Environmental and “liveability” pressures that are mounting on south-east Queensland as its population booms will be alleviated under a $1.8bn “city deal”, the prime minister, Queensland premier and Brisbane lord mayor have all promised.
The three leaders spoke on Monday morning from inside the Gabba, the stadium that will be knocked down, rebuilt, integrated into a new underground train station and will, according to the prime minister, Scott Morrison, form the heart of a deal which plans for the next two decades.
Morrison said the agreement would fund a number of projects designed to address “the positive issue of growth” that was causing “environmental challenges” right across the region.
“We want to have a south-east Queensland that is growing,” Morrison said.
“But we also want to have a south-east Queensland that is managing that growth responsibly and is ensuring that we are protecting the liveability of the cities that make up south-east Queensland.”
The city deal is a collaborative agreement between all three levels of government and industry to fund more than 30 projects or business cases across the region.
Infrastructure projects in the deal include a roughly $190m green bridge from the CBD to Kangaroo Point and a $41m upgrade to the Dunwich ferry terminal connecting to Stradbroke Island.
There is also $210m towards a growth corridor north of Brisbane in Caboolture West and $40m for an entertainment precinct developed by the Wagner family , linked to their airport and quarantine facility.
But the biggest investment will go towards a transport hub for the Gabba, which is slated to be the host stadium of the 2032 Olympic Games.
The Woolloongabba Metro station will receive $450m under the city deal which the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said would link the Cross River Rail with the South East Busway.
“This is about connectivity, it’s actually another chunk in that armour of infrastructure that is absolutely necessary for the growing population of the south-east,” the premier said.
Brisbane’s lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, said the signing of the “region-shaping deal” was as historic as the announcement last July that it would host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The lord mayor said the deal would lay the foundation for 20 years of investment and would allow the south-east to “welcome more people”.
“People want to come and live here and I know why, we all know why,” Schrinner said.
“The critical thing is dealing with that growth with investment in infrastructure, with investment in the liveability of our region, and this is exactly what the deal does.”
Queensland has seen an influx of interstate migration since the start of the pandemic, with more than 30,000 people moving to the sunshine state over the past two years.
Many of those new arrivals moved to the Gold and Sunshine coasts, a trend that has seen rents soar in coastal areas and increased pressure on transport corridors.
The federal government is committing about $668m towards the deal, the state government $619m, and 11 south-east Queensland councils will jointly stump up about $502m, while industry is to commit another $75m.
Transport and infrastructure projects account for many of the deal’s headline projects.
But $285m is set aside for a so-called “SEQ Liveability Fund”, $3m will be spent on the business case for a proposed First Nations Cultural Centre in Brisbane and about $35m is earmarked for establishing wetlands to help protect the Sunshine Coast’s Maroochy River catchment against flooding.
The prime minister and premier have had a sometimes fractious relationship over recent years, exchanging public criticism over disaster management and handling of the pandemic.
But the PM praised Palaszczuk and the mayors, saying the work of preparing for growth and the Games went beyond politics.
He denied the announcement of the deal, after years of negotiations, had anything to do with the looming federal election.
The premier and lord mayor also spoke about the positive outcomes that can be achieved when all three levels of government worked collaboratively.
“This city deal signifies that all three levels of government can work very constructively and very well together when it’s in the best interest of the people of this state,” Palaszczuk said.
