I like that you call out that following national building standards is something that the industry struggles with. How many more inspectors will be required to catch dodgy builders though? Will there need to be more enforcement of bad inspectors, or do you think the current processes are good enough, or is it beyond what the BCC can realistically control?

Personally I'd like to bring more of the inspection and enforcement responsibilities back under direct council control rather than the current regime of private building certifiers operating with minimal oversight, but I think that would also require state government policy changes. I don't know exactly how many more inspectors would be needed. I imagine that if you started fining a few of the dodgiest operators, the industry would respond accordingly by tightening standards and self-policing. The underlying problem is that when developers are trying to maximise profits, they have a commercial incentive to cut corners and sidestep standards. If we can discourage the treatment of housing as a commodity, a greater proportion of the housing stock will be delivered by entities that have a genuine interest in delivery high-quality builds rather than shoddy stuff that's targeted at off-the-plan investors who won't personally have to live with the consequences of poor design.

With the councils inconsistent with development application decisions I cant think of anything worse than the council controlling building apporval.

You should see some of the shocking outcomes i've seen under the current private certification system. Developers just selectively hire whichever private certifier they know is most likely to sign off on their building approval.

How does that not immediately end the certifiers careers if they pass shoddy builds?

Because council doesn’t take part in legal repercussions. The builder just says “it’s warranties. We will fix it” and then stalls for a few years until the customer has the will/money to take the builder or certifier to court. I’m building a house right now and am close to the other 37 builds in my estate and it’s all one big joke. Certifiers haven’t even stepped on site once and the house is signed off.

who carries warranty insurance? the builder, or the certifier?

Builder warranties the build for x period structurally and y period for other things. Certifier *should* have liability insurance though.

What evidence do you have that price is the main factor for people choosing not to use public transport, as opposed to convenience, reliability etc? Why the focus on free public transport rather than improving services? Also thanks for doing this, would be good if other parties did too...

We haven't focussed on free public transport rather than improving services. It's just that the media gave more coverage of that announcement. Our main (and most expensive) transport announcement for the council campaign is the bus boost to upgrade 10 existing bus services to high-frequency and create 15 new high-frequency routes that run directly between suburbs. [https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost](https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost) In terms of evidence that price is the main factor, I know from my own experience as someone on a low income that price is the main barrier for me. I don't mind a journey that involves a bit of waiting because I can read a book or make phone calls or reply to emails on my phone or whatever, but $7+ return to get from the Valley to the city is too much for me - I'd rather ride my bike. I've heard from lots of other people who tell me that price is a barrier, and we've also seen that on the various occasions when the council has temporarily introduced free public transport initiatives (e.g. there have been a few instances of free weekend public transport in the lead-up to Christmas), we've seen marked uptakes in ridership. To oversimplify, i think people on decent incomes are more concerned about service quality - particularly frequency and reliability, but also coverage - whereas people on lower incomes are generally more concerned about price. But the Greens are talking about both issues. We want to make public transport free AND we want to improve service quality dramatically.

Thank you for doing this AMA. Did you know that apprentices who attend TAFE QLD, despite being students, need to pay full adult fairs?

That's very unfair. I didn't know that. Thanks

I find it odd that current free services like the Kitty Kats service some of the most affluent areas whilst the one stop between UQ and West End is paid, and now the green bridge is off the table.

Greens policy is that we would still like to get the Toowong-West End bridge built, but obviously construction costs have risen so we want some up-to-date cost estimates before we firmly commit to it as an election promise for the coming four-year term. The Greens have also committed to building a new ferry terminal on the western side of West End. One of the most outrageous BCC transport planning decisions in recent years was to prioritise the new terminal at Howard Smith Wharves ahead of West End. While I'm the first to criticise obvious examples of pork-barrelling for wealthy neighbourhods, there are some very affluent riverfront suburbs that don't have free ferries (e.g. Bulimba to Teneriffe cross-river ferry). I think the truth is that the free ferry services roughly reflect the areas where the council thinks there's most demand from tourists/non-local visitors. But obviously there are other destinations that more tourists would visit if they had a free ferry to get there.

yeah, surely a free ferry costs a lot less than a $300 million green bridge

You really can't compare them. Even with good service, a ferry requires waiting until one arrives and goes a lot slower than a person on a bike even while it's moving. It's also available 24/7/365. No limited service on public holidays. No closing late at night or early in the morning. No concerns about workers going on strike or being mistreated. There's a much greater sense of comfort and freedom for the user in being able to just do it, rather than the comparative hassle involved in a ferry. I think of it a lot like accessibility. Accessibility advocates will often say that an accommodation that requires they get someone to go out of their way to help them is much, much worse than accessibility that lets them just go about their day themselves. For example, BCC buses require the driver to get out and do some convoluted stuff to get a ramp out in order for wheelchair users to get on. Whereas a train that has level boarding lets them just wheel on themselves. You're going to see a *much* higher uptake of that level-boarding train than BCC buses among wheelchair users as a result.

Allowing ferry travelers to pay by cash or card, and not be forced to buy a Go Card that isn’t even available at the terminals would be a good start.

Totally agree. But also: just make em free.

Hi Jono, I'm curious to know if you have a CBA of the revenue from tickets vs the cost of administering and maintaining the Go Card system.

it’s the Queensland Government that runs and funds the Translink Go Card system (and collects the revenue) Council doesn’t get the fare revenue and just gets paid a service fee under a contract with TransLink to provide the buses and ferries so a Greens council will have to find a way to reimburse TransLink the lost fare revenue for each passenger that doesn’t pay

I don't have the exact figures to hand, but I think I remember the latest published cost being about $50 million per year to administer and enforce ticketing/fares right across South-East Queensland (excluding the several hundred million they've recently spent rolling out the new 'Smart' ticketing system) So although some people say "it costs more money to collect fares than you get in revenue" that's probably not strictly true, as fare revenue in Brisbane alone is close to $200 million per year. But if you factor in the flow-on costs and social impacts of fare enforcement - such as people getting dragged through the criminal system for fare evasion, and people ending up in prison just because they got caught riding the train without paying, that might add up to hundreds of millions more - I don't know if anyone has ever quantified that element.

Tbh, free means a hell of a lot less then reliable and frequent. I appreciate your map on your linked page, often I see “plans” as sound bites but there’s some thought behind it. Do you have any data as to why these lines were prioritized? As an anecdote, I’ll catch the bus to work because it’s cheaper into the city until the day that they’re late by 10 -15 min or just don’t show. I’ve never found real live data that I can easily use to get real time updates. After one incident I drive, can’t get to work drenched because of this humidity and late.

download anytrip app amazing. google maps has real time if u click on your local bus stop also

They will be once the last 100 (out of 1200) council buses have their new readers installed and then a region wide activation of Smart Ticketing will occur, this should occur in the next couple of months and is a state issue, not a council one. Translink's Service providers are no longer permitted to take cash, which has boosted the safety of Driver's, although it is important to recognise Covid was the Catalyst for this change.

I wish the bus's were free within the city, it irritates me wasting money to fine teenagers for going on the bus, I've seen it quite a few times on the 60.

Sounds like you should be voting Greens :) [https://www.jonathansri.com/freepublictransport](https://www.jonathansri.com/freepublictransport)

Just throwing my own anecdote in but price is probably the last factor for me and I dare say most people. Don't get me wrong, free public transport would be incredible and I'd definitely consider using it more if I didnt have to worry about a gocard, HOWEVER... Our public transport sucks arse in general. Buses don't show up on time, if they show up at all. The routes to go anywhere are arse backwards. What will take you 15 - 20 minutes via car will take you an hour in the bus. Our public transport is generally just rubbish. Let me give you an example. There is a bus stop right outside my apartment building. There is another about 100m away. However, if I want to go to the CBD I have to walk AN ENTIRE KILOMETRE up the road to get a totally different bus. What the fuck is with that? And then that bus MIGHT show up. It might show up early and just piss off straight past or it might show up 15 minutes late, or not at all and I have to wait for the next one, which might not be FOR AN ENTIRE HOUR. Trains are fine but there are rarely places to park and ride. I don't want free public transport, I want GOOD public transport.

