The Federal Government’s 2026-27 Budget has delivered a boost for active transport and e-bike safety, with new funding commitments that could shape how Australians ride and move for the next decade.
Among the headline measures is a $500 million investment over 10 years for walking and cycling infrastructure, alongside targeted funding to improve e-bike product safety standards and import compliance. The new infrastructure funding package will provide $50 million annually to support the construction and upgrade of bikeways, shared paths and walking infrastructure around the country. While details on project allocation are yet to be released, the commitment marks one of the largest dedicated federal active transport investments in recent years.
The funding arrives as state and local governments continue to grapple with rising demand for safer riding and walking corridors, particularly in growing urban areas where separated infrastructure remains limited.
Bicycle Queensland CEO Dr Matthew Burke said: “We’re delighted to see our nation’s Active Transport Infrastructure Fund become a long-term commitment, as has long been the case with road and rail funding. This was a good move by the Commonwealth and will be well-received by the millions of Australians who ride bikes.”
BQ is seeking a policy change that would build further cycling infrastructure as part of Commonwealth transport projects. When transport minister, Anthony Albanese sought to introduce a ‘positive provision’ policy that writes into Commonwealth grants that states must provide walking and cycling infrastructure as part of all urban road and rail projects. Footpaths and bikeways alongside and over the freeways would no longer be ‘gold-plating’ but become essential parts of the project. These policies are not controversial: they are widely adopted across the world; all Australia’s state governments have adopted them.
The Budget also includes $6.6 million to strengthen Australia’s product safety and recall systems for e-bikes and related devices. BQ and other state and national bike advocacy groups have been calling on the Commonwealth to take such steps. The reforms are expected to focus on improving compliance with recognised standards, including the European EN15194 standard, which limits pedal-assist e-bikes to 250 watts of continuous power and pedal assistance up to 25km/h.
Dr Burke said: “We believe this may involve new actions taken through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. This will hopefully penalise retailers who sell the most dangerous of the illegal, high-speed devices that are currently masquerading as pushbikes, and ensure they never get on our streets, paths or parks.”
BQ is still calling on the Commonwealth to introduce compulsory declarations by e-bike importers to state that they are only bringing in product that meets EN15194. This would also help stop the illegal devices from reaching our shores.
While the Federal Budget introduces stronger safety oversight and infrastructure funding, it stops short of offering direct purchase incentives for individuals buying e-bikes. There should be consideration for e-bikes to be included in Fringe Benefits Tax exemptions currently available for electric vehicles, as the change would help reduce congestion, emissions and transport costs. No such measure was included in this year’s Budget.
E-bikes and e-mobility are getting people moving.
The 2026-27 Budget signals that cycling infrastructure and e-bike policy are increasingly becoming part of mainstream transport planning at a federal level. But we will wait to see how effective this seed funding can be at delivering the major infrastructure changes needed, and whether the mess of non-compliant device import and sales can be cleaned up.
BQ's E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.
The Parliamentary Committee’s latest recommendations into Queensland’s proposed e-mobility laws still fail to properly address the core safety issues facing the state, while creating new uncertainty for riders, industry and enforcement agencies.
This is despite 5,000 public submissions to the committee, 95% of which are telling the Government that they are wrong on licences, very low speed limits and age restrictions for safe, legal e-bikes.
Bicycle Queensland welcomes only three of the proposed recommendations of the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee to amend the Transport and Other Legislation (Managing E-mobility Use and Protecting Our Communities) Amendment Bill 2026. The recommendations still avoids tackling the main issues around the sale of electric motorbikes and non-compliant devices in Queensland – despite the need to close the loopholes that allow it.
In terms of positive outcomes, BQ supports Recommendation 2, which would allow compliant e-bikes built to previous versions of the EN15194 standard to remain legal.
“Grandfathering earlier EN15194 compliant e-bikes is a sensible recommendation. It recognises that hundreds of thousands of safe, low-speed and low-power e-bikes are already in use across Queensland. Compliant e-bikes keep people moving and reduce congestion,” said BQ’s CEO Dr Matthew Burke.
We do have serious concerns about several other recommendations, particularly around proposed certification and exemption frameworks.
Recommendation 3 proposes investigating exemption pathways for devices that do not fully meet EN15194 standards, including adaptive e-trikes and mobility devices. Bicycle Queensland says the recommendation lacks detail and appears to underestimate the complexity and cost involved.
