 Three new cities for South East Queensland
Rather than addressing uncontrolled population growth, the Premier is promoting further urbanisation. Through the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA) the Queensland Government will take responsibility for the creation of three new cities in the south and western growth corridors (Ripley Valley, Flagstone and Yarrabilba) as part of their plan to 'manage' growth. The consequence of this is the continued destruction of the environment and our way of life. Open space, farmland and wildlife habitat – that's Greenspace, will be destroyed to accommodate these new cities.
Queensland communities feeling the pressure from population growth are rising up to defend their local area from rampant urbanisation in both expansion (Greenfield) and high rise forms. However, they are finding it more difficult to do so while the State Government continues to remove public rights from town planning processes. In 2007 the State Government introduced the ULDA which removes the planning assessment process from Local Government to the State removing all community rights to challenge ULDA developments in court. The only time when the community can have their say comes during the preparation of the development scheme, which is the overarching planning document for an Urban Development Area (UDA). During this process there is a statutory public notification period, in which people can object to the proposed plan for the UDA. Affected submitters, that is landowners within the UDA or adjacent to it have the further avenue of appeal to the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning. This restricts the broader community including groups such as Wildlife Queensland. Removal of rights is also supported by threats. Any Local Government that strives to stabilise its population is being threatened by the State Government with the removal of State Government support for infrastructure. The actions of the State Government have disempowered the community.
While on face value ULDs such as the three recently proposed seem useful and Government spin doctors certainly make it seem that way, but what are the facts? Comments made by the Premier on the 26th March through her social media profile stated that 'the Fitzgibbon ULD had delivered 40ha of Greenspace.' What she failed to say is Fitzgibbon resulted in a loss of 135 hectares including prime squirrel glider habitat to urban development.
The ULDs may seem good for new residents but what about the loss of amenity and Greenspace for current residents? Initially five ULDs (Bowen Hills, Northshore Hamilton, Woolloongabba, Fitzgibbon and Mackay) were planned for Queensland now we have nine and we will continue to see more and more until the Government addresses the core problem - uncontrolled population growth.
It's time to listen to the people! 69% of Australians and 73% of Queenslanders believe that Australia does not need more people. The Premier must lobby the Federal Government and stop the push for a big Australia and immediately address the massive net inward migration that is bringing 400,000 new arrivals – an entire city, to Australia each year.
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