Bureaucrats adrift over the fate of a Brisbane floating restaurant
Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Labor MP Mark Bailey will meet today to discuss the former floating restaurant Drift and its future in the face of catastrophic flooding.
Council and the state government have been at odds as to who is responsible for the mess.
Drift has a history of trouble.
During the 2011 floods, the Drift restaurant, which sat atop a floating barge on the Brisbane River, broke free from its moorings and was washed downstream crashing into the Goodwill Bridge.
Authorities at the time told the owner to let it sink.
Since then, the venue has sat unused at its Milton site.
That was all set to change, when recently the leaseholder of the site, Ken Allsopp, had made plans to relaunch the restaurant.
However, these plans have now been put on hold as the building suffered more damage during last week’s flooding and blocked the Bicentennial Bikeway.
Allsopp has called for government-funded cranes to move the building so it can be fixed and reopened.
He said he was still waiting for compensation from the 2011 floods, after the Queensland government and state-owned operator SunWater last year agreed to pay victims of a class action $440 million.
State-owned dam operator Seqwater won an appeal of the decision that it was liable for the remaining 50 per cent of damages.
Flood victims have sought special leave from the High Court to overturn that decision.
On Tuesday, Mayor Schrinner called on the state government and the owner of the building to come up with a solution to the long-running saga.
He told ABC Radio Brisbane that the best thing for the Drift site was to be "demolished and start with something different" and that the government would work with the council to help address the issue.
“This issue has already been allowed to drift along for far too long,” Schrinner said.
Mr Bailey said had spoken with the council and offered to help.
“We will work hard to get that done, I don’t know why it has taken more than a week for city council to raise that with us,” he said.
Ms Palaszczuk confirmed on Tuesday that the City Council and Minister Bailey would meet on Wednesday to work it out.
“Can I tell you we need a solution for this … It's been sitting there for a long, long time,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“And it is a bit of an eyesore. So, let’s work through it and come up with a solution.”
Irit Jackson, 9th March 2022
