Liveable and Green City

Currently there are 5 Councils in Queensland being investigated by the Crime and Corruption Commission for alleged corruption by councillors and/or officers. This, plus the Community and SEQ Alliances’ own experiences with local councils has led to advocacy with the Minister for Local Government for some reforms over and above the Belcarra Reforms. There is a strong link or nexus between alleged council corruption and planning assessment approvals, which has been raised with both the Minister for Local Government, Hon Stirling Hinchliffe, and the Minister for Planning, Hon. Cameron Dick.

Light Rail Stage 3b is intended to travel through Palm Beach and on to the Gold Coast Airport, though the route is not yet decided. There is no doubt that the light rail is a popular form of public transport and is preferred to increasing congestion of the roads.

The objectives of this campaign is to amend the Planning Act 2016 so that the interests of the community are paramount over those of the development industry.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The City plan, planning scheme and the Crime and Corruption Committee

Over 200 people braved the threat of storm cells on the evening of Thursday 26th to attend the public meeting, which was called to take action on the unethical, unaccountable and non-transparent behaviour of the current Gold Coast City Council.

Those present heard from 16 speakers representing community groups from one end of the Gold Coast to the other.

For years community organisations have been calling for more accountability of Councillors in their dealings with developer applications, takeover of public open space, manipulation of the City Plan reports with large areas blacked out, secret meetings and conflict of interest voting in Council. These concerns and others were documented in the All That Glitters 4 Corners Report in September and confirmed in the recently released Crime and Corruption Commission’s Belcarra report on investigations into offenses under the Local Government Act and the Local Government Electoral Act.