“There has been little evidence that the committee has properly thought through how such a scheme would work in practice,” Dr Burke said. “BQ supports e-mobility access for adaptive e-trikes and mobility devices. But a new certification and exemption process may require an entirely new network for assessment, compliance logging, verification and auditing, alongside specialist training for those undertaking assessments. None of that has been costed or explained.”
Similar concerns were raised about Recommendation 4, which proposes a statewide assurance and labelling scheme for compliant e-bikes.
“The bike industry, retailers and riders all welcome the addition of a possible pathway to compliance for the tens of thousands of safe, legal e-bikes that do not have compliance markings (as they weren’t ever needed before). But we need clarity before any new certification system is introduced.”
“At the moment, the recommendation is vague and risks creating confusion and unnecessary red tape for compliant riders and businesses. This new system of compliance will come at great cost and needs proper planning, lest it be abused and therefore ineffective. It needs a lot of consultation with the bike industries, advocates and other stakeholders to get this right. That can’t be done this month.”
We are particularly critical of Recommendation 5, which proposes exemption mechanisms for people unable to hold a driver licence due to disability, medical conditions or age.
“This recommendation still links the use of safe, legal e-bikes to driver licensing. Compliant, EN-standard e-bikes are low-speed, low-power devices that already operate within strict limits.
“Licensing requirements for compliant e-bikes should be scrapped entirely, not patched over with convoluted carve-out systems.”
There have been minor modifications to proposed footpath and shared-path speed rules but they remain poorly drafted and disconnected from how active transport infrastructure actually works in Queensland.
We welcome efforts to better define footpaths and separate them from shared paths, but the bill still fails to recognise multi-use trails and tourism infrastructure such as rail trails.
“That omission creates a significant legal grey area. Queensland has invested heavily in rail trails and recreational tourism infrastructure in National Parks, yet the bill still does not clearly account for those environments. Riders and operators could be caught in a legal trap.”
The committee’s suggestion of reduced speed limits within 10 metres of pedestrians was also described as impractical and unenforceable.
“The recommendation simply does not reflect real-world conditions,” Dr Burke said.
“A pedestrian could be sitting on a park bench, walking on the opposite side of a road, or using a separate footpath entirely. The proposal creates ambiguity for riders and law enforcement alike.”
While Recommendation 8 suggests guidance for companies like public hire schemes like Neuron and Lime, the likelihood is they will all leave Queensland. The licensing requirements and age limits will remove too much of their business for them to stay viable, as they told the Committee at hearings last week.
Recommendation 9 proposes a 12-month review of the legislation if passed. But we question whether the bill itself should proceed at all. “The missing link is comprehensive road safety education in primary and secondary schools. If Queensland is serious about improving behaviour and safety outcomes, and lowering the road toll education needs to begin long before someone gets in a car.”
“The best use of taxpayer money would be to scrap this bill and focus directly on the key safety issues.”
“That means targeting the importation and sale of illegal high-powered devices, cracking down on retailers doing the wrong thing, and properly funding Queensland Police to enforce the rules that already exist.”
“The current bill largely fails to do any of that. The Committee’s LNP majority seems to have no way out of the mess they themselves created. The Labor minority report makes clear just how emphatic the community response has been by Queenslanders of all walks of life to this terrible bill,” said BQ’s CEO Dr. Matthew Burke.
“We are amazed that the same rogue shops selling the same illegal high-speed and overpowered devices that created this whole mess, are still going to be in business and be allowed to sell the same dangerous products from 1st of July. It’s the number one thing this Committee should have done. That they’ve gone a year now and not realised it is stunning,” said BQ CEO Dr Matthew Burke.
“How the committee continues to get this so wrong is beyond us. They heard from internationally significant bicycle safety researchers who said 10km/h will create risk to riders and to those around them on paths as they becomes so unstable, but they refused to listen.”
“The bill remains a stinker and needs to be pulled.”
BQ's E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.
In light of the Queensland Government’s Draft e-mobility legislation, BQ hosted a pop up advocacy event in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens on the morning of April 21. With a lot of confusion around who the laws may effect and how, we wanted to be able to meet concerned riders to either inspect their bike for compliance, and hear how the draft laws may impact them.
BQ’s E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.
With over 100 riders dropping past, many bikes were inspected. Of the 40 bikes we managed to inspect to determine if they would meet the updated compliance, only 1 passed. However, all 40 are safe, legal e-bikes that are compliant under the current EN15194 regulations.
Along with other riding advocacy groups, BQ has major concerns about other new laws, including the maximum 10km/h speed for safe, legal e-bikes on shared paths and trails, and the need for a car licence and the under-16 ban.
