Welcome to Glass’ interview series with the Brisbane Lord Mayor candidates! In these conversations, we dive into the issues that are important to students and ask each candidate why they deserve your vote. Our aim? To make sure that the QUT student body knows what’s going on in your community, so you can make an informed decision.
This interview is with Liberal National Party candidate, Adrian Schrinner.
Adrian Schrinner was born in Brisbane and grew up on the Southside. As a teenager, he spent time working in his family’s cleaning business.
He was first elected as a Ward Councillor in 2005, became Lord Mayor of Brisbane in 2019, and has been in the position ever since. He is a family man, and his proudest achievements are his four young children.
What is your vision for the future of Brisbane?
We want to keep Brisbane moving.
Our team is passionate about delivering a better Brisbane by building better roads like the Beams and Moggill road upgrades, shifting from public transport to mass transit with our fully electric turn-up-and-go Brisbane Metro, keeping our budget balanced to take pressure off household rates and rents during the current cost-of-living crisis, all while making Brisbane’s lifestyle even better.
What are your plans to revitalise the Brisbane CBD?
The CBD continues to transform as we work with businesses to make it even better. Queen Street Mall continues to be the most popular pedestrian mall in Australia, and we’ve made it even better by decluttering it at either end and providing new pop-up dining destinations.
Queen’s Wharf and Waterfront Brisbane are massive investments that will change our city centre forever, attracting residents from across Brisbane and visitors from around the world.
We’re also delivering our fully electric, turn-up-and-go Brisbane Metro services this year which will run 24-hours a day on weekends, making a night out in the city easier and more affordable.
How will you tackle the housing crisis?
The best way to solve the housing crisis is to build more homes. To help make this happen we are:
- Allowing CBD-style heights for residential buildings in South Brisbane’s Kurilpa precinct, which will facilitate the creation of around 10,000 additional dwellings over time.
- Reviewing Brisbane’s major centres (Carindale, Chermside, Garden City, Indooroopilly, Toombul and Toowong) to unlock more housing supply and create more local jobs.
- Identifying new Suburban Renewal Precincts, allowing a variety of attached housing types (including townhouses, duplexes and Terrace homes) on under-utilised land).
- Incentivising private and community housing providers by reducing infrastructure charges to deliver homes sooner. For community housing providers, this will save $1 million for every 100 homes built.
What policies do you have to lessen the cost-of-living load on uni students and young people?
We are balancing our budget to ensure Brisbane continues to have the cheapest residential rates in southeast Queensland, which helps reduce the pressure on rents. We’re making sure residents have access to active and healthy activities that are also affordable, like our $2 Summer Dips program, which will continue next summer. We’ve also made it easier and cheaper to hold events and festivals in our city and suburbs, which helps provide more to see and do for people of all ages.
I am aware that other people in this election are promising cheaper bus fares, but what they haven’t admitted is that it’s actually the State Government that sets fares and collects all the fare revenue.
What is your policy on refugees?
Brisbane is a city of diversity where residents of all cultures and backgrounds can thrive. We’re a community that is warm, welcoming and inclusive, with around 32% of residents born overseas.
Each year, we host a Refugee Welcome Ceremony to invite those who are new to Brisbane into our communities and connect them with services that will make living in Brisbane better.
Given the result of the last federal election in Brisbane electorates and the presence of a high-profile Greens mayoral candidate, what does the LNP consider an acceptable swing against them?
Every resident should feel concerned about the radical and risky Greens taking Brisbane backwards.
From precincts like Howard Smith Wharves and West Village, to coffee carts in parks, our team is committed to making Brisbane even better while Labor and the Greens have rejected all of these great new precincts and initiatives. We want to deliver more of these great entertainment precincts that improve our lifestyle and nightlife.
Most importantly the Greens continue to actively oppose the construction of more homes during a housing crisis. They claim that they want to see more homes built but their actual record in Council is voting against new homes.
That’s why we’re urging young people to see beyond the empty Green rhetoric and instead Just Vote 1 for Team Schrinner.
Now for a fun one, what’s your favourite place in Brisbane?
A great part of this job is being able to see so much of our city and suburbs as I travel to every corner.
Having been in Brisbane my whole life, it’s hard to pick a favourite because there’s a lot of places on my shortlist, but right now it would have to be the thriving West Village precinct.
Lastly, why should the students and young people of Brisbane vote for you as Lord Mayor?
Because I wake up every day focused on making Brisbane the best place it can be, and I have a fantastic and experienced team who have the same passion.
Brisbane is moving in the right direction but there’s so much more to do. We have a proven track record of improving Brisbane, unlike the risky alternative who have no experience running a city.
We are building better roads, improving public transport with state-of-the-art new Brisbane Metro services and keeping the budget balanced to ease pressure off household rates and rents.
We are also making Brisbane’s lifestyle even better with new precincts like Howard Smith Wharves, new parks and green spaces, maintaining our pools and bringing more to our libraries for people of all ages to enjoy.
