Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In the northern part of my electorate of Ryan, in suburbs ranging from Upper Kedron through to Mitchelton a number of new developments are happening. On Settlement Road alone there will be 550 new dwellings on the coming years. That's over a thousand new cars on the road, so we're going to see the traffic get worse. It's absurd that Sanford Road, the main arterial road in the area, doesn't have a frequent bus service. For example, if you live in the southern part of Mitchelton and want to make it into the city centre at peak hour, your only option for a frequent public transport services to walk 30 minutes to the nearest train station and then take a 20-minute train ride into the city. The drive would take you only 30 minutes even with traffic. And our bureaucrats wonder why people don't catch public transport!

Over 500 people have recently signed my petition to get the Queensland state government to turn the 390 bus into a high-frequency service that goes all the way along Sanford Road to Ferny Grove and Upper Kedron. My team and I will be pushing to make it a reality. It's a simple choice: let huge, profit-hungry developers dictate all the decisions about how our city develops or create a city where everyday residents' need are put first. Labor and the LNP have chosen developers profits. The Greens choose community need. In Brisbane, Labor and the LNP recently voted to slash developer charges by 75 per cent, That's hundreds of millions more for developers and less public transport, public parkland and community facilities for the rest of us. Labor and the LNP have overridden neighbourhood plans to allow massive new apartment towers, some on flood plains, without sufficient local infrastructure. When roads are clogged, schools are overcrowded and apartments are flooded, it's residents who suffer. The big developers are laughing all the way to the bank.

There's an alternative: a city where everyone gets what they need to live a good life; high-frequency public transport networks so you can leave your car at home; everyone within shady walking distance of a great school, library, public pool, public park and local shops; and high-quality, sustainably built public and affordable homes. This is possible; we just need to push back against big developers profiteering. Make them pay their fair share to fund this transformation and don't approve developments unless you're also rolling out the infrastructure people will need.

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