On Monday 1 September 2025, I made a speech addressed to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to close Mount Coot-tha Quarry and rehabilitate it.
Transcript:
Ms WATSON-BROWN (Ryan): I have a simple message for the LNP Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner: Close Mount Coot-tha Quarry and rehabilitate it with a publicly owned and community led vision. It's that simple. For over a decade the community has called for the closure of the outdated, unnecessary quarry on Mount Coot-tha. After much pressure, council committed to its closure by 2025 and its rehabilitation. And now we find out—with no community consultation, no transparency, just a few lines buried in a long media release—that Mount Coot-tha quarry 'could continue to operate for another decade due to increasing use of recycled material in road base'. Another decade? This is another shameful broken promise.
What is a little puzzling is that the lord mayor is also talking up his vision of a renewed Mount Coot-tha in time for the 2032 Olympics that would involve luxury hotels, pay-for-access zip-lines and night-time light shows. A decade takes us to 2035, Adrian, well after the Olympics. There is something, though, that unites these two seemingly contradictory announcements: the love of private profiteering and a deep disregard for genuine public space. Instead of giving the big developers and mining companies everything they want, here's a thought: commit to making all of Mount Coot-tha a beautiful public asset, a luxury that everyone can access for free.