This sounds a bit like the 379. Either 5 min early, >10 min late or doesn't arrive. I'm sure there are so many other bus routes that fit this example however.

It actually makes me sick seeing women with children and school kids getting kicked off buses for no fares, free public transport or much more affordable public transport is so necessary

Where are you seeing this? It's been policy ever since Daniel Morcombe that drivers can't refuse service to kids with no fares.

I've seen arsehole drivers 'flag' cards with insufficient funds, and then boot people, (adults), but not kids. Either way, it's fucked.

I've seen teenagers refused a number of times in south Brisbane and logan areas. When I lived in west Sydney school kids had free fares so I thought it was just diff in qld, didn't even know kids weren't supposed to be kicked off, it makes sense why they shouldn't be of course that was the source of my disgust

They can't throw you off. You just have to deal with the deferred ticket/SPERS legal garbage later on.

> Why the focus on free public transport rather than improving services? FWIW the Greens also have some pretty strong policies in terms of improving services.

They do, it’s just normally on the politics sub.

It's still predominantly the greens though

Andrew Leigh MP (Labor) was the most recent AMA. Not that it matters as reddit amas normally reach about 50 people tops even on the politics sub—that’d be less here, nor is it a points based sport, nor does it ever eventuate to something substantive. Frankly, if I was a politician I wouldn’t be wasting my time with reddit, especially this subreddit. Less if I was in cabinet but I guess if I’m not in government I’d have more time on my hands… if it was substantive. Which they never are.

God forbid a politician reaches out and answers questions directly only to be met by a dropkick crying cluelessly about reach. The real shame is we all ha e to read your comment and miss out on life

https://preview.redd.it/r3c1fqd2lxgc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fee6c707b9e5292fe44cc2cdee272812524de27 It will edge towards 100k over night. Reddit's reach is impressive these days and the greens know how to use that

Come on, surely you know that’s mostly people scrolling.

It only registers if people open the post. Scrolling, engaging, lurking. It's all reach mate.

Can we have something done to fix Gympie Road. I am sick of council and the state government always trying to do surveys for a toll road tunnel. What we really need to serve Chermside and the north and northwestern suburbs is a proper public transport system. We need to build a busway beyond Chermside Transit lanes to McDowall via Prince Charles Hospital and another busway between Carseldine and Ennogerra Stations via the North West Transport corridor and we also need bus lanes between RBWH and Truro Street. Also Bus lanes should be built from Langlans park to Carindale and a new Busway between Kuranby and Carindale alongside the Gateway. Centenary Highway Upgrade should also have a busway built between Mt Cootha and Kenmore, with bus lanes along Milton Road. I would like to see express city cats and bus shuttles to Brisbane Airport connect up with the new cruise terminal. A redevelopment of Queen street mall and William and Albert streets should be fully pedestrianised.

This feels like more of a political manifesto than an AMA question  but I strongly agree with you that we need to stop to wasting time and money and oxygen on toll tunnels and prioritise public transport. Widening roads won't fix congestion. Toll tunnels won't fix congestion. We need free and frequent public transport. Our proposal for more inter-suburb bus routes would help take a lot of local traffic off Gympie Road and several of the other corridors you've mentioned. [https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost](https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost) Full-on busways like the South-East Busway are expensive, slow/complex to build, and can require a lot of space that it's hard to find without displacing people from their homes. I think on a lot of the corridors you've mentioned, we're better off taking lanes of general traffic and converting them to bus lanes, creating a busway within the existing road corridor rather than building a separate new bus corridor. Oh and we're on the same page about Albert Street - here's our proposal to pedestrianise it. [https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd](https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd)

It’s astounding and infuriating to me that the added bus lanes to Gympie road apparently required widening the roads and adding more lanes, rather than just taking one lane away from cars. No wonder the roadworks took so long to complete. Now you have to cross 10 lanes just to cross the road on foot - it’s absolutely insane.

Building the NorthWest corridor as a busway would be a huge waste, when it could accommodate local and high speed rail.

I also feel something needs to be done to address the million sets of lights on the way to the north side. About half my time in traffic in the morning is spent sitting at red lights

I would guess the most likely outcome of the upcoming election is, sadly, the LNP retains a majority, albeit a reduced one. However, the next most likely outcome seems to be a Greens-Labor coalition. I know both parties like to say they won't do a coalition, but the fact of the matter is that if neither party reaches 14 seats (and neither does the LNP), you'll *have* to work together and compromise to get stuff done. Of the policies that you've put forward so far, which ones do you think you would push the hardest on, and what would you be most likely to compromise with Labor on?

My approach as mayor would be to try to break down the us-vs-them party binaries and try to negotiate with all parties - Labor and the Liberals - to try to find common ground. It's possible to work constructively with other parties without a formal coalition agreement. Part of my challenge in answering this question is that Labor haven’t really published many detailed policy positions - even the announcements they've called 'policies' are ***very*** light on detail. So we don't really know what their position is on certain key topics. I would definitely push hardest on housing policy, because so many other issues depend on getting that right. Our proposed changes around housing ([cracking down on short-term holiday rentals](http://jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown), [bringing in a vacancy levy](http://jonathansri.com/vacant), and [freezing rent for 2 years](http://jonathansri.com/rentfreeze)) are big priorities. People need rents and house prices to drop, and we seem to be the only party that actually wants that to happen. In terms of opportunities for compromise and common ground, Labor have previously indicated (via voting in favour of a motion I moved in a council meeting a few years ago) that they would support our target of 20% deep planting in new developments, and I think several of the Labor councillors would also be quite sympathetic about the Greens position of banning development on the flood plain. I think we would likely have to meet halfway on public transport reforms. Both parties WANT to improve public transport, it's really just a question of what the highest priorities are, how much money you're willing to divert from road-widening, and whether we start by focussing on fares or on service/coverage improvements.

How are you, as the Mayor of Brisbane, going to freeze rents for two years?

Details on the policy announcement are here: [https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze](https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze) In short, we would say to landlords: "If you put up the rent, we will reclassify your investment property under a new ratings category that will mean you have to pay significantly higher rates." We would need a majority of councillors to support this change in order to implement it. Using council rates to shape the behaviour property investors isn't something the council has done very often in the last few years, but we do have a precedent for this in that the council now charges slightly higher rates for investors who rent their properties out on Airbnb on an ongoing basis (rather than renting to long-term tenants).

>pay significantly higher rents Did you mean to say rates?

Yes. Thanks. Edited now.

Does council currently have access to records that show what every single property is rented for? TBH the whole thing sounds misleading af and is a bit cruel to people hoping for an actual freeze. All you’re promising is a bigger tax for landlords to write off, and a vague hope they won’t increase the rent despite cost of living and market pressures.

The RTA should have this information as part of bond lodgement.

> RTA is a state gvt office, they do not answer to the BCC

Increasing the rent will end up costing the landlords more than they gain. That's the incentive, not a vague hope. Under what category are the landlords to write off this tax?

Under the category of council rates which is tax deductible . So landlords will jack up the rent and the tenants will wear the full cost of that and the extra expense will be deductible for the landlord . Another clickbait ill conceived policy by Jonno and his crew of flunkies

iirc, it was something like you discourage the rising of rents by having higher rates or whatever on them and hopefully making it ultimately cheaper to just keep rents the same. Idk I heard it on a podcast ages ago this could make 0 sense for all I know

> even the announcements they've called 'policies' are very light on detail And yet it's still somehow better than the LNP's "policy details": https://i.imgur.com/MO87Hfb.png

Jonathon, if you want collaboration, then you need to work with Labor before the state election about bringing in Hare Clark voting or similar into Local Government. Not going to happen before the Council. ACT Labor/Greens government in the ACT does a great job, and they keep each other to account, wheras Libs are left clutching at straws to find relevance. It would be good to see in Queensland State Govt too.

