Queensland councils and local government

Community lawyer Renee Lees has condemned Queensland Labor's decision to allow children to be indefinitely detained as “outrageous” and “without justification”. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Jonathan Sriranganathan reflects on his time in a wide ranging interview with Alex Banbridge just before stepping down as Gabba Ward councillor in the Brisbane City Council.

Jonathan Sri at a protest defending the right to protest in 2019.

Brisbane City Council has charged Greens councillor Jonathan Sri in connection with a protest in the Queen Street Mall in September 2020. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Rob Pyne speaks out against nuclear submarines

Alex Bainbridge reports that Socialist Alliance councillor Rob Pyne was the sole voice of opposition against Morrison's nuclear submarine proposal on the Cairns Council.

Queensland Senate candidate Renee Lees said Australia needs to be a 'productive partner', not a 'colonial bully', in the Asia Pacific region. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Cairns City councillor Rob Pyne speaks to Green Left about campaigning for democratic socialism in Far North Queensland.

Since the 2010 declaration of the Anna Bligh state Labor government that Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine and rail project in Central Queensland was being assessed as a “significant project”, opponents have raised the shady dealings of the company on its home turf, India.

The continued support for the project by Labor and Coalition forces in Queensland and Canberra, in the face of the growing likelihood of the project achieving “stranded asset” status as sources of financing dry up, raises the question: “What is in it for the pollies?”

Campaigners against the inappropriate Absoe development in Brisbane's West End scored a small but important victory on September 14. The state government “called in” the approval that had previously been granted by the Brisbane City Council. This means the state government will reassess the development approval.

This decision comes on the back of a concerted community campaign supported by Greens councillor Jonathan Sri.

"We can't afford your units and we can't afford the bus; if you keep ignoring us, we're gonna make a fuss!" rang through the streets of West End as 150 people marched against the proposed development of the old Absoe site on August 21. Greens councillor on the Brisbane City Council and one of the organisers of the rally, Jonathan Sri, told the crowd that the original proposal for the site involved seven tall buildings with no connection to the street or the surrounding community.
Queensland's first large-scale solar farm run by a local government — saving the council $22 million in electricity costs over 30 years — is being built on the Sunshine Coast. The 15-megawatt solar farm will be built on 50 hectares behind Coolum, will be financed by the council after the federal government refused to fund it. It will provide green power by mid-2017 and will slash the council's costs of buying electricity for everything including streets lights, sports facilities, buildings, galleries, parks and libraries.