We heard from riders who express concern that their use of a safe, legal e-bike to get around, meet friends and stay active might see them breaking the law – thanks to legislation that has been rushed through, without proper consultation to understand the negative impacts to riders of safe, legal e-bikes that meet the global compliance standards.
BQ’s E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.BQ’s E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.BQ’s E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.
‘This bike has just been so fantastic to open up my experience of Brisbane,’ one rider told us, who uses her e-bike for commuting, but also to visit other parts of Brisbane for nights out with her partner or friends. ‘And I’m being classed in the same sort of category as the illegal motorbikes, which is very unfair.’
‘We are getting people out of cars, we are getting them onto public transport, we are getting them onto bikes – we should keep that up,’ Joe Kelly MP told us while visiting the event. ‘If 95% of people are telling you you’re getting something wrong, you should probably listen to them.’
BQ had other politicians come along to show support, including Mark Bailey and Bart Mellish.
‘This exercise was useful in demonstrating to the public the scale of the problem of this bill, in currently having no pathway to compliance for bikes without a permanent EN15194 marking,’ said BQ’s CEO Dr Matthew Burke. ‘So many of the existing safe, legal e-bikes are going to be made non-compliant.’
While thousands of people have made submissions as a response to the draft legislation, you can still make an impact. Write to your local member to express your point of view, and if you’d like to support Bicycle Queensland you can do so via a donation, or better yet – by becoming a BQ Member.
BQ’s E-bike rally at Brisbane Botanic Gardens 21-04-2026 to save safe legal e-bikes. Photo by Element Photo and Video Productions.
BQ’s Weekend at Pomona is closing in fast, with our latest ride event taking place from May 16-17 – although we will be on-site at Pomona Showgrounds from the afternoon of May 15.
We have a complete rider sheet with timings, essential phone numbers and a suggested pack list prepared.
All the main rides have been outlined in a Ride with GPS event. Riders need to download the routes to their phones or GPS devices for safe route navigation on the rides. You will need to sign up for a free Ride with GPS account to download the routes.
There is a ride briefing online now, for details on the event and how it will run. BQ will have short rider briefings on the morning of each ride, as listed in the event sheet.
We also have a range of advice around what bike you should bring to BQ’s Weekend at Pomona, to make sure you enjoy the weekend away:
If you have more questions, don’t forget to reach out to the BQ team: info@BQ.org.au.
Camping at Pomona Showgrounds
If you want to camp, ensure you contact the showgrounds to book your tent or caravan space. We’ve had the below maps provided for an idea on the layout.
Bicycle Queensland has delivered our submission to the Transport and Other Legislation (Managing E-mobility Use and Protecting Our Communities) Amendment Bill 2026 to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee.
While BQ is supportive of many elements of the Bill, we have outlined the main parts of the Bill that BQ does not support, as we seek to defend safe, legal e-bike use. Licensing, 10km/h limits on shared paths, age restrictions and a lack of clear e-bike definitions will harm the uptake of safe, legal e-biking and reduce participation in active transport and recreation. This will have a direct impact on road congestion and road trauma involving bike riders.
This Bill will make Queensland the hardest place in the world to ride a safe, legal e-bike.
If you stand with Bicycle Queensland and don’t want to see impacts to safe, legal e-bike use – please act now. Every voice counts! We encourage you to use the key points of our submission, or the complete submission.
Urgent changes BQ is requesting
1. A clear and workable e-bike definition – that covers the 200,000+ safe, legal e-bikes Queenslanders own now.
2. Dropping all licensing, speed limits and age bans for legal e-bikes – they are an unreasonable imposition, supported by absolutely no evidence, and are unnecessary if we get rid of the illegal devices.
3. Investment in the active transport infrastructure Queensland needs – as not one additional dollar has been committed to this, despite the Parliamentary Inquiry’s recommendation.
You can take the actions below:
Write to your local State MP, to explain the positive impacts of e-mobility and how the above recommendations would limit your use of active transport and recreation. Look up your local member here online.
Join Bicycle Queensland. Help us fight for you for just $49 via a BQ Supporter membership. Or get insurance too with our full, concession or household membership packages.
On January 27, Brisbane City Council officially opened the Viola Place bikeway. It’s a really important 600-metre shared path connecting Viola Place to Schneider Road near Brisbane Airport. While short in distance, the link fills a long-standing gap in Brisbane’s bike network, providing a safe, off-road alternative to some of the area’s most challenging and traffic-heavy roads. The link has solar lighting for added safety after dark.