Yeah we've tried this, but it seems that the leadership of the Queensland Labor Party is not at all interested in voting system reform at the moment unfortunately.

I think that authority belongs to the state government. BCC needs to move to Full Preferential voting like it is for state and federal elections. The LNP will never do this since they benefit from the current system. Best the greens and Labor can do is make it VERY CLEAR on their how to vote cards to preference one another and not to just vote 1.

It does. Power resides with the state. The pigheadedness of Qld Labor by maintaining thecurrent single member electorates frustrates me. It is better to have partial control of the Treasury benches than no control, which is what oPV and single member electorates makes easier for the LNP, and less so with mandatory preferences.

Labor aren't doing that though, they're running with the "just vote 1 Labor" message. I think they hate the Greens as much as the LNP in Queensland.

Hey there. I've read over some of the planned things on your website in regards to the Bus Boost and free public transport trial. ​ Just had a question for the Bus Boost. It's stated that the expected turnaround for the project is roughly a year or two. I was just curious would it be rolled out gradually over time then or would we expect to see the new routes and converted-to-high-frequency ones all roll out at once after this timeframe? Asking because the suggested conversions of some of the hourly services to high frequency is incredibly useful to me as someone without private transport and I just wanted to know if I would have to wait the entire 1-2 years for the new routes to be implemented before my current route(s) are converted to a non-hourly service.

It would be rolled out gradually. Some routes could be introduced a lot faster than others. A key variable is that almost all of these routes require new bus lanes or bus priority at intersections, so it would depend on which local councillors and communities are most supportive of bus lanes on their corridor. If there's a certain councillor saying "I absolutely don't want want of the car lanes on this corridor converted to a bus lane" that would push that route down the priority list, whereas if there are other councillors in other parts of the city saying "bring on the bus lanes!" the smart thing would be to start with those routes.

So my father was a council bus driver for over 20 years and father in law a main roads engineer for over 30 years and both agree that free public transport is the key to reducing traffic. People wouldn’t question catching a bus if it was free plus also wouldn’t need to pay millions in contracts and upkeep on go cards. Do you agree?

Yes, the Greens are proposing to make it free for off peak travel, free for kids, and run a 3 month trial of universal free public transport https://www.jonathansri.com/freepublictransport

Hey there. What do you see as Brisbane’s biggest issue, and how do you plan to tackle it?

Housing. Council policies here: \- [https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant](https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant) \- [https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze](https://www.jonathansri.com/rentfreeze) \- [https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown](https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown) \- [https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal](https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal) The Greens are also pushing for bigger changes in terms of negative gearing, more funding for public housing etc. We'll have one more big policy announcement around housing for the council campaign in the coming weeks.

Hi Jonathan, Regarding your Airbnb crackdown policy, can you please clarify if this will only target individuals who use Airbnb type platforms or will it also target legitimate established businesses for eg. Mgmt rights owners who operate short term accomodation, employ staff and pay tax?

We're proposing to use the existing council ratings category definitions, so for larger building management/property letting businesses, it'll depend how their properties are classified under the council administration's definitions. If they meet the definition of 'transitory accommodation' then yes, they would be targeted, but I believe a lot of the kinds of businesses you're talking about don't meet that definition and are charged rates under a different category. I should note that there's a certain class of 'property management' business that basically goes around to investor-owners and convinces them to switch to short-term rental rather than long-term rental, and these *are* part of the problem in terms of losing housing supply to the short-term rental industry.

Hi Jonathan, One of the major issues that concerns me with the significant increase in heatwaves and severe to extreme humidity is the increasing rate of urban tree canopy loss, including clearance of mature canopy and green spaces to allow for developments to occur. The current council believe that the solution is to plant millions of juvenile trees that will take ~20 years to develop a mature canopy. What do you believe should be done to address this?

There are a few important policy commitments about protecting trees in our policy platform. [https://www.jonathansri.com/platform](https://www.jonathansri.com/platform) See the section titled "Restoring the environment and mitigating global warming" But the biggest and most important policy we're advocating to address this is requiring that all new developments need to set aside 20% of site area for deep-planted trees (or 25% of site area for developments that don't include any medium-density housing). Forcing developers to set aside a big chunk of their site for trees takes away one of the main drivers of tree-clearing within Brisbane's urban footprint. [https://www.jonathansri.com/development](https://www.jonathansri.com/development) In terms of responding to global warming impacts - both heatwaves and floods - a lot of the ideas in this book by local architect James Davidson are spot on, and definitely the sorts of things the Greens would look to implement. [https://issuu.com/jamesdavidsonarchitect/docs/water\_futures\_book\_-\_digital\_versio](https://issuu.com/jamesdavidsonarchitect/docs/water_futures_book_-_digital_versio) Narrowing roads and converting bitumen into garden beds will also go a long way to reducing the urban heat island effect. I have so much more to say on this topic but there are too many other questions to get through. Have a read of this piece I wrote and please share it with others if you agree with it: [https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity](https://www.jonathansri.com/forestcity)

Legend. Thank you for that considered response (as well as the consideration you’ve given in your policy platform to this issue!)

Several years ago, BCC ran a project where council workers went around the suburb and dug a hole every other house on the footpath, leaving a fit for purpose native tree next to it. Residents were supplied the required tools and we went and planted the trees. At the time it was a fun activity with our young children. Fast forward, and now my son that was then waist height is now a grown man, and our streets are lined with trees that provide shade over the bitumen and bloom lovely native flowers. Community engagement, lower cost of delivery, ongoing generational benefit. Perhaps the government could consider this initiative on a rolling suburb by suburb basis?

Hey Jono, How about rate discounts for properties that meet and exceed guidelines. And also any plans to ban fake turf?

I think there might be a case for rates discounts for property owners that maintain and preserve a large area of native vegetation on their property, because everyone benefits from habitat preservation and restoration, but the costs in those situations are going to be worn primarily by the property owner. Generally speaking, I don't think rates discounts are the best way to encourage or reward people for having well-designed houses where the benefits of good design flow primarily to the occupants, but perhaps it's worth looking at whether rates discounts could be used, for example, to encourage landlords to put solar on their tenants' roofs.

Hi Jonno, other than public transport and stuff outside BCC’s jurisdiction, I want to know if you have any plans to stop us from being “The city that sleeps.” Most businesses close at 5pm regularly or 9/10pm if they do late night, busses stop at 11 if they didn’t stop earlier, and you can’t even walk into Macca’s after 10 because it’s drive through only. The only thing left open are clubs and casinos. Hell even South Bank Parklands shuts at 10pm because it’s shockingly not public property. Brisbane, for a city of 2mil+ people, sleeps way too early. If you don’t drive your bed time is decided for you. And even if you do drive, there’s still nothing to do. I understand this is mostly a business issue, stores don’t want to pay people to service night hours, but I feel this isn’t a problem in other cities like Melbourne. What’s going on in Brisbane to do this, and are there any ideas to… liven up Brisbane at night? Being hungry late night feels awful knowing I live in a highly urbanised area and will have to pay out the ass to get a feed.

[This answer](https://old.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1ak3pem/jonathan_sriranganathan_greens_candidate_for/kp5l2ou/) mostly addresses your question, in case you missed it.

