MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
By Teresa Harding
October is the month in which mayors and councillors from across Queensland gather for the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) annual conference.
It’s not just a chance to network, but also to learn from each other, meet with key government stakeholders, and set the advocacy agenda for local government in Queensland.
This year I had the opportunity to join my fellow mayors, Peter Flannery from Moreton Bay and Tanya Milligan from the Lockyer Valley, on a panel session to share how our councils are addressing the challenges of homelessness.
While housing and homelessness is primarily a responsibility of the Queensland Government, we all have a role to play in supporting the most vulnerable members of our community.
Here in Ipswich, we try to take a human-focused approach, where we work closely with the Department of Communities and our community service providers to offer accommodation and support as our highest priority.
This is certainly a focus for all councils, particularly those in the south-east, but Ipswich is charting its own course to take a different approach to how we deal with this complex and important challenge.
This month, I also had the opportunity to share Ipswich’s journey to the Brisbane 2032 Games as a panellist at the Queensland Olympic and Paralympic Infrastructure Summit.
Opening in 2022, Brighton Homes Arena was the first Olympic venue to be completed following our successful Games bid and has since delivered a significant economic and social boost to our city.
There is always a risk that facilities built for the Olympic and Paralympic Games can end up as “white elephants” with the burden falling to ratepayers to fund and maintain these venues.
For us, Brighton Homes Arena has already proved its worth as the home of the Brisbane Lions, the home ground for their successful AFLW team, and a high-performance training base for both teams.
Talking on a panel with industry and government experts, I discussed the opportunities this once-in-a-lifetime event can offer the region but also the importance of equitable infrastructure investment across South East Queensland.
This was closely followed by my recent appointment to the Brisbane 2032 Host Mayors Advisory Group, where I look forward to advocating alongside my fellow mayors to ensure the Games can deliver lasting legacies for all councils – not just Brisbane.
It is shaping up to be a very hot summer, which brings the possibility of destructive storms.
Thank you to those that have already taken advantage of our free green waste disposal weekends. Our next free disposal is coming up on November 8 and 9 at Riverview and Rosewood.
