Brisbane council explores CityCat bars as unions raise concerns

Brisbane City Council is exploring a trial of licensed bars on the city's double-decker CityCat ferries, with food and drinks potentially served from existing service decks. Unions say workers have not been consulted.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told the Courier Mail that the end-to-end journey takes more than 80 minutes. He said a bar could make the trip more appealing for visitors and for locals spending time on the river. The idea has a precedent in Sydney, where the Manly Fast Ferry serves alcohol and snacks on some services.

The Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Maritime Officers Union have raised concerns about extra workload, safety and managing intoxicated passengers. They say it is unclear who would run the bars or pay to refit the vessels. They have also questioned refrigeration and power requirements, and whether the extra equipment could be accommodated safely.

Mr Schrinner says he wants to discuss a trial with operator River City Ferries once negotiations over staff pay and conditions are resolved. The unions say they have paused protected industrial action while Fair Work Commission proceedings continue.

Committee for Brisbane chief executive Jen Williams supports testing demand, but stresses that CityCats must remain safe, reliable and accessible public transport. Council's Labor opposition has called the idea "wrong priorities", arguing that staff conditions, reliability and overcrowding should come first.

Housing figures: building up, finishing slowly

Cotality's latest report shows Brisbane home values fell 1.5 per cent in September, continuing a decline from the May peak, though values remain higher than a year earlier. Rents rose 6.4 per cent over the year to September.

On the supply side, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show more than 52,500 homes were under construction in Queensland at the end of June, the fourth consecutive quarterly record for the state. The government's own release says the number under construction rose 35.6 per cent over two years, while completions rose 4.2 per cent. A larger pipeline can reflect more projects starting as well as homes taking longer to finish, so the key test is how quickly that work becomes places to live.

Rider Levett Bucknall's latest count recorded 80 cranes across Brisbane, 54 of them working on residential projects.

In Logan, major construction has started on the Chambers Flat wastewater treatment plant, backed by $136 million from the state government's residential activation fund. The plant is intended to provide wastewater capacity for around 20,000 future homes between Park Ridge and Yarrabilba. That is capacity for future development, not homes already committed or built.

The government also says 1,500 community homes have been delivered on church and charity-owned land in less than two years, with almost 5,000 more underway. These contribute to its commitment of 10,000 homes on such land, within a broader target of 1 million new homes across Queensland by 2044.