Welcome to SEQCA’s Spring 2025 newsletter
SEQCA is an umbrella organisation comprising not-for-profit organisations and individuals interested in planning and development issues across the SEQ region. If you care about a sustainable future for the communities, spaces and places of SEQ then SEQCA wants to hear from you!
The items in this newsletter reflect SEQCA’s goals to promote development that: fast tracks to sustainability (water-wise and climate positive); pursues resilience; defends our greenspace and secures what we value locally. We advocate for more transparent forms of governance and meaningful participation to help realise these goals.
Like many of our readers, we are anxiously awaiting detailed analysis of the proposed reforms to the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – introduced to Parliament on Thursday 30 October. The Queensland Conservation Council is encouraging members of the public to write to their federal MP calling for stronger environmental legislation. The Environmental Defenders Office offers additional information and analysis.
In this newsletter, we are excited to bring to your attention a new community group, GamesWatchdog2032. As its name suggests, this community watchdog brings together a number of individuals who are increasingly concerned about the current trajectory for the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032. GamesWatchdog2032 is not concerned about a possible name change to our region, it is concerned more fundamentally with the escalating costs to Queensland taxpayers of an Olympics plan that entails building 17 new or renovated sporting venues. This includes two major new venues (the Brisbane Stadium and National Aquatic Centre) proposed for Victoria Park – on steeply sloping terrain currently home to significant biodiversity, recreational greenspace, cultural and built heritage. It appears the only thing really going for Victoria Park as a site for these Olympics venues is the opportunity for a ‘land grab’ that will diminish access to, and the calibre of, land held in trust for the public to enjoy – whilst freeing up a major inner city development opportunity at the Gabba. The current stadium at the Gabba will get pulled down after 2032 – but, of course, it will still need renovating in the interim. To bring home the scale of the land grab that is currently being proposed we include in this newsletter:
- An overview of the current state of play on Olympics 2032 planning by Dr Neil Peach;
- A letter to the Minister for Planning, penned by GamesWatchdog2032, explaining its concerns about the escalating costs of the Olympics and deviations from the Olympics New Norm principles (which focus on legacy, sustainability and fiscal responsibility);
- A media release by Brisbane Residents United (BRU) warning of legal complexities around the current site testing at Victoria Park; and
- A submission by Rethink the Gabba to Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) on its proposed new Priority Development Area (PDA) for Woolloongabba (now adopted).
You can stay informed and follow debates about the 2032 Olympics at www.gameswatchdog2032.au
and at the website for Save Victoria Park. If you have a story or perspective you want to share, please contact the Watchdog at https://gameswatchdog2032.au/contact/
In this newsletter we include a short review of Queensland’s new Energy Roadmap and an excellent analysis by Dr Neil Peach of presentations made at the recent Inquiry into E-scooters. If you don’t have time to read the whole document, Neil has compiled a very useful table summarising the community’s 24 main asks organised into four categories – physical and infrastructure constraints; device specifications, regulations and enforcement; safety and coexistence in shared spaces and governance, data and consistency. Thank you to Dr Neil Peach for bringing us all up to date on this important topic.
In our News and Views section, we are excited to feature some of the community groups operating in our region – Save Woogaroo Forest; the Brisbane Flight Paths Community Alliance (BFPCA) and Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).
Date claimer! Most importantly of all, please see below an invitation to join SEQCA for its next Morning in Conversation event on Tuesday 25 November – all the details below. We hope you can make it – and perhaps even join us afterwards for a meal at Siam Southbank.
You can keep up to date with SEQCA stories and events by following the SEQCA Facebook page. We hope you’ll visit us on Facebook soon.
Happy reading everyone from the team at SEQCA!
Short articles
Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Overview and Critique by Dr Neil Peach
Urgent Need for a Decision on Alternative Venues for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games by GamesWatchDog2032.au
Critical Junction: Resident Group warns BCC approval for Olympic site testing could be contrary to legal obligations and fracture public trust Media release by Brisbane Residents United
Submission on Changes to the Woolloongabba PDA Development Scheme by Rethink the Gabba
Queensland’s New Energy Roadmap – the Good, the Bad and the Ludicrous by Dr Philippa England
An Analysis of Presentations to the Parliamentary Inquiry into E-mobility safety and use in Queensland by Dr Neil Peach
News and views
Save Woogaroo Forest Group by Keith McCosh
Watch out Brisbane: New Plan for 1600 flights a day by Brisbane Flight Paths Community Alliance (BFPCA)
Introduction to Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) by Simon Cole
Opportunities to comment
Click here to view SEQCA’s Have Your Say section
Date claimers
Tuesday 25 November 2025
Morning in Conversation with SEQCA: Why is the Missing Middle so hard to find?
Most of us agree we need more housing diversity and more affordable housing, but the evidence is that multistorey high density residential tower blocks are less affordable and less liveable than various types of smaller homes in convenient places spread across the city. So why isn’t this type of development happening and how could we find that mythical Missing Middle? Is it really all down to the NIMBY effect (real or imagined) or are there other factors at play and can we change the trajectory?
When: Tuesday, 25/11/2025, 10.30 am -12.30 pm
Where: Room: S07_2.16/2.18, Griffith University, South Bank Graduate Centre
Guest speakers: Professor Burton, Emeritus Professor of Urban Management and Planning; Ms Kerrianne Meulman, Managing Director, Urban Economics and Director, Suburban Futures; Maya Glassman, Policy and Strategic Engagement Lead, Q Shelter.
Optional lunch: Siam Southbank from 12.30 pm (pay your own)
For registration and additional details, click here.