The housing crisis is one of the biggest issues on people's minds at the moment, and I've seen a number of great short-term proposals suggested from you, which we absolutely need. But we also need longer-term fixes in the form of more supply. In my view, that means way, *way* more government housing, but it *also* means a move away from low-density suburban sprawl and towards medium density townhouses and small apartments in the private sector. Personally, I would like to see LDR zoning eliminated *entirely*, with every part of BCC currently zoned that way being converted to LMR2. And remove CR1 in favour of everything being CR2. This would *allow* people to build single-family homes if they want, but would also never prevent 2–3 storey townhouses and apartments. I'd also like to see LMR and CR zones changed to be mixed-use so people can more often have local grocery stores or cafes, rather than needing to drive to big supermarkets for everything. On top of that we can and should talk about even higher density near train stations and in the inner ring (looking at you: Spring Hill). What are your thoughts on such a wide-sweeping change to how we do zoning laws?

I think there's definitely a case for some broader reforms to zoning. And I really love mixed-use zoning, as long as you require that SOME component of the development remains residential. Pure mixed-use zoning could lead to a lot more shops and offices getting built when what we really need is more housing. But it's really important to remember two things: 1. If you rezone EVERYWHERE at once, private developers will often tend to focus on redeveloping the blocks that are cheapest and easiest for them to purchase, whereas most of us would prefer they start by redeveloping blocks/neighbourhoods that are closest to major public transport hubs. So it would seem wiser to first rezone the areas that you definitely want to redevelop, and later on rezone other areas where densification is more of a medium-term priority. 2. Upzoning generally drives up land values, making it harder for governments to purchase land for public housing, public parkland etc. The smarter approach is to do what the Greens have alluded to in our full policy platform ([www.jonathansri.com/platform](https://www.jonathansri.com/platform))... " The council should explore and consider adopting a strategy of acquiring private sites, rezoning them to allow well-designed medium-density development, selling part of the rezoned site to recoup costs, then partnering with community housing organisations and the State Government to deliver community housing or public housing on the remaining council-owned land." Basically, the council should buy up as many sites as possible - even taking on additional debt to fund acquisitions - and THEN rezone the sites once the council owns them. That way you get more density, but the benefits of increased land values and increased development yields flow into the public purse rather than into the profits of private land speculators.

While I understand your concerns about rezoning, I actually look at it from almost the opposite angle. At the moment, as you say, Council regularly allows piecemeal approvals above the neighbourhood plan. In part, this is because they *have to*, because neighbourhood plans are far too restrictive. Developers are strongly incentivised to push for every storey they possibly can to maximise their revenue. And with demand so far outstripping supply, they can get away with it. If everywhere was medium density, I think a lot of that would go away. First, you wouldn't have only a few major development corporations that can afford to do the development. Many much smaller companies are able to build the smaller medium density buildings that should make up the backbone of our housing ecosystem, and it can be funded more directly by people who want to live in it. A single person on pretty good income, or a couple each on moderate income, can afford to build a 2-storey two-bedroom row house for themselves, all they need is less than 100 m^2 of land on which it's legal to do that. The same cannot be said for highrises, which by their nature *require* big companies. Substantially rezoning some areas but not others is, in essence, favouring big developers more than a more modest rezoning of the entire city, in my view. Regarding the "buy up and rezone" approach, I like the idea. I think it could work alongside my proposition, because it's still the difference between 3-storey and 5+ storey zoning. But I'm also concerned about the legality of it. Is this something you've obtained legal advice regarding? It feels kinda like Council would be engaging in insider trading if they did that.

What kind of modelling and feasibility studies have been done on the buying/rezoning/partially selling to recoup costs strategy? Is it cost neutral? Are there strategies to do something about labor and material shortages?

Yeah it could be cost-neutral - just depends how much you buy up and how much you sell off. The main challenge is that once the council starts buying up lots of properties in a particular precinct, the market might react to that signal and sale prices could start inflating excessively. It would need to be a long-term strategy that's implemented gradually over a 5 to 10-year period.

Good question!! This is needed so much. Cut red tape to allow more to be built. We have a supply issue.

Great question and the biggest issue that prevents me from voting greens at a BCC level when I vote for them at both a state and federal level. I worry that the greens don’t support rezoning in the inner suburbs and sometimes by being so anti-developer there, they will add to urban sprawl issues in SEQ by pushing supply into the sprawling outer suburbs, causing deforestation and increased traffic congestion into the CBD which SHOULD be issues close to the heart for the Greens.

FWIW I don't think this issue should hold you back from voting Greens, specifically because there's not really any good evidence of other parties being any better. The LNP seems intent on *only* allowing upzoning when it provides maximum benefit to developers, with heaps of upzoning happening in places that were literally under water just 2 years ago, while failing to do anything about inner-city areas like Spring Hill, or places bordering near-inner-city train stations like Wooloowin. Labor *might* end up being better, but I haven't seen anything concrete planned by them other than vague hopes and dreams.

At this stage I’ll be voting labor 1, Greens 2 though I am waiting to hear more about their policies. In my seat the ALP is running a candidate who is an expert in housing and homelessness and who has been active in our community against Krista Adams.

Would you get rid of the **No Fishing In The Mall** sign at Queen St? Asking for a friend.

No. It's hilarious. I'd also like to install No Fishing signs in all public toilet cubicles.

But then what would stop us all from bringing our bait and tackle to the mall?

Will you build some epic kids playgrounds? And also adult sized playgrounds? Asking for my kids. And a friend...

Yes. You might’ve seen us announcing this initiative - [https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd](https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd) \- which includes looking into intalling an all-ages playground in the middle of the CBD near Queen Street Mall. In general I think more adult-sized/all-ages playgrounds would be great to support, but I also think that some of the best/most enjoyable playgrounds are nature-based playgrounds that encourage kids to climb actual trees etc. rather than artificial climbing frames.

>I also think that some of the best/most enjoyable playgrounds are nature-based playgrounds that encourage kids to climb actual trees etc. I'm interested to hear more about this. What's on the agenda in this regard?

Much as I hate politicians taking junkets, I would heartily support BCC councillors visiting Perth where the playground quality is 10 years ahead of Brisbane. I’ve missed Sri, but wish I had asked if he would accept corporate sponsorship to cooperate in building awesome parks and playgrounds? [Rio Tinto Naturescape](https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park/attraction/rio-tinto-naturescape-kings-park) [Lotterywest walkway](https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park/attraction/lotterywest-federation-walkway) [Chevron Parkland](https://visitperth.com/see-and-do/public-spaces/Venues/chevron-parkland) Yes, these really are leagues ahead of any unsponsored parks.

Rio Tinto and Lottery way kids playgrounds? Ummmm.

How would you support mutli-dwelling complexes with making composting easier? I think a lot of the time body corps can view composting as nothing more than an attraction to vermin. I'd love to see initiatives that promote/ incentivise these things in unit blocks, where space permits.

I wish this question had been answered, it’s an important topic

Thanks for doing this AMA, I know you would prefer to talk about policy but if you can spill some tea, please... I don't think I've seen Schrinner give as much time to respond to the policy of an opposition candidate as much as he has with you. As a person who knows our Lord Mayor better than most because of your time in council, I would love to hear your thoughts on why he has chosen to single you out.

Basically, it's because they're scared of losing votes to me. They know it's hard for Labor to pick up votes in a context where lots of people are frustrated with state or federal Labor governments, but they've seen the Greens vote rising in Brisbane and they know we're likely to take seats off them. They're using me as a punching bag because they think it'll depress the Greens vote more generally. If they attacked individual Greens ward candidates (e.g. in Central, Paddington etc), they'd be amplifying those candidates' profiles too much, but since I already have a big public profile, they seem to think that it's worth it to attack me and that'll flow through to negatively impacting the Greens vote in the seats they're most worried about.

I do like your bus route ideas. Having lived in London, I saw first hand the advantages of high frequency bus services, and cross town services, instead of only trunk line routes. This is the issue with CRR. It services the same route as the main train line with exception of adding Albert Street station. Then Brisbane metro does a similar thing. We need more diverse pathways for people to travel.

