NEWS
The part-privatisation of the Brisbane River by Mirvac at its Waterfront development at Newstead should be a key issue for the next municipal poll, this newspaper believes.
And to that end, The Independent is now ramping up its Give us Back our River! campaign to try to ensure that the next City Council administration not only promises to build the missing piece of RiverWalk in front of this project, but knows it had better fulfil that promise or cop the wrath of its citizens.
Our message is simple: It’s our river. Mirvac should never have been allowed to design a project on a greenfield site that deliberately forces citizens away from their river, behind a large residential block of multi-million dollar units and through some parkland.
It may be beautiful parkland but that is not the point. Brisbanites can walk through parkland throughout our city. But we only have one river.
The Independent put its campaign on the backburner for a while, but now that Labor has nominated its Lord Mayoral candidate in Ray Smith, we are calling on Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and the man who wants his job to get this thing right once and for all.
We do not believe the Brisbane public will accept any argument that the missing link is not a feasible engineering project. It’s some pylons and maybe a hundred metres of broad walkway.
And on their behyalf we will not accept an argument that it would cost ratepayers too much.
Lord Mayor Newman in recent times has rightly boasted about the completion of a missing link of RiverWalk nearby.
The cost to build a walkway in front of the Pier South building at Waterfront will not be prohibitive. It will surely be less than that recently completed missing link nearby, and it will surely cost a lot, lot less than the RiverWalk placed in front of New Farm some years ago. Council felt that needed to be done; so does the missing link at Waterfront.
We want a unequivocal commitment from both men. We want similar commitments from whomever runs for all the council wards come 2012.
And early in the New Year, we will launch a hardcopy and electronic petition so that the people of Brisbane can add their names to this cause and leave our local politicians in no doubt as to the strength of feeling over this issue.
The Independent wants to reiterate its earlier stance.
It’s our river. We have a right to cycle and walk along its shores. The privatisation of a section of the river at Waterfront, whatever the reasons for doing it, robbed the people of Brisbane of the wonderful opportunity to one day meander, on foot or on wheels, from the beautiful grounds of Newstead Park right up into the CBD – and beyond.
The Independent believes that this campaign must succeed to send a message to any developer in future. If you are designing a project on our river, then factor in a nice, wide, practical boardwalk for the people to enjoy unspoiled and uninterrupted views of the colour and movement of their river, or the people through their local council will do it for you anyway.
ABOVE: Our front page that launched our Give Us Back Our River community action campaign a while ago. BELOW: One of the Mirvac posters on its fenceline shows the view Brisbane people now have of their river.
• Have your say on this issue! Send your comments via email to editor@theindependent.com.au or drop us a line via post to PO Box 476 Fortitude Valley Q 4006.
