Brisbane’s LNP Council has revealed that they have spent almost half a million dollars to date on advertising the “Every Good Story Needs a Sequel” marketing campaign for the Story Bridge Renewal project.
The most expensive spend was “media placements” – radio and television advertising, costing ratepayers over $204,000 followed by “Creative campaign rollout” at $194,750 and “Creative campaign development” at $35,470.
Previous answers to questions on notice, also asked by the Brisbane Labor Opposition, revealed the LNP-controlled Council paid Darren Lockyer a five-figure sum to feature in the campaign.
The true figure is kept Commercial-in-Confidence – hidden from public knowledge.
Brisbane Labor Leader and Council Opposition Leader Cr. Jared Cassidy described that spend as “one of the saddest displays I’ve ever seen.”
During the June budget period, Cassidy told media that he had viewed years of redacted documents locked away in Brisbane Square which showed the Lord Mayor was presented with a road map on renewing the Story Bridge, which the LNP Lord Mayor and Council chose not to follow.
However, the redactions had hidden all options but one to Council on how much each option cost and who was responsible for doing what.
“Doing nothing” was the only option not hidden from Cr Cassidy’s view.
Council has spent $7 million on temporary footpaths over old footpaths, and $1 million on temporary blue netting to catch crumbling concrete from the old footpath underneath.
The Story Bridge footpaths were closed for over 200 days after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred had accelerated safety issues with the footpaths.
Previous reports seen by Cassidy showed that the footpaths had reached a level of ‘catastrophic’ risk to the public.
It’s understood the purpose of the Every Good Story Needs a Sequel campaign is to lobby the federal and state governments to commit funding to the Story Bridge renewal project and to convince the public that Council is acting now, despite multiple warnings over the past decade.
While the business case is still yet to be completed, Council already estimates that a complete renewal will cost at least $3.65 billion over the next 20 years.
A full renewal will not be ready in time for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Last year, the Story Bridge Restoration Committee had released a report commissioned by the Lord Mayor that suggested a toll on the bridge will be required if funding from other levels of government was not committed.
