Council ready to dive into $30m program to revitalise SEQ waterways

Mayor Peter Flannery welcomed Council’s share of the investment to rehabilitate and restore critical waterways and habitat across SEQ’s rivers and streams, including more than $4.8 million in projects that will directly benefit the City and the Caboolture and Pine River Catchments. 

This includes the Caboolture River (Weir to Bruce Highway) Riparian Rehabilitation and Caboolture Arboretum Riparian Rehabilitation projects, which will restore vegetation and provide protection from invasive weeds and enhance endemic biodiversity of species such as the platypus and koala.  

These two ventures will also stabilise areas experiencing bank erosion – ultimately improving the quality of water that reaches Moreton Bay.  

“This funding will enable us to deliver projects designed to support the overall health of our waterways, which are vital to sustaining native plants and animals,” Mayor Flannery said. 

“These projects will shore up Council’s efforts to ‘Go Green as we Grow’, which is all about safeguarding our environment amid a booming population, while also improving water quality in Moreton Bay.” 

Resilient Rivers SEQ is an initiative of the Council of Mayors (SEQ) which aims to improve the resilience of SEQ’s waterways through coordinated catchment management. It includes a focus on working with private landowners to keep soil on land, strengthening native habitat, and boosting the region’s water quality and water security. 

It achieves this through projects that increase native vegetation, enhance bank stabilisation and improve erosion control to reduce soil entering Moreton Bay, protecting vital ecosystems supporting fish nurseries, platypus, dugongs, and turtles. 

The newly announced Resilient Rivers SEQ program includes $21.3 million already committed through the SEQ City Deal, a partnership between the Federal Government, State Government and Council of Mayors (SEQ), alongside the $8.7 million from partners including SEQ councils and Seqwater. 

The bold two-year investment (2025-26 and 2026-27) is the largest coordinated program of waterway and habitat revitalisation since the program was established following the 2011 floods. 

City of Moreton Bay will also benefit from the establishment of the first regional platypus monitoring program for South East Queensland using innovative eDNA water sampling to uncover vital information about platypus as well as freshwater turtles and the endangered Australian Lungfish, a species that dates back over 100 million years. 
 
A significant initiative for City of Moreton Bay will be the establishment of Catchment Action Plans for the Pine River and Caboolture River Catchments, which will guide coordinated efforts and future investments in these priority catchments.  

In addition to remediation and rehabilitation works for the Caboolture River, City of Moreton Bay will also receive funding for other on-ground works including: 

• Reconnecting 60 kilometres of fish passage across Beerburrum and Six Mile Creek catchments, improving movement for native fish 
• Planting 30,000 new plants around Cabbage Tree Creek to improve water quality, reduce erosion and boost habitat for species including reptiles, woodland birds, koala and platypus 
• Improving water quality, biodiversity and flood resilience with more than 3000 new plants at Freshwater Reserve. 

Council will work with a range of stakeholders including State Government departments to undertake these projects, which will deliver on key actions within the City’s Environment and Sustainability Strategy 2042.