Labor State member for Aspley and Shadow Transport Minister Bart Mellish MP has revealed that the LNP Council and LNP State Government are currently at loggerheads over whose responsibility it is to deliver the next stage of the Cabbage Tree Creek Pathway project.
Via his social media channels, Mr. Mellish revealed correspondence to him from both the LNP Council Chair for Infrastructure, Cr. Ryan Murphy, and LNP State Minister for Transport, Brett Mickelberg, in which they accuse each other of being responsible for the progression of the second stage of the project.
The pathway connects Beams Road to Zillmere via an active travel bridge across Cabbage Tree Creek, which is of particular benefit to Aspley State High School students.
When a Minister in the former Miles Labor state government, Mr. Mellish had secured $5 million of state funding for the project in their final 2024 budget, to be delivered to Brisbane City Council (BCC) via a grant.
BCC is responsible for the planning, design and construction of the project, as the pathway consists of BCC’s active travel network.
However, Cr. Murphy claims in his email that Council is waiting on the now LNP State government to ‘execute’ the agreement before the project can proceed.
On the other hand, the LNP State Transport Minister Brett Mickelberg claims in his letter that “there is no agreement in place with BCC”, suggesting that he may reallocate the funds to somewhere else in Queensland.
“…my Department is engaged directly to determine its priority as part of the BCC network.”
“…there are many projects across the State which require investment, and the Crisafulli Government balances these needs based on priority given the finite budget.”
Mr. Mellish called on Council and State to get together and work out a plan, saying that, “this sort of bickering is what turns people off politics”.
“I’ll be the first to congratulate…whoever delivers this project. The money is there. Let’s just work together and get this built for locals.”
