Please note that some of the info in these newsletters (especially event listings) can go out of date quite quickly.   Dear residents, I hope you’ve been coping ok with recent heatwaves. Such eve...

South Bank Corporation has produced a draft master plan to guide the future evolution of the South Bank precinct, and sought feedback from the general public and other stakeholders. At the time of ...

For several years now, we’ve been advocating strongly for a new dog off-leash area (‘DOLA’) in the 4101 postcode, because the two existing West End DOLAs weren’t big enough. My office allocat...

Dear residents, We missed our last fortnightly email, as I had to take a couple days of leave. A few weeks ago on a Friday evening, I tried to calm down a man who was heavily intoxicated, stumbling...

Here's some more info regarding the citywide push to encourage more people to do their part in addressing the housing crisis. Make sure you check out our short zine and expression of interest page ...

Links last updated and verified on 1 December, 2022 South-East Queensland has always been prone to floods and severe storms, and the risk of severe weather events is predicted to increase substanti...

Dear neighbours, Lately I’ve been thinking a bit about the radical potential of local government, and how the fact that we’ve had the LNP running Brisbane City Council for such a long time means we...

Dear neighbours, I had a couple weeks of annual leave recently, so this is our first email newsletter in over a month, and there’s lots to cover. Here’s a list of topics covered in this email - scr...

St Vincent’s Private Hospital at Kangaroo Point is applying for council approval to develop large residential high rise towers on their hospital site.  Even if you don’t live around this part of Ka...

Current as of 10 June, 2022 - please note that some of the info in these newsletters (especially event listings) can go out of date quite quickly   Dear residents, I hope you’re coping better than ...

In the space of a couple days, a lot of journalists and political commentators (including some Greens members from down south) have apparently become experts on the growing electoral success of the...

I've allocated a bit of my discretionary local budget to fund Aboriginal artists to paint murals on the two toilet blocks in Musgrave Park. Work should start in the next few weeks on the toilet at ...

BCC has initiated a reasonably broad-scope investigation into the 2022 floods, to be led by Mr Paul de Jersey. The following text is copied from the Terms of Reference circulated to councillors by ...

Originally published on social media on 8 March, 2022 Recent floods have shown very clearly that Brisbane’s key public infrastructure, services and systems are far less resilient to flooding a...

Originally published on social media on 8 March, 2022 Ok so this should be obvious to most people by now, but I wanted to say it really clearly for those up the back who aren't paying attenti...

Originally published on social media on 6 March, 2022 The past week of flood clean-up has revealed efficiencies and deficiencies of different models of volunteer coordination that we need to re...

Note: I'm kinda thinking of this article as a work-in-progress draft rather than a definitive statement of where I stand. I'd be interested in feedback on it and might make further changes.   No ma...

In 2021, I published an article called "Fixing a Broken System - Practical Trajectories Beyond Representative Democracy" in the 2021 edition of the journal Pandora's Box (Vol 27), published by the ...

This is part 2 of an exploration into the Queensland Government's so-called 'vaccine mandates.' Please read part 1 first at this link. 20 December, 2021

20 December, 2021 Lately a few people have asked me what I think of the ‘vaccine mandate.’ The short answer is: I’m pretty concerned about it. But I’m also very worried that some groups and politic...

Unfortunately the mainstream media doesn’t always give us enough of a platform to go into detail on the important issues affecting our community, but over the years Jonno has also agreed to longer-...

May 2021 update: Council’s Asset Services team have gotten back to me with the proposed layout of the Kangaroo Point dog off-leash area ('DOLA') in James Warner Park. Hopefully the diagram is relat...

I thought in the interests of transparency I should publish an update about this. As you might know, we’re using our online voting platform more often to guide my decision-making about a range of l...

Like all city councillors in Brisbane, our Gabba Ward Office has control over a $35 000/year grants budget for local events and projects (this has been cut drastically by the LNP in recent years - ...

Expressions of interest for various mural locations in the Gabba Ward close on Monday, 12 October, 2020 Instead of spending it all on concrete and bitumen, we’re allocating a chunk of my local publ...

Right now, many of us are forced to lead lives that are economically precarious and environmentally and socially unsustainable. We work long hours to pay the bills, while not having enough time to ...

We’ve produced a compilation album of songs recorded during the shutdown by bands and solo artists with strong connections to the Gabba Ward on Brisbane's inner-south side (i.e. the suburbs of West...

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a few people have taken issue with my suggestion that Labor Senator Kristina Keneally’s opinion piece about immigration was advancing racist arguments. I shouldn’t need to s...

Here’s another innovative yet common-sense solution to create more public green space in the inner-city… Let’s cover over the stretch of train line near Gloucester St and Frith St in Highgate Hill ...

Last Friday, I spoke at a massive climate justice rally in the city. Somewhere between 6000 and 7000 people took to the streets. There was a crackling energy in the crowd. It felt powerful and reju...

For several years now, we've been concerned about the growing proportion of residential homes - both apartments and free-standing houses - being converted into short-term accommodation. Increasin...

