Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are two racecourses across the road from one another in the eastern part of my home constituency of Brisbane. One of them, Eagle Farm, is a massive 49-hectare site just five kilometres from the CBD on flood-free land. The Brisbane Racing Club was gifted this land by the state government back in 1863 for the sole purpose of horseracing. But now the LNP council and Labor state government have allowed them to sell off big chunks of the land they received for nothing, for private, luxury high-rise apartments to cross-subsidise their main business, betting on horse racing. Attendance numbers have plummeted at Eagle Farm and do not come close to pre-pandemic levels. There are just 71 race meets per year, meaning an average rate of use of just 1.4 days per week. It's a ridiculous waste of land when we're in the middle of a housing crisis.

The Greens are calling for public feedback on a proposal to transform Eagle Farm Racecourse—to build parkland, native forest, public infrastructure and 4,000 publicly owned new homes right next to an established train station. Our proposal will help end the special treatment of the Brisbane Racing Club and cut out profit-hungry developers. By standing up to big business, we can rectify decades of poor urban planning, start tackling the housing crisis and transform our city for the better.