Brisbane City Councillor Ryan Murphy said the opening marked the end of a frustratingly long journey for riders and advocates alike.
“This link was about to be constructed when I became a councillor in 2012 and we’re opening it in 2026,” Cr Murphy said. “This is one of those ones that was caught in development hell between land acquisition, TradeCoast, lawyers, between state government and council.”
Despite the delays, Cr Murphy said the importance of the connection was always clear, given the tens of thousands of people who work in the airport precinct. “The fact that it’s now open is really satisfying to me. This is one of the most satisfying openings I’ve ever been to, even though it’s a small link.”
Cr Murphy said the bikeway provides a vital alternative to dangerous on-road routes.
“People come off the Gateway Bridge and they want to get straight into the airport precinct,” he said. “They can’t do it unless they go down Sugar Mill Road, and it’s an extremely dangerous connection. You’ve got trucks, lots of delivery vehicles, because we’ve got some of the big freight companies here.”
“This just means those cyclists are now safe. They can continue on what is an off-road path, all the way through to the airport precinct, and we know that there’s tens of thousands of people that work at that precinct.”
Cr Murphy also paid tribute to the persistence of local advocates.
“We also just thank the advocates who have been so patient, and many of the Bicycle Queensland members have been so patient, waiting for this connection to be here,” he said.
Bicycle Queensland CEO Matthew Burke, who was at the opening, said “Parts of this route were built many years ago, but only this week is it all starting to stitch together as a bicycle friendly route to the airport precinct.”
He said “Kudos to Mitch Bright and the Brisbane Airport Bicycle User Group (BUG) for their decades-long advocacy for this network. Congratulations to Council’s project team for completing a tricky project that wasn’t made easy by Queensland Rail and other land owners.”
Mitch Bright with Andrew DemackBelinda Ward from Space4Cycling BNE
Prof Burke also highlighted the need for a bike-friendly airport. “People already arrive at Brisbane Airport with bikes and try to ride to the city centre. They find themselves on pretty awful roads straight away. We’re now that bit closer to a safe direct route.”
For Mitch Bright from the Airport BUG, the opening represents more than a decade of advocacy.
“The bikeway connecting to the Gateway Bridge was first suggested when the bridge was in planning. The bridge opened in 2010, with no connection,” Mr Bright said.
He said council funding was committed years ago, but progress stalled.
“In 2014, the Brisbane City Council determined that this connection … through Viola Place to Schneider Road, was an option that they should pursue,” he said. “In 2019, we still hadn’t seen any action on that, so we started getting active, talking to the local newspapers. In 2021, council announced they’d be building it that year, and then nothing happened, and then, finally, in 2025, we finally got a work order.”
For riders, the difference is immediate.
“The alternative is Sugar Mill Road, which is quite heavily trafficked by trucks,” Mr Bright said. “There’s also Nudgee Road, which is a freight route as well.”
Belinda Ward from Space4Cycling said the link transforms access for riders crossing the Gateway Bridge.
“It’s a major connector for anyone who comes over the Gateway Bridge,” she said. “This path, although it’s only short, it cuts out some horrendous pieces of infrastructure.”
She said the opening also supports changing travel patterns. “This suddenly opens up a cheap, safe alternative to get to a lot of workplaces.”
As Brisbane’s airport and surrounding employment precincts continue to grow, the Viola Place bikeway stands as a reminder that sometimes the most best infrastructure upgrades are the ones that finally connect the major projects.
Let the State and Federal Government know you want the Logan Faster Rail Active Transport Corridor reinstated.
The project team involved in designing and building the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail project have dumped two key sections of bikeway from the long-promised continuous Active Transport Corridor that was part of the project. We need your help to get a continuous, safe, cycling route reinstated.
Long bikeways are rare in South East Queensland. The Logan Faster Rail Active Transport Corridor was to be three times longer than Ipswich Road in Brisbane, providing a safe riding corridor all the way from Kuraby to Beenleigh.
Transport and Main Roads were relying on it for their own Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Tourism Route. Logan City was relying on it for their Logan Bicycle Network.
Reference to the “continuous active transport corridor” has now been scrubbed from the project website. Despite this, Transport and Main Roads is not consulting the public about this important change.
The Logan Bicycle User Group and Bicycle Queensland briefed six weeks after first asking for information. We were informed that instead of a continuous route, the section paralleling Jacaranda Ave between Woodridge and Kingston Stations was to be axed. So was the section from Compton Road north to Kuraby Station. That is despite the land being purchased for the Active Transport Corridor already.
