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When Debra Henry stands up to speak at the Brisbane population forum she will be well-armed with knowledge and confident she has the unequivocal backing of her community. Martin Rasini talks to a woman on a mission.

Redland City Councillor Debra Henry

Redland City Councillor Debra Henry is committed to challenging the growth paradigm and plans to make her personal views known at the Brisbane and Sunshine Coast population forums organised by the Queensland Conservation Council, the Sunshine Coast Environment Council and other environmental groups.

Cr Henry considers the latest South East Queensland Regional Plan to be a ‘scary blueprint’ for an unwanted future in which quality of life is sacrificed for little if any benefit.

“The Redland City Council elected in 2008 has focused on preserving lifestyle, and environment and community values while taking steps to control growth through its planning process,” she said.

“However, with the latest South East Queensland Regional Plan the state government is moving the goal posts. The plan significantly raises the intensity of development, increasing pressures on everything from lifestyle, open space and wildlife to road, rail, education and healthcare infrastructure.”

Cr Henry has been active in pursuing community-focused social and environmental outcomes since the late 1980s when she became involved with green groups after being motivated by a statement from the UN’s Commission on Environment and Development.

In 1996, she prepared a 15,000-word submission on the Redland council’s strategic plan which, she says, was completely ignored.

Not liking the direction of the then Redland council, Cr Henry had stood for election on a green platform in 2000. Although unsuccessful in this attempt, Cr Henry was encouraged to stand again and, her views having won the support of residents, she was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008.

Cr Henry said that, while there was a role for higher density housing, increasingly the community was coming to the view that many southeast Queensland areas were already approaching the maximum population for retention of a wholesome lifestyle.

“We must acknowledge that there are limits to growth and it appears that we are fast approaching, and may have already surpassed, those limits if traditional community values, lifestyles and the ecosystems are to be preserved,” she said.

“The inevitability of growth is a myth. Growth targets are merely predictions based on current trends of immigration plus births minus deaths. Immigration programs are entirely within the control of government and can be reduced until such time as Australia’s carrying capacity has been determined.

“Similarly, the Federal Government can abandon its policy of paying people to have children.

“Changes to these two policies would go a long way to stabilising Australia’s population.”

Cr Henry is also unhappy about the government attitude to Australia’s ageing population.

“It infuriates me the way the government goes on about the rising number of over-65s, viewing them as a burden and advocating the importation of people as a way to meet the additional costs which, it claims, are associated with longevity,” she said..

“I believe we are in a transition period and the ‘bulge’ of older residents should be viewed as temporary.

“Even were the claimed additional costs real and unable to be met by other means, our politicians have had the resources and should have faced the consequences of an expanding ageing population long ago.

“Now, suddenly, it is being touted as a huge problem. It  certainly needs to be carefully considered but so too should the significant costs associated with providing for the needs of a younger generation.”

Cr Henry says that, while many believe growth is good for the economy, this view has not been proven.

“I advocate alternative positions and challenge the status quo because things just don’t add up,” she said.

“Take the issue of population capping. Whenever capping is discussed the response is: We want our children to live here and capping will drive up home prices.

“Nevertheless, despite the fact there has been no population capping and no restriction by government on the rezoning of land for residential purposes, home prices have escalated alarmingly. And, somehow, the position that capping will drive up prices is held alongside the popular view that house price escalation is good without any realisation that the two positions are incompatible.

“Land-banking by developers is a factor contributing to housing affordability and there needs to be strong advocacy for the impacts of land-banking on the housing market to be scrutinised.”

Cr Henry said those who question the status quo need to network better to make sure the broader community is given adequate and comprehensive information on which to make important decisions.

“It is not difficult to recognise that constant expansion in a finite world is an impossibility,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter how small the area in which a person can live, the ecological footprint spreads much farther than their own backyard or balcony. When people understand this, and when other myths are dispelled, we’ll be on our way to sustainability.”

Cr Henry said councils were doing what they could to prompt the State Government to face the population issue and to convince the community that the government’s long-held commitment to growth at any cost was unsustainable.

“In recent years, at the insistence of the State Government, councils were required to develop Local Growth Management Strategies (LGMS) to demonstrate how they would meet growth ‘targets’,” she said.

“In 2008, the newly- elected Redland City Council submitted its LGMS with a proviso.

“We accepted the government’s ‘targets’ only after further detailed studies to ascertain whether or not such growth was within the Redlands’ carrying  capacity – the maximum population able to be accommodated indefinitely without suffering any loss of amenity, including natural environment.

“Last year, Redland City councillors voted to place a motion before the Local Government Association of Queensland’s annual conference seeking to ensure that the projected growth and population distribution be in keeping with the social and natural environment. The motion was unanimously adopted.”

Cr Henry said she believed the political system itself was responsible for many of the problems we faced and that ‘things needed to be done differently’.

“The donation system allows significant influence to be brought to bear on government decision-making by a small group of powerful people, often leading to outcomes that are not in the best interests of the wider community,” she said.

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