James Gerard Soorley (born 8 April 1951) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Lord Mayor of Brisbane The Lord Mayor of Brisbane is the chief executive of the City of Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland, and the head of the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner of the Liberal National Party was sworn in on ...

from 1991 to 2003. Soorley is a former Roman Catholic Priest. Soorley has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, majoring in psychology, from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

, and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

organisational psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational ...

from

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

Lord Mayor of Brisbane

The 1991 election was a close election with Soorley just edging out the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane Sally Anne Atkinson through the preferences of

Drew Hutton Peter Drew Hutton (born 1947) is an Australian activist, academic, campaigner and past political candidate. Hutton co-founded the Queensland Greens (in 1990) and Australian Greens (in 1991) and ran in elections in Queensland and Australia at a ...

, the Greens candidate. Soorley was not expected to wrest the Lord Mayoralty from the very popular first female (and first

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

) mayor of Brisbane. The transition period between Atkinson's administration and the incoming Soorley administration was difficult, with the outgoing Atkinson refusing to believe she had lost the election for many weeks afterwards. Soorley was a virtual "unknown" at that first election, but was one of the few Australian politicians to increase his popular vote in each of the next three elections, standing as Lord Mayor for 13 years. Soorley defeated the following Liberal candidates: 1991 Sally Anne Atkinson; 1994 Bob Ward; 1997 Bob Mills; and 2000 Gail Austen.

Impact

Some of the changes in Brisbane Soorley has been credited with include allowing widespread footpath dining, introduction of the

CityCat RiverCity Ferries is a public transport company which commenced operating ferry services in Brisbane on 4 November 2020. It is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group. RiverCity Ferries operates 32 vessels serving 21 wharves on the Brisbane River un ...

ferries, advancing the Busway system, building the Inner City Bypass, starting

Riverfestival The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the ...

including the popular River''fire'' fireworks and the River Feast, bringing all sewage treatment up to at least secondary treatment standards (with removal of nitrogen and phosphorus to additional standards), a citywide recycling program, gas

CNG Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cyl ...

powered buses, starting air conditioning on buses, accelerating the purchase of "at risk" bushland, Implementing a system of long term re-habilitation for old

municipal solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

tips and a long term plan to link riverfront land and open it up to the people of Brisbane through a series of pathways called Riverwalk. Soorley also instituted a number of institutional changes including a 24/7

Call Centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...

; "business style" accounting for budgets and annual reporting, enterprise bargaining, significant changes to leave and other entitlements, increased employment opportunities through increased apprenticeships, traineeships and community jobs programs, including a nationally awarded program for "at risk youth" who were recovering from drug addiction, as well as a shift from Brisbane Council being only concerned with "rates, roads, rubbish" to taking on issues such as drug use, homelessness, domestic violence and social justice. Before leaving office Soorley started the major infrastructure projects, such as the

Eleanor Schonell Bridge The Eleanor Schonell Bridge, better known as the Green Bridge, is a 390-metre (1,280 ft)-long cable-stayed bridge which crosses the Brisbane River between Dutton Park and the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus, connecting the U ...

(previously known as the Green Bridge) from

Dutton Park Dutton Park is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Dutton Park had a population of 2,024 people. Geography Dutton Park is located about south of the Brisbane CBD. It is bounded to the north-east ...

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

and North-South Bypass Tunnel. In 1995 Soorley ended Brisbane's sister city relationship with the French Riviera town of Nice due to France's resumption of nuclear testing, a move which he described as a "symbolic protest."

Post-political career

Soorley currently writes a weekly column for '' The Sunday Mail'' and is a registered lobbyist in Queensland. As of 2017 he is Chairman of Sunshine Coast water business Unitywater, and a board member of government-owned electricity generation company

CS Energy CS Energy is an Australia-based electricity generating company fully owned by the Government of Queensland with its head office located in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. The company was established in 1997 and employs more than 500 staff. Jim Soor ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soorley, Jim Australian Labor Party mayors Mayors and Lord Mayors of Brisbane Living people 1951 births Macquarie University alumni