I kicked off 2020 by giving a morning talk at Woodford Folk Festival called ‘A Rough Work-in-Progress Blueprint for Revolution.’ Despite half the festival still being asleep or hungover from NYE ce...

After a lot of consultation and hard work by dedicated volunteers from the West End Making History group, this is the final text and artwork of the six history signs that will soon be installed alo...

Council has released the final concept design for the expanded park at the corner of Carl St and Tottenham St in Woolloongabba. After council recently acquired neighbouring properties, we've expa...

19 May, 2019 So now the storytelling contest begins to interpret, explain, define and redefine this weekend’s unexpected electoral result. Lots of people with an agenda to push will be seeking to f...

In February and March 2019, we held a public meeting followed by a community design workshop to facilitate local residents to decide what improvements they wanted to the unnamed park at the souther...

When we look at the dumpster-fire that is mainstream Australian politics, it’s obvious that the system itself is broken, regardless of who happens to be on top of the shit-heap at any given point i...

I originally wrote this article for the Courier Mail's 'Future Brisbane' series in September, 2017, but since they put it behind a paywall, I thought I'd repost it here so everyone can read it. BR...

December, 2018The State Government is just beginning its next round of ‘consultation’ regarding the Cross River Rail project, with a particular focus on future options for the new station in Woollo...

Council has finally released proposed plans for the partial redesign of Davies Park…Here’s what they’re spending money on:- Roughly $200 000 on a large new toilet block (six cubicles including 2 wh...

Since becoming a councillor in March 2016, I have advocated consistently for greater transparency and accountability, including calling for video recordings of Brisbane City Council meetings to be ...

Local residents will gather in Kurilpa Point Park on Saturday morning to protest the installation of hostile landscaping under the Kurilpa Bridge, calling for stronger renters rights and more inves...

23 October, 2018 A lot of people around the country – myself included – have been psyched to see the Liberals lose the federal seat of Wentworth to Independent Kerryn Phelps (even the name of the e...

Here’s some basic advice on navigating the rules for holding public rallies and marches in Brisbane, which are governed by the Peaceful Assembly Act 1992. This process can also be used for other co...

22 June 2018     This is not a complete rundown of all the projects and programs that have received funding in our area, but I thought I’d highlight a few key programs that help paint a picture of...

If you’re having issues with a landlord or real estate agent, or just need more information about your rights as a tenant, call: QSTARS Tenancy Advocacy Hotline - 1300 744 263 There are also some g...

Different residents often have different, conflicting views on how particular public spaces should be used. These disagreements can be tricky to resolve in inner-city areas, where the ratio of publ...

On Saturday morning (3 March) from 8:30am, frustrated West End residents will blockade the intersection of Vulture St and Montague Rd for 90 minutes, calling for more investment in pedestrian cros...

Last week at UQ we held the first of many public forums about renters rights. We had a solid turnout (about 30 in total) of both local and international uni students, as well as other residents who...

The State Government has finally released a bit more info about the proposed new public high school for Brisbane’s inner-south side. I’ve written previously about overcrowding issues at Brisbane St...

Under Queensland law, landlords and real estate agencies are required to maintain homes to a reasonable standard, carrying out repairs in a timely manner. They’re also required to provide advance w...

  Brisbane, Australia, 2018 On Wednesday, 7 February, a woman reached out to my office in Woolloongabba for help. She’d come back to her home in Highgate Hill after being out of town for a while vi...

Barely a week goes by without someone – usually someone possessing a condescending sneer and multiple investment properties – telling me that building more private apartments is the best way to imp...

14 November, 2017 A few months ago, the State Government announced that a new high school would be built somewhere in Brisbane’s inner-south side to help cater for population growth and take some o...

I write to object to Priority Development Area Application #DEV2017/846 for the Queen’s Wharf casino-resort in Brisbane’s CBD. Having looked through scores of development applications in my time as...

Neighbourhood plans and urban renewal strategies are major catalysts for change. Usually, such documents include a lot of positive elements that the vast majority of residents and local businesses ...

Here's the basic problem: Too many people are buying single-use bottled water products Bottled water is pretty terrible and stupid for a range of reasons. If you still need convincing of that fac...

This week I was invited to participate in a debate/discussion about sustainable development and over-development at the Urbanity 2017 conference. It was primarily a free-flowing Q&A discussion ...

Recently I organised a bunch of residents in West End to paint rainbows on a footpath. I thought it might be useful for some people if I explained the legal status of these kinds of projects and th...

There’s been a decent amount of media coverage about the fact that the NSW Greens did a way-less-than-ideal job of responding to concerns and complaints that a younger male member of the party had ...

School over-crowding is one of the big planning issues in Brisbane’s inner-south side. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around which makes it harder to focus on and push for ...

Sometime between 18 and 20 January, 1788, a fleet of 11 ships Captained by Arthur Phillip arrived uninvited at Botany Bay. They didn’t like the spot, so a few days later they left again, and hopped...