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February 3, 2026 — 4:48pm
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie was heckled on Tuesday as he announced a plan to sell off excess government land to boost Queensland’s housing supply.
Bleijie said the first sale – a six-hectare former Energex site at Banyo in north Brisbane – would result in hundreds of new homes being fast-tracked to the market through Economic Development Queensland.
Other pieces of government-owned land would go to market through EDQ in coming months, Bleijie said, and developers would be able to make offers to the government should they “see vacant state government land that should be utilised for housing that we haven’t picked up”.
“EDQ now own this site, and they are going to partner with the private sector to deliver 400 new homes right here,” he said at Banyo on Tuesday.
“This is going to be great for the local community.”
That prompted an emphatic interjection of “Bullshit!” from one member of that community.
The heckler in question, Keith Bitossi, was one of a small band of locals drawn to the sight of a media pack in their quiet street.
Bitossi said the first hint that something was afoot came on Saturday, when the Crisafulli government’s trademark “Delivering for Queensland” bunting was installed around the site’s perimeter.
“I don’t know how the local infrastructure is going to handle that much more traffic,” he said.
“The roads are already blocked during peak hours around here. They’re only narrow streets.
“[Bleijie] was just saying that it’s meant to fit in with the community. Well, you look around here, it’s all low density. He’s talking medium density, and it’s all units.
“There are no units here. So how does this fit in? It’s not what the community wants at all.”
Bleijie said community consultation would be part of the approvals process, but he did not anticipate any hurdles.
“EDQ go through the same processes of development approvals, and they’ll talk to the community. I think it’ll be a great benefit to the community,” he said.
“Community can have a say. We’re starting this process today, and that’s what this is about. Then that feedback can be put into the EDQ.”
Property Council of Australia Queensland executive director Jess Caire said enabling the private sector to identify and register interest in underutilised government land was critical to boosting housing supply.
“Boosting supply through activating land is obviously critical to addressing our supply crisis,” she said.
“We are in a supply crunch, and that is our biggest barrier. The best thing that we can do is act swiftly to get new supply to market.”
Bleijie said the “nation-leading” policy would force government departments to give up underutilised land, but there would be no requirement for social or affordable housing.
“The market will determine that, but I would say this – availability equals affordability. More houses in the market will bring prices down,” he said.
Queensland Council of Social Services chief executive Aimee McVeigh had her doubts.
“Without government taking steps to open up social and affordable housing to people on low incomes, to invest in social and affordable housing, there won’t be social and affordable housing in well-located areas,” she said, while still welcoming the increased supply.
“We do need government to step up on that front and work in partnership with developers to make sure we have adequate supply of social and affordable housing that’s well located.”
Deputy Opposition Leader Cameron Dick said Bleijie’s plan was a “big win for property developers” at the expense of Queenslanders.
“We need more homes in Queensland, but we also need more affordable homes, and when Jarrod Bleijie refuses to set targets, percentages, or any measure at all to deliver affordable homes, it’s Queenslanders who will lose,” he said.
“Rents on the Gold Coast are now higher than rents in Sydney. We are in the grip of a housing affordability crisis in Queensland, and the government must use its power to ensure more Queenslanders can get into more affordable homes.”
Dick said the previous government did not utilise the vacant Banyo land because it was contaminated.
“It’s been used for industrial purposes, and there are issues in relation to PFAS [“forever” chemicals] and asbestos,” he said.
But Bleijie insisted the site was safe.
“All the appropriate assessments have been undertaken,” he said.
“This land was on the environmental register, but it is now safe to develop after all these years.”
None of that placated Bitossi and the other locals at the announcement, who feared it would “wreck the neighbourhood”.
“It’d be a dream to see parkland or sports field – something like that would be great, it would be the ultimate for us,” he said.
“We understand … there is a housing crisis, but this is not what we wanted in the area.”
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