The Brisbane Institute was an independent

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia.

History

The Brisbane Institute was founded in 1999. Peter Botsman, who had previously been the executive director of the

Evatt Foundation The H.V. Evatt Memorial Foundation is an Australian think tank founded in memory of Australian politician, judge, historian and diplomat H. V. Evatt. It is based in Sydney, with members and supporters from around the world. It is a progressive ...

, was the inaugural Director. Botsman left Brisbane in 2001 to run the

Whitlam Institute The Western Sydney University Parramatta Campus is one of ten Western Sydney University campuses. It is situated in the suburb of Parramatta in the City of Parramatta. The campus consists of two sites; Parramatta South Campus (main campus, at ...

at the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

. Operations were ceased in 2013, despite the organisation still having an active website. Their last social media post was on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

27 September 2013, where it self-describes as "Queensland's forum for ideas, insight and innovation", and signalled the institution was defunct from that point onward.

Activities and issues

The Brisbane Institute was very active in its first two years, holding seminars, breakfast and lunch discussions and weekly lectures. Notable speakers included

Noel Pearson Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid *Mount Noel, Britis ...

Derek Shearer Derek Shearer (born December 5, 1946) is an American former diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Finland.Wadler, Joyce.Lloyd Shearer, Longtime Celebrity Columnist, Dies at 84" ''The New York Times''. May 27, 2001. Retrieved on ...

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Sy ...

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

, Justice Michael Kirby, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws and the painter

Jeffrey Smart Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions". Smart was born and educated ...

. The Institute specialised in social, political, economic and cultural issues. In 2004-05 it had a particular emphasis on the regional planning issues confronting

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

. In addition to the regular functions, the Brisbane Institute also curated exhibitions, including 'The Two Hundred Kilometre City' and 'Defending the North: Queensland in the Pacific War'. The Brisbane Institute curated the exhibition ''The 200 Kilometre City'', which opened in September 2004 at the

Museum of Brisbane Museum of Brisbane (MoB) explores contemporary and historic Brisbane, Australia, and its people through a program of art and social history exhibitions, workshops, talks, tours and children's activities. Located on Level 3, of Brisbane City Hall ...

. The title refers to the linear urban development extending from

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

Noosa The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of . It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it was ...

and the possibility of that development being continuous sometime in the future. Currently, 2.335 million people live in this area, 1.8 million of which live in Brisbane. It is estimated that the total population of the "200 Kilometre city" could be 7 million by 2026. A related issue put forward by the institute is that of the amount of "green space" in SEQ. In an audit by the Institute comparing the green space of greater

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and SEQ, it was found that 17.4% of SEQ was green space (including National Park, Conservation Park, State Forest and State Reserve) compared with 42.9% of Greater Sydney. The study area for both cities was East-West and North-South.Green Space Audit of South East Queensland

Funding

The Brisbane Institute was funded by the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, the

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

, the

Queensland State Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

and a number of companies. The Institute ran an

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

on its website called ''The Brisbane Line'' - a somewhat cheeky title alluding to the widespread fear and belief in Queensland that in the event of an invasion of Queensland by the Japanese in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, that the rest of Australia through the Federal government would abandon all of Queensland to the north of Brisbane (the theoretical '

Brisbane Line The "Brisbane Line" was a defence proposal supposedly formulated during World War II to concede the northern portion of the Australian continent in the event of an Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II, invasion by the Japan ...

'.)

Recognition

The Brisbane Institute received a mention in

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

's ''The Latham Diaries'' (2005), on page 109.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Brisbane Institute Website
��archived
From Noosa to the Tweed PDF

Brisbane Institute, The 1999 establishments in Australia Organisations based in Brisbane