Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. May I congratulate you on your election to the role and echo some of the comments made by other people. Whilst I am familiar with the 94(a) rulings that you hand out, I would also attest to the fact that you are always fair and considered. I look forward to working with you and maybe not exercising that rule as much this term.

Before I lived in Moorooka, where I currently live, I used to live in Tarragindi in Salkeld Street and my drinking hole was the Tarragindi Bowls Club. Now the residents of the tin-and-timber suburb of Tarragindi are very concerned about a development proposal for this bowls club.

The Tarragindi Bowls Club was established in 1944. The main site was purchased from the owner, Albert Oates, for $150 with an additional strip of land to allow access to Andrew Avenue for $100. The purchase was sponsored by Mr Matthews of Matthews Real Estate. Both the bowls club and Matthews Real Estate are still in operation some 72 years later!

The Tarragindi Bowls Club is part of a wonderful suburban neighbourhood—lots of Queenslanders; lots of character. It is a suburb that families have chosen to live in for the leafy streets, parklands and amenities. The people who live in suburbs like Tarragindi love living there because of the very character that you can see when driving through the streets. If they wanted to live in a high-density area with units, they would have chosen different suburbs closer to the city, perhaps, or around a transport node.

People like Deb, who hosted me for dinner in Tarragindi in the lead-up to the election, on that night at that dinner party the club was the hot topic for the people of Tarragindi. So it has come as a great shock to Tarragindi residents that there is a proposal lodged with the Brisbane City Council to redevelop the site of the Tarragindi Bowls Club to provide accommodation for, perhaps, older Australians over 55.

Providing suitable accommodation for older Australians is, obviously, a worthwhile aim. However, the accommodation needs to be suitable and it needs to be appropriate and appropriate for the residents of the area. Tarragindi is a tin-and-timber suburb of old Queenslanders. The apartment complex proposed to be built on the site of the Tarragindi Bowls Club is a six-storey-high building with 95 apartments. It is proposed to be built on land that is currently zoned for sports and recreation in an area of low-to-medium-density housing. This does not fit that plan. It will forever change the character of Tarragindi.

The residents of Tarragindi saw the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. The LNP lord mayor announced that he would slash development infrastructure charges for aged-care accommodation by a third and that he would consider in medium- and high-density locations, which is not Tarragindi, an additional two storeys allowed for developments providing aged-care accommodation, which is also not the proposal, and would consider proposals for aged-care accommodation in privately owned sports and recreation zones—all proposals that seem to be geared for Tarragindi as far as I am concerned.

These changes will make it a very attractive proposition for developers to build aged-care accommodation and will encourage these developers through their hip pockets to provide a boost in the availability of aged-care accommodation. With an ageing population, I understand that concern, and it is a good idea to let people age in their residences in their suburbs, but I am worried that the local council is actually going to be taking stuff out of the pockets of developers. The council's concern should also be the welfare of those that live in the area.

The Brisbane City Council elections were held in March this year, and Liberal-National Party Councillor Krista Adams said that she opposed the redevelopment of the Tarragindi Bowls Club. However, after the election, in a recent letter to residents, Councillor Adams now says she does 'not support the application in current form'. Councillor Adams was the chair of the former Brisbane Lord Mayor's Taskforce into Retirement and Aged Care in 2009-10. That task force made some recommendations. The residents of Tarragindi supported Councillor Adams when they voted in the election. Now she needs to support her residents. The reality is that a councillor decides whether or not a project goes ahead. If she is opposed to it, it will halt. In its current form a six-storey-high monstrosity in this suburb of tin and timber will destroy the character of the area and there are significant parking concerns because it will not be one car per unit. Some of the units are going to have three bedrooms, and there will be more cars spilling out onto the street. It is not an appropriate development for the suburb of Tarragindi. I ask Councillor Krista Adams to speak up for her residents. (Time expired)