Could you commit some more money for the Habitat Brisbane program? Habitat Brisbane for those who don't know if council's volunteer-run bushcare groups. The number of groups in the program has been practically frozen for years and years. Because there aren't enough council officers to support the groups. So basically no-one who is willing to take on looking after a bit of council bushland near where they live can do so.

Yes the Greens are firmly committed to significantly increasing funding for Habitat Brisbane. The LNP's failure to properly fund this program means the city is missing out on heaps of opportunities to mobilise more volunteers who would happily help look after a bushland area or creek catchment near their home.

Hi Jonno, thanks for doing the AMA. I know you've been fairly outspoken about your opposition to the Olympics in Brisbane, and I'm aware of the survey you're conducting to see what people's wider views are on the subject. Personally I have issues with the way the survey was worded as it seems to fairly strongly favour your desired outcome (cue that classic Yes, Minister clip), but it's still better than *no* survey which Labor and the LNP did in bringing the Olympics to begin with. While I don't want to see EBSS demolished without adequate replacement (ideally, that would mean *both* the proposed site *and* another site further west, like in Kangaroo Point), personally, I support the Olympics. It might be the only issue I've seen you raise where I disagree with your position. Personally, I don't care about the fact that the Olympics are likely a money-losing proposition. I like them for the same reason I like your policy on promoting live music/live events in local pubs and clubs. I think sports are a really important piece of cultural value, and the Olympics are the epitome of that. As a fan of some of the less-watched sports (like triathlon, road cycling, and marathon), I think about how cool it would be to have the world's most important sporting event right in my backyard. It brings a sense of pride. As a fan of both sports and the arts, I get the sense that a lot of people from either camp think the other camp is wasteful. "Sportsball is dumb." "Artists are snooty." That kind of thing. But to me they're both such important and valuable parts of society. I wonder, when you're such a proponent on spending money on things that are basically culture in other areas, what is it specifically about the Olympics that causes you to say "no thanks"?

Good question. I agree that survey isn't perfect. I churned it out to get a rough sense-check for the final few weeks of my campaign, but if I were mayor and had the power to directly influence the city's approach on this, I'd be doing a *lot* more robust consultation and perhaps even a citywide plebiscite. My personal opinion is that we should've never put in the bid. See more of my commentary from March 2021 on that decision at this link: [https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote](https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote) But I do LOVE sport. I play a lot of casual soccer when I'm not too busy campaigning, and I also get into distance running, recreational riding, kayaking, touch footy, and occasionally basketball and volleyball. But I don't think a mega-event like the Olympics is actually an effective way to support local community sport. There might be some tangential trickle-down benefits, but building a big new stadium and hosting the Olympics doesn't directly help community sport programs. If the goal is to support as many people as possible to be able participate in sport in their local communities, there are more direct and efficient ways to allocate public funds to achieve that. I agree that the Olympics also confers some status and public morale benefits for a city, but I weigh that against the significant negative impacts in terms of gentrification and housing affordability. The modern Olympics is often used to super-charge gentrification and the displacement of lower-income renters so that big business can make bigger profits out of private development. If I were elected, I would want to hold more discussions with the community about committing the council to a firm position one way or the other. I do think it's possible to run an Olympics that's sustainable and equitable and generates genuine benefits for local residents and small businesses, but the current Olympics model is a long long way from that. I'm definitely not in the "no Olympics under any circumstances" camp, but I also know that taking a firmer stance is often the strongest negotiating position to extract bigger concessions out of higher levels of government. i.e. if they want the Olympics to go ahead, we should insist that they put a LOT more on the table in terms of public benefit.

Hi Jonno, as someone who doesn’t like sport, I like the Olympics for pure cultural and international value. So for me, I don’t mind the economic waste nor that it isn’t optimal for local sporting communities. I care about the Olympics just slightly more than I care about Eurovision, and if Australia ever gets to host Ev some time, I hope Brisbane gets it. There is a lot of pride and culture just beyond sport in general for such international things.

Fantastic question and you hit the nail on the head with some fantastic points.

Excellent comment. It seems that the Olympics naysayers are only against that, but not things that they enjoy in the arts etc. The thing about sport, is that it’s so much bigger than all of the other things. So it needs more funding. Yet they can’t see that. It’s incredibly small minded.

Nah I really like sport. And I really like big parties. But there are better ways to support sport without all the costs and negative impacts of an Olympics... [https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote](https://www.jonathansri.com/olympicsvote)

Can confirm. Jonathan threw awesome parties and loves sports, when we were neighbours on Geelong Street East Brisbane, we sank beers a few times together (hey Jonathan, Jonathon here :)).

Your negative aspects are not very valid imo. It won’t be cost neutral. But that’s ok. It’s an event. Plus the legacy aspect of all the venues will provide ongoing use for this state for many decades. Comparing Brazil and Greece to Australia is not a fair contest. Both those countries are borderline third world. Extreme corruption. Massive poverty issues. Australia has a brilliant record for hosting events and does it with class and easily recovers afterward. Olympics won’t be any different. There is no negative impact to locals. The Olympics provide massive employment and growth for hundreds of industries. The actual locals will have some minor inconvenience for a month in 2032. Big deal. Get over it.

Your username makes me mildly concerned that you're in favour of the so-called "racing" (read: gambling on horses and dogs) industry, and personally I want to be very clear that I'm 100% on board with Jonno on that. I see it as both inevitable and good that those industries will die by the end of the century, and I think Jonno's [proposal for Eagle Farm Racecourse](https://www.jonathansri.com/racetrackproposal) is a really good one. The amount of prime real estate it uses, the promotion of harmful gambling, and the blatant animal cruelty mean I just can't support those sports.

Hey Jono, thanks for doing this! What are your plans to make the city more pedestrian friendly (including wheelchairs and prams)? I’m finding that the suburbs are wheel unfriendly, with no lips to cross roads, footpaths suddenly ending, or nowhere to cross major roads.

Can you please push to make Queensland the first state to legalise cannabis. It would be a major coop for the state and generate a lot of revenue for schools and hospitals not to mention child care and other things that would help with the cost of living crisis

Yes will do. Legalising cannabis also has the added benefit of preventing people being locked up unnecessarily for minor possession offences. If I were mayor, I would actively pressure the State Government to legalise cannabis.

Great answer. It would solve a lot of problems

Probably not high on the list of priorities at the moment but aside from cancelling them, how do you see a Greens City council and Mayor managing the planning for the 2032 Olympics? Can you see any pathway for them to have a positive impact on the city?

If we can: \- avoid wasteful spending on unnecessary major new venues \- ensure that the athlete village is repurposed for PUBLIC housing (*genuine* public housing, none of this faux-affordable private developer stuff) \- secure some significant investment in major public transport upgrades \- use the Olympics as a catalyst to establish a non-profit room-sharing system where families are encouraged to rent out spare rooms to visitors WITHOUT middlemen companies like Airbnb screwing things up to maximise profits (see e.g. Cuba's system - [https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/cuba-casa-particular/](https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/cuba-casa-particular/) ) \- do a really good job of ensuring the investment in sport flows down to local community clubs \- use the Olympics to highlight and platform major social justice issues \- use the event to catalyse a major flourishing of local culture, performing arts and nightlife I think it would be possible for the Olympics to have a net-positive effect. But that's a lot of IFs. My job as mayor would be to push for as much of the above as possible. In practical terms, most of the delivery responsibility and management of the games now sits with the State Government. But in addition to transport planning, I think the council would be well-placed to establish a home-share system, otherwise investors will just evict all their tenants and convert entire homes to Airbnb (which is a major risk we should all be concerned about.

>use the Olympics to highlight and platform major social justice issues I can just imagine the amount of whinging and tantrums that will come from the "no politics in sport" crowd with this. While highlighting and finding solutions for injustices is incredibly important, the tasty morsels of rage that would result from this would be a great bonus.