Our highest priority is reinstating the Woodridge to Kingston section. This would deliver most of the continuous bikeway initially promised. It is also the section that directly services four important schools with 4,000 students: Kingston State School, Groves Christian College, and Kingston State College, all just off the rail corridor, and Loganlea State High School that is smack bang on the corridor south of Kingston Station.
But really, the whole Active Transport Corridor should be immediately reinstated. Both the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments have promised that whenever they build large transport projects, that they will include active transport as a key part of the project. This decision breaks that promise by both levels of Government. It was the then Transport Minister Anthony Albanese who brought this “positive provision” policy in at Commonwealth level.
It makes sense: bicycle routes are needed to help people access the stations along the corridor, if we don’t build them as part of the project it is way more expensive to build it later.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If you want to ride safely from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, or live down near Woodridge and Kingston, please act now:
Write, call or email your local State Member of Parliament and ask them to raise the issue directly, via the details available here.
State MPs in the area are Melissa McMahon (MP for Macalister, email macalister@parliament.qld.gov.au), James Martin (MP for Stretton, email Stretton@parliament.qld.gov.au), the Hon Cameron Dick (MP for Woodridge, email Woodridge@parliament.qld.gov.au) and the Hon Shannon Fentiman (MP for Waterford, email: Waterford@parliament.qld.gov.au). (All of these are Labor MPs, if that assists in shaping your message).
Write, call or email your local Federal Member of Parliament to ask them to reinstate the Active Transport Corridor – that the Commonwealth also agreed to fund: for details click here.
Federal MPs in the area are Julie-Ann Campbell (MP for Moreton, Julie-Ann.Campbell.MP@aph.gov.au), Rowan Holzberger (MP for Forde email: Rowan.Holzberger.MP@aph.gov.au, and the Hon Jim Chalmers (MP for Rankin, email: jim.chalmers.mp@aph.gov.au). (Again, these are all Labor MPs, but in this case it is a Labor Federal Government which is part-funding this project).
ANYTHING ELSE
If you have children or grand-children at Kingston State School, Groves Christian College, Kingston State College, or Loganlea State High School, please contact your local Parents & Citizens Association, and ask them to fight for the bikeway.
As the project team has decided not to consult the public about the removal of the bikeway corridor, there is no firm deadline to get your submission in. But the project will soon move from the design phase into construction. Then it will be too late.
They’ve bought the land already. Let’s get the Active Transport Corridor built.
Please act fast! It can’t wait until after Christmas.
Bicycle Queensland celebrated a big 2025 with partners, members, advocates and stakeholders in Brisbane last night. The end of year function was held at the Queensland Parliament. The Hon. Brent Mickelberg, Queensland’s Minister for Transport and Main Roads, and the Hon. Bart Mellish, the Shadow Minister, both spoke at the event. This recognises the importance of cycling for government and how BQ is helping more Queenslanders to get out bike riding.
The Chair of BQ, the Hon. Rachel Nolan, was there. So was the Hon. Mark Bailey – who also previously held the transport portfolio in state government. Other guests ranged from bicycle retailers, members of Bicycle User Groups, other MPs, local councillors, bicycle bureaucrats, organisations that have partnered with us on our advocacy, and members of the BQ board.
The past 12 months saw BQ jumping back into events, expanding our regional advocacy, campaigning on e-mobility, and appointing a new CEO in Matthew Burke. The evening presented an opportunity to not just reflect on 2025, but to look forward. As Chair Rachel Nolan noted:
‘We’re an organisation of a huge network of friends and fellow travellers. We are about bikes, obviously, but we are also about bikes and active transport more broadly. And I think bikes are the best mechanism to change the fundamental nature of the world we live in.’
‘What we envisage at BQ is … at its simplest, a transport system where [providing for and using bikes] is a mainstream idea. Not a transport system in which that’s an add on. We want cities, in some way like they used to be – where kids can ride to school, where it is safe and nobody really gives that a second thought.’
Minister Brent Mickelberg spoke about the recent wins and the challenges in the transport space, and the opportunities for local governments right now:
‘This week we were pleased to announce our new Active Transport Grants program, unifying the local government cycling and walking grant programs into a single streamlined program, to represent fresh ways to work with local councils… in a more flexible model.’
He also noted the importance of Brisbane 2032 and its relevance for visitors as well as for residents during the Games and beyond.
