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 jurisdiction includes 26 wards and 27 elected councillors covering 1338km². BCC is overseen by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner, and the Council of Brisbane (all councillors of the City of Brisbane) and the Civic Cabinet (Councillors that chair one of eight standing committees within BCC). The Council's CEO is Colin Jensen, supported by EO Ainsley Gold.

Strategy

Brisbane City Council is guided by two core future planning documents: ''Brisbane's Future Blueprint'' (infrastructure, cultural, and capital works projects), and ''Brisbane Vision 2031'' (corporate and city planning). Council also does more frequent but smaller scale community consultations through the ''Your City Your Say'' platform.

''Brisbane Future Blueprint''

''Brisbane's Future Blueprint'' is a community-developed document, released in June 2018, outlining what the City Council's goals should be. One in five households in Brisbane, representing every suburb, responded to the community consultation, totalling over 100,000 responses. More than 15,000 unique suggestions to improve Brisbane were put forward. The Blueprint provides for eight principles and 40 specific actions to make Brisbane a "friendly and liveable city":

# Create a city of neighbourhoods
# Protect and create greenspace
# Create more to see and do
# Protect the Brisbane backyard and our unique character
# Ensure best practice design that complements the character of Brisbane
# Empower and engage residents
# Get people home quicker and safer with more travel options
# Give people more choice when it comes to housing

''Brisbane Vision 2031''

''Brisbane Vision 2031'' is the City Council's long-term plan for developing Brisbane City. It outlines an additional eight principles to consider in developing Council policy and supplements the City Council's Corporate Plan 2016-17 and 2020-21.

Structure

Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane holds a role as the Chief "Elected" Executive of the Brisbane City Council, parallel to the role of the Chief Executive Officer, which is held by a civilian employee of the Council. The Lord Mayor has a four-year term between elections, coinciding with general councillor elections. The current Lord Mayor of Brisbane is Adrian Schrinner of the Liberal National Party, supported by Krista Adams, the Deputy Mayor.

Council of Brisbane and the Civic Cabinet

The Council of Brisbane is the high-level administrative board of the City Council, composed of all elected councillors in the City of Brisbane. There are 27 councillors, 26 from electoral wards in Brisbane and the Lord Mayor. The Civic Cabinet, otherwise known as the Establishment and Coordination Committee, manages the Council's day-to-day tasks, and acts as a Board of Directors-style caucus. It is composed of the Chairs of Council's seven other standing committees:

* Economic Development and the Olympics Committee (Krista Adams - Deputy Mayor of Brisbane)
* Finance and Corporate Governance Committee (Fiona Cunningham)
* Environment, Parks and Sustainability Committee (Tracy Davis)
* Community, Arts and Nighttime Economy Committee (Vicki Howard)
* City Standards, Community Health and Safety Committee (Kim Marx)
* Infrastructure Committee (Andrew Wines)
* Transport Committee (Ryan Murphy)
* City Planning and Suburban Renewal Committee (Adam Allan)

Generally, the Lord Mayor is also the Chair of the Establishment and Coordination Committee, and as a result, is the Chair and member of the Civic Cabinet as well. Each Committee works alongside its relevant organisational divisions to "consider Council policy, provide advice to Council and delivers results for the people of Brisbane."

Organisational divisions

Within BCC, there are six different organisational divisions representing the core tasks of the Council. Each division had its own Divisional Manager, who is accountable to the Council of Brisbane, the Civil Cabinet, and the CEO/EO. As of April 2020, the six divisions and their managers are:

* City Administration and Governance - Pip Hold
* Organisational Services - Bill Lyon
* City Planning and Sustainability - Andrea Kenafake
* Lifestyle and Community Services - Tash Tobias
* Transport for Brisbane - Geoffrey Beck
* Brisbane Infrastructure - Scott Stewart

These divisions are ''organisational,'' meaning that they're not subject to the changes in the elected administration nor are elected themselves.

Current composition

History

Pre-1900s

* 1823: John Oxley names the Brisbane River after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
*1842–1880: Civilians start occupying Brisbane, making it the main site of commerce for the region.
*3 October 1859: The first elections for the Mayor of Brisbane are held, following the declaration of Brisbane as a local government municipality named after the river on which it sits. John Petrie was unanimously elected out of 37 candidates.

1900s

* 1924: The Parliament of Queensland passes the City of Brisbane Act, creating a single City Council for all the City of Brisbane, rather than the previous 20 various authorities and boards.
* 1 October 1925: The new City Council is begins operation, under its first Mayor of Brisbane, William Jolly.
* 8 April 1930: Governor of Queensland, John Goodwin officially opens the Brisbane City Hall.
*1939: Brisbane is made the headquarters of Allies of World War II in the South Pacific for Australian and American service personnel. The original offices are now part of the MacArthur Chambers.
*1982: Brisbane hosts the Commonwealth Games.
*1988: Brisbane hosts Expo 88, giving birth to South Bank Parklands, the now central cultural area of Brisbane and home of the Brisbane City Council head office.

2000s

* 1 July 2010: The Legislative Assembly of Queensland passes the ''City of Brisbane Act 2010'' as part of a state-wide review of local government legislation, formalising and consolidating state legislation about the City of Brisbane.
* 2010-2013: Brisbane City Hall reopens after significant restoration and renovation.
*November 2014: Brisbane hosts the G20 Leaders Summit.

See also

* List of mayors and lord mayors of Brisbane
* City of Brisbane

References

Notes

External links

* {{Official website, brisbane.qld.gov.au

City of Brisbane
City councils
1924 establishments in Australia
Local government in Queensland