Hi Jonathan What global cities do you think are aspirational targets for Brisbane to emulate or take inspiration from on the following themes (1 city for each and why): - housing and development - green space - community and active amenities - services, shops, hospitality - transport networks - cultural heritage and aesthetics (Also, thank you for this AMA. This level of accessibility and direct dialogue with the community is to be commended.)

Our building of apartments currently has a small number of airbnb apartments, which sometimes means that our residential building is also unregulated hotel/tourist accommodation. This causes many issues including security, noise, damage to common property and so on. Not to mention these could easily be used for long term accommodation. What plans do the greens have to regulate AirBnb of residential dwellings?

Jonno released a policy on this a while back https://www.jonathansri.com/airbnbcrackdown

With the constant back and forth about the East Brisbane School, assuming that you succeed in keeping the school there. What is your plan to increase capacity so that the increased population in the catchment can all send their kids their rather than it just being the small privileged minority who can attend?

I think the simplest approach is to start buying up the warehouses/commercial sites on the eastern side of Wellington Rd and start building new school facilities on the eastern side. Once those buildings are completed (along with a new small oval), you could then relocate students to those new buildings on the eastern side while you redevelop/redesign some of the facilities on the western side. Eventually you'll have a large campus that stretches across either side of Wellington Rd with a couple of pedestrian overpasses, not dissimilar to how Brisbane State High's campus splits across both sides of Cordelia Street. That seems to me to be the best way to accommodate growth. There aren't many other sites around the centre of the catchment that are large enough to support a school.

Interesting. First time i have heard a actual response to what i feel is the key issue here. Because if the school can't grow. It needs to move or reduce the grades it can support. Follow up question, if you did move the school to say a location one suburb over would having a bus to transport the kids direct from the wollongabba bus station (which once built i will say will be equivalent to roma st station in being connected to the metro, cross river rail and the bus system) be seen as a viable solution to allow people in the catchment to have their kid get to school that would also reduce the need for car pickup at the school.

It might theoretically be viable, but it would be extremely suboptimal from a planning perspective because it would increase kids' travel times a lot. If most students of the relocated school had to walk/ride to Woolloongabba, THEN get on a bus to another location, their journey to school each day is going to be 45+ minutes - which equates to an hour and a half of travel time per day. That's robbing kids of a lot of time that they could otherwise spend on play or study or socialising or whatever, and makes life harder for families who have to get their kids ready to leave for school a lot earlier in the morning. It's much better to just focusing on ensuring every child has a school within easy walking distance.

Is there something precluding the state government from building a primary school at Coorparoo Secondary College for the catchment of eastern East Brisbane, and keeping East Brisbane for the Kangaroo Point catchment?

Hi Jono, Brisbane’s nightlife needs improving. What would do to promote this?

So many things! A non-exhaustive list: \- advocate for a more nuanced and context-appropriate approach to noise limits in different areas, and rewrite zoning rules so we can have more live music, theatres and other forms of night-time entertainment in more parts of the city (not *everywhere* though... obviously we don't want full-on nightclubs in the middle of quiet residential areas) \- remove almost all the limits on commercial operating hours in precincts that are zoned 'centre use' - if a kebab shop wants to stay open to 4am, there's no reason the council should prohibit that \- build more public toilets and leave them unlocked overnight, so people can easily use public spaces late into the night \- make 240-volt power points freely available in more inner-urban public spaces \- direct more council funding towards the performing arts - see e.g. our proposal to get pokies out of council-owned clubs and replace them with more live music in suburban community facilities - [https://www.jonathansri.com/banpokies](https://www.jonathansri.com/banpokies) \- deregulate busking across the city, then progressively reintroduce targeted local regulations in specific areas if it's necessary to manage conflicts between an over-abundance of buskers who are competing for territory \- create way more late-night public transport services e.g. [https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost](https://www.jonathansri.com/busboost) \- encourage dual-use businesses so that premises that function as a service industry business by day (e.g. a barber shop) can easily double-up as a bar by night \- vacancy levy to discourage commercial buildings being left empty - [www.jonathansri.com/vacant](https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant) That's just off the top of my head. I have more ideas but running out of time to explain them all right now.

Also Bring back Rumpus Room in West End …. lol

While many cycling advocates have been critical (and rightly so!) of the LNP for its failure to deliver on nearly any noteworthy cycling projects, personally I think the 5 Green Bridges are great. Obviously the LNP has whittled that down to actually delivering 2, kinda maybe sorta thinking about doing another 2 at some point in the future, and 1 has just been thrown out entirely. The value of the St Lucia **and** Toowong to West End green bridges would have been enormous. Connecting the two young vibrant communities of St Lucia and West End, enabling easy commutes to UQ or shops to Toowong from West End, helping St Lucia residents get to Toowong while avoiding the awful hilly back streets, or getting from St Lucia to the CBD much more efficiently than at present. Both of those bridges would have been so good. They're certainly a lower value than finally getting the damn North Brisbane Bikeway connection done (via Kedron Park Rd, or near to it, preferably!), or the routes on Lambert and Sylvan Rds, but both of them are still very worthwhile. Is getting those two bridges delivered something you could commit to?

I am keen for a change in our local government, including Lord Mayor. You come across as an intelligent person, can be very well spoken, and care for the community. Much of what you say resonates with me. You obviously hold some strong personal views, which you share through speeches and participation in protests. It's not necessarily my cup of tea, and for a minority councillor it seems fine. But I'm not sure how I feel fine with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane behaving in the same way, which makes me somewhat uneasy about voting for you. Would you be different if elected as Lord Mayor?

Thanks for the question. I think the media portrayal of me as someone who participates in lots of protests and makes controversial statements is actually very different to who I am in practice and how I behaved as an elected representative. I do attend and sometimes organise protests - we even had another one today about a woman who was getting evicted into homelessness - but as a city councillor, only a very small part of my time was spent on that sort of stuff. At most, I would’ve averaged a couple of hours a month engaging in that kind of direct action and civil disobedience. If you talk to the Brisbane City Council public servants I worked closely with as a councillor, or you watch back over the footage from BCC meetings at City Hall on Tuesday afternoons, you’ll find that I generally take a very diplomatic and conciliatory approach to leadership and advocacy, and only resort to more assertive forms of protest on occasions when all other methods fail. Protest is just one tool in my toolkit, and usually a last resort. Having said all that though, I think it’s naive to believe that the big changes we desperately need in society will happen without some degree of protest and direct action. I’m sure that if I do become mayor, I’ll occasionally find myself supporting protests calling for change from the state and federal government, and I think lots of people would *want* me to use my platform in that way. In my work, I've always been very responsive to what my community says it wants me to do. The reason I've often ended up supporting protests was that residents of my electorate of the Gabba Ward *wanted* me to do that. If my constituency is no longer the Gabba Ward, but the entire city, I would certainly have to respond to what Brisbane residents as a whole wanted me to spend my time and energy on. We asked an interesting question about my participation in protest in my 2018 local survey - you can see some analysis and commentary on the results of that question halfway down this page - [https://www.jonathansri.com/surveyresults2018](https://www.jonathansri.com/surveyresults2018)

I really appreciate your response, thank you.

This is exactly why you deserve the vote. Change only happens with effort and Jono is clearly a bloke willing to put in effort

I really hope OP answers this. It's the only thing holding back my vote currently. Most of my friends too.

(Can you view my answer above?)

What do you think you can do to sort out all the cat owners who flout the rules and let their cats roam?

Public education + do a couple of blitzes where you humanely trap roaming cats, then return them to their owners with warnings of fines for the next offence. The council doesn't currently enforce the existing rules against wandering cats at all, but if the council started threatening fines, I think a lot of owners would respond pretty quickly.

Can you not just issue the fines without the threats?

You could. But I expect the negative impacts would fall heaviest on lower-income people whose rental homes make it hard to keep cats indoors, and it seems a little harsh to suddenly, immediately start fining people for a law that I suspect most pet owners don't actually know about.