‘We want to support and encourage active travel as it relates to 2032, it’s really important to maximise those opportunities for residents and visitors to walk and to ride to Games but also to other key destinations across the state. It’s a catalyst for us to invest in communities. Active transport is a big part of where we need to go. Active transport corridors will be important for 2032 but will also provide a legacy for active transport post 2032 – that’s a key priority for the government.’
BQ was especially pleased that the Minister noted the importance of creating bike and micromobility parking as an essential feature to encourage and support active transport for the Games. Most members will be aware there is negligible bike parking at most Queensland stadiums.
Shadow Minister Bart Mellish spoke about the impact that Bicycle Queensland and Bicycle User Groups have not just on developing cycling communities, but also their advocacy for safe cycling:
‘I also want to acknowledge the input Bicycle Queensland has had into the inquiry into e-mobility; both Matt and Rachel have been engaging in a very positive way, which I really appreciate. This is a really important thing for governments to get right.’
Mellish also discussed how the 2032 opportunity is such an important thing to get right, looking to the recent examples and success of Paris, with how their investment in infrastructure saw such a dramatic mode shift not just for the Games, but as an ongoing transport choice.
Our CEO Matthew Burke addressed guests celebrating recent wins for cycling, such as the new active transport links on the Coomera Connector on the Gold Coast. He noted BQ had written to TMR’s Nerang Office to congratulate them on that work. At the same time, he noted TMR’s rail branch had deleted a key part of the funded active transport corridor between Woodridge and Kingston on the Faster Rail project. BQ will be trying to get this reinstated.
He also noted the success of this year’s Weekend at Wondaievent and that we are going to repeat the same event format, with minor improvements, in a new Weekend at Pomona in 2026. BQ will also be doing a “Hallowheeling” family ride as part of a road safety campaign around Halloween, when many US children are killed and injured each year.
Inaugural BQ Awards
Matt took the opportunity to make three Bicycle Queensland awards for major achievements for individual bicycle advocacy, for leadership and for community project achievement, as judged by BQ staff. In 2026, we aim to open these awards to formal nominations from our members in a broader, open process.
Excellence in Individual Advocacy: Kathryn Good
Kathryn helped lead the Story Bridge Active Travel Alliance and its Bike Bus, a project that created a safe crossing of Brisbane’s Story Bridge after the shared paths on either side were closed by the Brisbane City Council. The advocacy helped bring forward Council’s actions to fix and re-open this important part of the bike network, in a shorter timeline than many had expected. Kathryn is also part of Pedal Party – a group that organises fun and inclusive mass rides in Brisbane, including an upcoming night-time ‘glow ride’ in January. She noted:
‘It’s critical now more than ever, that we keep engaging with our local representatives at every level of government. They have so much power over our everyday lives in this city when it comes to transport infrastructure.’
Excellence in Leadership: Councillor Peter Mitchell
With his team at Redlands City Council, Cr Peter Mitchell has delivered a more connected and inclusive network of active transport pathways and riding facilities through the Redlands Coast Active Transport Strategy. He helped revitalise Council’s active transport committee, engaging with local cyclists. He also helped bring cycling to greater importance within the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), hosting their first forum on cycling earlier this year. Peter said:
‘People who are riding or walking are problem solvers. We’re solving problems with the environment; we’re solving problems in the economy; and, we are solving problems with transportation. We’re not beggars. We are part of the solution and all of the data supports that.’
Excellence in Community Project Achievement: Mike and Margie Browne, Pioneer Valley Rail Trail
Establishing a rail trail is an exhausting process, working with the (very good) Rail Corridor Management team at TMR, local government and other partners. It takes a lot of paperwork and a lot of late nights for the volunteers who take it on. Though others started the journey towards getting the Pioneer Valley Rail Trail established, it was Mike and Margie Browne who led the group that has now made the first 7km section a reality. With other trail development happening in Eungella, there is the potential for the valley to become a world-class cycle tourism destination. On receiving the award, Mike Browne said:
‘The Pioneer Valley Rail Trail is now a permanent fixture in the Pioneer Valley and the Mackay area – it just needed someone to build it so they would come. We’ve got buy-in now from all levels of government… and we really appreciate the support of Bicycle Queensland and everyone here.’
Beyond the awards and speeches, the evening offered the chance for stakeholders, partners and advocates to connect, discuss projects and engage with policy makers. At Bicycle Queensland we would like to say thank you to every one of our members for being with us in 2025. We hope to achieve more for you, our members and supporters, in 2026.
