MOUNT COOT-THA PROTECTION ALLIANCE TAKES AIM AT BOTANIC GARDENS LIGHT SHOW APPROVAL
The Mount Coot-tha Protection Alliance (MCPA) has expressed deep disappointment with Council’s recent
approval of the Lumina Light Show for Brisbane’s treasured Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, and frustration with
what the group describes as a “futile” consultation process.
MCPA spokesperson on this proposal, Bronwyn Raftery, said that “Brisbane City Council, who solicited the
design proposal from a single overseas company with no tender, appears never to have wanted the public to
have any real say in the outcome of the application.
“Literally 99% of the public submissions opposed the project on multiple grounds, including its impact on
fauna and flora, the additional noise and traffic, and the inappropriate commercialisation of public space.
Detailed submissions opposing the plan were made by qualified ecologists, indigenous Australians, thirteen
community and conservation associations, the local State MP and hundreds of ordinary citizens.
“The approval makes a mockery of public consultation. Imagine a scoreline of 477-6 resulting in a match
being awarded to the loser. Yet this is exactly what has happened here, and it suggests that overwhelming
and reasoned community counts for nothing if Council wants to bulldoze a proposal through.
“To take just one issue – the loss of a critical unlit area linking the river and its creek systems with the Mt
Coot-tha bushland – so important for nocturnal species including micro-bats to visit and pass through, the
decision completely disregarded the National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife, even though these were
raised with the proponents at the very first public meeting.
“The approval also overlooks the noise and light disturbance from as many as 2,400 people arriving each
night, in up to six one-hour sessions, together with the cars and buses bringing them.
“The Gardens are one of the nation’s leading scientific botanical collections, yet Council decided that its own
requirement for developments to “preserve and restore areas of high botanical and zoological significance”
doesn’t even apply, on the technicality that the Botanic Gardens are not designated as a biodiversity area.
Ms. Raftery also noted that statements made in support of the Botanic Gardens location during public
meetings have been undermined by the inception of light-shows at other city locations.
“When asked why the far more accessible and less sensitive Roma Street Gardens weren’t chosen instead, the
proponents argued that there was too much light there and they were not suitable. Yet now we see the
Enchanted Gardens light show being run at Roma Street quite successfully, as well as a short-term light show
in the City Centre Botanical Gardens.
Ms. Raftery said that MCPA believes those most involved with the Gardens could offer important insights on
this proposal, and expressed disappointment that Gardens employees and Volunteer Guides have been
instructed to make no public comment on it, repeating Council’s edict regarding the earlier zipline proposal.
“We consider this decision is a defeat for Brisbane residents, whose affection for the mountain and its
environs runs deep, but a win for the privatisation of public space. We encourage residents to remind Council
of their wish to protect and preserve Mount Coot-tha and surrounds at every opportunity. That could include
asking their candidates in the forthcoming City Council election to state their position on this issue and the
protection of Mt. Coot-tha more broadly.”