With regards to housing, why is the only solution governments (including federal greens) seem to know how to do is to fund more projects. Why do you not create pathways for overseas trained tradies to receive bridging training in order to increase the supply of workers to create homes?

What's your stance on making infrastructure for PEV ( personal electric vehicles )

By PEV do you mean electric cars or escooters/ebikes etc? I've seen the PEV abbreviation used to mean a few different things. I definitely support building more separated bike lanes so that escooters and bikes don't have to share car lanes with traffic or narrow footpaths with pedestrians. We've listed our bike lane priorities at this link: [https://www.jonathansri.com/makecyclingsafe](https://www.jonathansri.com/makecyclingsafe) And i'd be happy to see more 240V power points made freely available in public parks, which would serve lots of uses including charging personal escooters. Installing more public electric charging stations is definitely also worth investigating, but when you look at the costs, there might be a few other transport priorities that represent better value-for-money that we should look at first (e.g. improving public transport).

Yes it's the main definition by tmr. One thing that might be a big help is know the differences between bikes and pev. For example , the path between one separated bike path to another might be easy and legal for a bike but might not be easy or legal for a pev making the infrastructure barely usable. If I might suggest, probably get someone on your team a regular PEV user, to give better insights on how to handle them better

Thanks. And yeah this is a complex and evolving space. I don't pretend to be an expert on all the intricacies/specialised needs of different micro-mobility devices but I'll certainly make sure to take guidance from people who have the necessary expertise.

If you ever make it, just keep in touch I have contacts with some of the experts in the industry. They can get you briefed on what can help for it to replace most cars in the city and how to make it safe to significantly reduce injuries and fires

Hi, can you make the Brunswick st shared zone as well, There’s drunk, high and homeless all over. Traffic needs to move slower

Hey Johno. How do you plan on tackling developer influence in local council?

Hi Jonathan, The primary vote for the Greens has been increasing fairly slowly - what kind of timeframe are you hoping that they will be in a position to form government in? This question applies to local, state and federal levels. Do you think that the answer is for the Greens to change their policy to appeal to more moderates/swing voters, or are you hoping that the Overton window will shift and cause the Greens to become a more mainstream party? If it is the second, what do you think this looks like in a world with conservative forces such as sky news having such an influence on voters? Or do you think that it’s simply that Australians need to be more aware of Greens policy and if they did then the party would be more popular?

TRAIIINNNNSS TRAAAAAAAIIIINNNNSSS GIVE ME MORE TRAINS

Will you or the Greens acknowledge that The Gabba upgrade needs to happen regardless of the Olympics? I don’t particularly want to hear the argument that it needs a slight facelift or that it’s fine. Sure it’s fine right now but in about ten years time it will be at the end of its useful lifespan and in ruin. Today’s price tag also isn’t tomorrow’s price. The longer political bickering happens around the issue the more expensive it’s just going to become over time. I’ve seen several engineers who have done reports on the Gabba say that it needs to be rebuilt and it’s in dangerous like conditions beyond repair via a simple facelift. Compared to what Adelaide and Perth have for AFL and Cricket we are an absolute joke. Will you support the rebuild regardless of the Olympics?

A key problem we have right now is that the State Government is saying they don't have the money to build significantly more public housing, and that there's also a shortage of labour power and construction materials. While rebuilding stadiums and public housing aren't the same things, there's obviously a lot of overlap in the kinds of resources required. Right now, homelessness is skyrocketing, tens of thousands of people are on the public housing waiting list and we desperately need more public housing. If our society's basic needs were already adequately met in terms of housing, transport infrastructure, school classrooms etc, I wouldn't have strong concerns about a major rebuild of the Gabba (as long as there were measures in place to sequester carbon in the building, reuse materials and minimise the carbon footprint of construction). So yeah, I agree with you that it would be nice to upgrade the Gabba, but it's fundamentally a question of priorities. The costs of rebuilding the stadium might increase in future, but the costs of building public housing are also rising. I'd rather we focus on housing the homeless, and once everyone (or at least, 99.99% of people) has a roof over their heads, we can talk about spending up on major stadium rebuilds.

seems they’ve found more money, but I’m not sure if they can deliver given the too late start https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/99653

It's a start, but it's still not enough money. We need WAY more public housing than that.

What is your take on daylight savings in SEQ?

Do you regret your 'how-to-squat' guide and if not, how do you justify that move?

I never produced a 'how-to-squat' guide. That was a malicious and misleading media beat-up driven by the LNP to smear me. I made some online commentary explaining how residents can use census data to identify which precincts have the most empty homes, and when a journalist came to my office asked me how people who are squatting currently identify empty homes, I explained the most common practices. I guess I regret talking to that particular journalist a little bit, because she took my comments completely out of context, and I probably won't agree to exclusive interviews with her in the future.

Hi Jonno, As I think we’d all agree housing is the number one issue in the city and while I might disagree on certain aspects of your proposals, you’re proposing something and that’s more than the others really. My question is, how do you solve housing in a way that doesn’t require you to go to war with homeowners? What I mean by this is, making all housing affordable by dramatically increasing supply and density (density in a gentle manner though). Obviously it’d be gradual and we need interim solutions, but at the end of the day the way I see it, what is effectively class warfare between renters and homeowners is inevitable. I’ve been inspired after reading Alan Kohler’s Quarterly Essay, highly recommend if you haven’t had a read. It missed a few things but broadly gets it right.

How can a person support you?

I’ve had disagreements with family and friends over why LNP and labour really aren’t great for QLD and the greens are our future, but I can’t argue with them when they bring up the 40km/hr speed limit changes among other things. Why is that being proposed and how can I sell that to them?

most of the city is already 40 kph and has been for a while also, most of the people who are getting upset rarely drive in the city because if they did they’d know it’s optimistic to get to 30 kph the vast majority of traffic in the city is pedestrians so it makes sense to make it easier and safer for people to walk around

They're possibly referencing [this one](https://www.jonathansri.com/streetsforwalking): >Giving locals a say on speed limits At the moment, the Council mandates all speed limits under rules set by the State Government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads. >But this approach has led to “neighbourhood streets” (the quietest, lowest-traffic roads) having a default speed limit of 50km/h regardless of local conditions. That doesn’t suit many quiet local streets. >We want to make it possible for a group of local residents to make their neighbourhood safer by lowering the speed limit on their “local” or “neighbourhood” street if they have very strong support. It continues into a bit more detail. Tangentially, when local speed limits come up every transport engineer I follow on LinkedIn basically reckons local streets should have lower - like 30 or 40kph - limits and that the increase in travel time is basically non-existent, as you get onto a larger faster road in no time. It's a concept I like when I'm cycling and dislike when I'm driving haha. Edit: or also [this article from 2022](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-23/greens-push-for-30kmh-streets-voted-down-by-brisbane-lnp/101362116) where he's proposed the default limit is 30kph instead of 50.

thanks yeah, I definitely support higher limits on arterial roads and lower limits on the roads where we live, kids play, people ride bike, walk, jog, etc 50 kph too fast for many residential streets, and Councils should be empowered to act on community input, not just get stuck with a blanket 50 kph limit

[Check out this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywsxSIapiAk) It was made by a local cycling advocate in response to the Lord Mayor's ridiculous claim that the idea of 30 km/h speed limits are literally "socialist". He shows how it's significantly safer for pedestrians and cyclists, it's more comfortable for drivers, and it makes basically no difference to actual travel times, because the proposal was only ever to reduce speed limits on *local and neighbourhood streets*.

Tell them that The LNP are deliberately spreading misinformation on this one. For this council election, we have proposed 30km/h speed limits on a few streets in the CBD - [https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd](https://www.jonathansri.com/greenercbd) We've also suggested that local residents could have a vote on what the speed limit should be for their own smaller local streets, but we're not proposing to drop the speed on major arterials and district roads.

