Brisbane’s Lord Mayor and Queensland’s transport Minister are set for peace talks over a flood-ruined ‘eyesore’ that threatens to cast a shadow over the city’s wider recovery effort.
Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday announced Major General Jake Ellwood as the state’s new flood recovery co-ordinator.
But the Premier was also forced to address a spat between the Brisbane City Council and a member of her cabinet over the progress of the flood clean-up.
Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Labor MP Mark Bailey are scheduled meet on Wednesday to discuss the future of the former Drift restaurant which has, once again, found itself a flashpoint amid severe flooding of the Brisbane River.
The old restaurant, which sat atop a floating barge, was famously smashed during the 2011 floods as its moorings broke free and it washed downstream.
The venue has sat unused by the river at Milton ever since, with a number of plans emerging to relaunch the restaurant.
However, the building suffered more damage during last week’s deluge and was washed up on to the nearby Bicentennial Bikeway, which is now blocked.
Mayor Schrinner on Tuesday kicked off a back-and-forth when he called on the state government and the owner of the building to find a solution.
“This issue has already been allowed to drift along for far too long,” he said.
Mr Bailey posted a video of his own during his Tuesday morning cycle, saying he had already responded to a request from council.
He also lamented the state of the silt-covered Riverside Drive bike path at West End.
“It’s more of a beach than a bikeway,” Minister Bailey said.
“I don’t know what the city council is doing more than a week after the floods but they’re certainly not fixing active transport which … it’s pretty simple to get out here with a scraper and sort it out.”
Mr Bailey said he had spoken with the council on Monday night and offered to assist with the Drift issue.
“We will work hard to get that done, I don’t know why it has taken more than a week for city council to raise that with us,” he said.
Ms Palaszczuk on Tuesday said the City Council and Minister Bailey were due to meet on Wednesday to hash it out.
“Can I tell you we need a solution for this … It's been sitting there for a long, long time,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“And it is a bit of an eyesore. So let’s work through it and come up with a solution.”
Swathes of Brisbane, Ipswich, Gympie, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast face billions of dollars worth of damage after months worth of rain battered southeast Queensland last week, destroying homes and livelihoods and killing 13 people so far.
To help push the clean-up effort along, Ms Palaszczuk and Federal Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday announced the appointment of Major General Ellwood as the state’s flood recovery co-ordinator.
Major General Ellwood has 30 years of service under his belt including campaigns in Kosovo and Iraq and spent three years at the helm of 1st Division at the Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera.
“What I want to do is get out on the ground and to talk to people to understand the issues to understand the environment so that we can make sure that we‘re prioritising things correctly,” he said.
“Because that is important that and that’s a big job and there’s going to be a lot that will have to be done.
“There are going to be hurdles, there will be obstacles, but together we will overcome it.”
