side of the Chamber than anyone in Opposition over their many years in this place. It does look like there is a drop in the capital for sports fields and hard courts this year because we had such a boost to the work that we did in 2014-15.

We actually peaked last year with an extra $1 million on what we usually do by the work that we have done on our sports fields and hard courts. We had an overall increase in our work, which means we did do an accelerated program of works last year, which means we are actually ahead of our normal proactive programming, and we can now spend the time to streamline and do the works that we need to do in 2015-16.

We have also been very focused on looking at our auditing, and making sure we are prioritising.

Councillor ADAMS: If you don't want to hear the answer, Councillor JOHNSTON, don't ask the questions.

Chairman: Councillor ADAMS.

Councillor ADAMS: Thank you, Madam Chair. So the auditing and conditioning audits that we are doing is allowing us to do a much more targeted and efficient works that we will be delivering, so we will be saving money not only for Council but also for the clubs, and we can set up their irrigation systems properly and make sure that our community have an increasing quality of playing surfaces out in their clubs as well.

I now come to Councillor JOHNSTON and some of the questions that she did ask, or accusations that she threw across the Chamber rather than questions across the Chamber. About the Corinda Library—and as I mentioned, we did get three or four of the same questions because somebody didn’t like the answers on Friday as well—there was an indication there that we were not delivering at the Corinda Library what she had promised. No, we are not. I am happy to say that. We are not delivering what Councillor JOHNSTON has promised; we are delivering what LORD MAYOR Graham QUIRK promised at the Corinda Library.

At no stage did I say that the scope was not finalised on this project. How could I say the scope was not finalised when I read the scope out to her twice? She is exactly right. What has not been finalised is the tendering process and the contracts for this library. I very clearly told her the amount of money in the library budget for this year. We do not know what the final contract is going to be. I was not using a crystal ball to talk about what is estimated in the futures for this library, plain and simple.

As for the access and inclusion program, yes, there are some carryovers. This is how it works. When people actually work out in the real world on projects, they actually don't work to financial years. They work on a project until it is done. If it rains, they have to stop. If they stop, it means it takes a little bit longer.

There is $1.6 million of carryover on access and inclusion (A&I), purely because it has not been completed by 30 June. It is contracted and is being done right now as we sit here. It is being done right now as we sit here, and will be completed, because it is contracted. But in the calendar, it won't be completed by 30 June. That is not non-delivery; that is timing, simple and straightforward. It is also not cuts. It is not cuts. This money is on top of the $6 million we will see for A&I.

Last but not least, Madam Chair, I can't go without commenting on the social inclusion $2 million that they kept throwing across this side. Very, very easy to pick just one little column around expenses and compare it to last year. Last year there was a $2 million shift from expenses to capital across the Social Inclusion because we were delivering more in A&I infrastructure for the people in Brisbane that need it most. There has not been a $2 million cut in Social Inclusion, and there will not be a $2 million cut in Social Inclusion.

Madam Chair, Your Brisbane delivers for every person in Brisbane, and I commend the program to the Chamber.

Chairman: I will put the motion for the adoption of the Your Brisbane program.

The Chairman submitted to the Chamber the motion for the adoption of the Your Brisbane program and it was declared carried on the voices.