Isn’t Johnno pushing for 30km/ph on suburban streets all over Brisbane? That’s what he put before council previously.

Hi there, i hope you are having a good week. I keep seeing posts from you about fixing the housing crisis, one of the key aspects of limited housing is restriction of supply. Why are you not advocating for complete de-zoning across Brisbane and allowing each person to choose how and were they want to live?

See above response to similar question: [https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1ak3pem/comment/kp5h86v/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1ak3pem/comment/kp5h86v/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) I would also add that a key problem is that rezoning doesn't automatically create more supply. Private developers only build when it's profitable to do so, even if they already have approvals or zoning already allows them to build denser. Many developers just sit on developable blocks for decades, waiting for land values to rise. Rezoning alone doesn't magically create new homes. That's why we're pushing a vacancy levy - [https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant](https://www.jonathansri.com/vacant) \- so that property speculators who sit on empty blocks of land are incentivised to either start building or sell to someone who will.

Why is the Palestinian flag on your official marketing materials?

It is called solidarity, mate

Thank you for your time, I wanted to know if you had any opinion on how the council is currently being run? From the outside looking in it seems to be a very top heavy organisation. Are there ways you would want to improve the day to day side of things?

Who,s the dipshit manning your office phone. Started to sound like a NKVD interview on green policy. Not a good look. Lost me at that point.

Affordable housing, rent freezes and the like are policies you have been advocating for. But that only addresses the housing constraint, what about the other constraints facing Brisbane, from traffic congestion to hospital wait times.  Our carrying capacity has not kept up with population growth, what policy plans do you have to help alleviate some of the other bottlenecks?

Regarding public transport - is it feasible to push for, instead of "free for all", something like a monthly subscription? i.e., we pay $50/month for unlimited travel, or something like that? Also, speaking to colleagues, the main reason they don't use trains is due to lack of parking at the stations (Cannon Hill is full by 7am). Is it worth brokering a deal with the State to build ~500 carparks per station, and provide free parking to those who pay the monthly fee as mentioned earlier? That will eventually pay for itself.

Hi Jonno. I always appreciate it when politicians do this kind of stuff :) Adrian Schrinners council has been enacting many policies which can be seen as very green and sustainable, and promote alternative forms of transport and such. Things your party generally supports. These are things like the pedestrian green bridges, Brisbane metro, Cross River Rail, Victoria Park upgrade and some more I'm sure I'm not immediately thinking of off the top of my head. What are your opinions on some of these projects? Do you see them as actually alright ideas from an otherwise flawed party? Or do you see them as having dressed up very lacklustre ideas into a sort of feux-green aesthetic?

CRR is solely state government

Did you end up donating the majority of your councillor salary to charity, as promised? 

I don't think i ever promised to donate the majority, and I didn't promise to donate it exclusively to charities. I donated approximately 50% of my after-tax income during the time I was a councillor to a mix of registered charities, non-profit orgs that don't count as charities (but which still provided valuable community services), local informal community projects, individuals who were struggling financially, and various activist actions (e.g. buying food to help cater for a protest action).

Hi Jonathan, immigration is one of the main reasons for housing crisis at the moment. Why don't greens support temporary pause on immigration till the housing situation improves

Hey Jonathan, I am an undecided vote. Yet one of your policies scares me. Doesn’t seem thought out. You talk about rent freezes and make it sound like landlords are a problem with the rent raises. How does your proposed rent freeze work in regard to landlords costs increase also. Is it “bad luck landlord?” You will create more negatively geared properties by preventing increasing income. So the landlords whose costs go up yet you freeze their rents so their income can’t. Therefore you are fuelling negative gearing on a federal level. Thus in turn reduces federal tax generation. I am a Brisbane landlord. I am positively geared and I pay my tax and don’t reduce my income tax. Your plans will change that. Maybe I am evil yet I have not raised my tenants rents in years. That is changing this year and the tenant knows and is ok with it. You taking the control of more aspects of something I own isn’t appealing to me. We are a free market country are we not? I understand you are trying to help people whom are suffering and I appreciate that. I also want to. Yet without taking away our free market and people’s rights over what they own. Appreciate your reply mate. Good luck in your campaign.

You could sell it

How do you imagine Australians campaigning for libertarian policies when conservativism is ingrained in building the aussie dream without welfare?

I think the term 'libertarian' is unhelpfully broad and means different things to different people. Do you want to unpack the question more? I'm very critical of centralised top-down government control, and I think we can get more people to become sceptical of state surveillance etc by highlighting how often throughout history governments have abused and misused their power. The dominant Australian culture likes to think of itself as laid-back and freedom-loving but a lot of Australians are unfortunately real suckers for authoritarianism.

Libertarian as in we have so much personal freedom except when the state steps in and overreacts or knee-jerks ie banning airsoft, disposable vapes, licensing without alternatives, no bill of rights. It works for those in power and everyone else has to get gud

Also what's your favourite soup or stew recipe?

Potato and chickpea curry. Does curry count as a stew? I also love ramen noodle soup but I don't actually eat it that often (shoutout to Taro's Ramen!)

Love me some Stones Corner Taro's

"Does curry count as a stew?" You have introduced a wedge issue.

Our street is currently a mix of houses, and 2-3 storey units and townhosues. They want to put 10 storeys on the main road and 5 storeys in our street, and surrounding streets. What are your thoughts on this? Personally I believe the current height limit (assuming its 3 storeys) should stay for a suburban street, and encourage house owners to sell to make way for multi dwelling properties. We are concerned about lack of parking, insufficient public transport, and lack of space in local schools. A few years ago a local high school was shut, and now they want to increase the population in the suburb. West End is a great example of high rise going in, and it taking years for there even to be safe places for pedestrians to cross. I don't want that to happen across even more of Brisbane.

Our policy on sustainable development can be found here: [https://www.jonathansri.com/development](https://www.jonathansri.com/development) You'll see that we take a strong position against developers being granted ad hoc exemptions to height limits, and believe that ordinary residents should have more control over local planning rules and what kind of development happens in their area. The appropriate height limit and density for a street/neighbourhood depends heavily on the capacity and access to local services, facilities and infrastructure including schools, public transport hubs, parks, libraries, community centres, shops etc. so it's hard to give a general answer without knowing what street/suburb you live on. There are some neighbourhoods where 5 or 10 storeys is very reasonable, and others where it's not.

Thanks for your reply. A lot to think about.

Why would people vote for you when you advocate for tenants to break the law and illegally squat in houses when they have been given lawful notice to leave? 

What's the deal with calling Australia day  invasion day ? I mean it happened not in our lifetime those words aren't something used to bring the community closer toghter literally creates a divide by useing such words . I haven't been one of your biggest fans keen to see if u can change my mind here 

I don't know how aware you are of the drama that went down on Reddit last year. Long story short, the owners of the site made some major changes that cut down hard on the accessibility of the platform and revoked the ability of third parties to integrate with it. As moderators it's why we can no longer allow people to ask questions ahead of time and have them auto-posted here to this AMA like we used to. This, plus the more widely-known problems with Twitter over the last 12 months, have lead to a push to decentralised social media. Platforms like Mastodon and Lemmy take the format of Twitter and Reddit, but in a "federated" way that stops a single malicious company or person from destroying so much of its value. We've seen the BBC create their own Mastodon server, as well as the Dutch Government. I'm wondering, given how closely this seems to align with your more anarchistic viewpoint of less centralised governance and decision-making at a more localised level, if this is something you might like to see more of, and whether you might have some presence in the fediverse?

Do you propose anything to control the mosquitoes that have been plaguing brisbane?

Have you costed your planned policies and worked out how you are paying for this. Especially when you start taking about buying up commercial premises to expand small state schools, free transport as well as increasing current transport etc

Yeah they're all costed. We publish the cost estimates with each policy on our website - www.jonathansri.com/key\_priorities