Jim Soorley
| Jim Soorley | |
|---|---|
| 13th Lord Mayor of Brisbane | |
|
In office 30 March 1991 – 30 May 2003 |
|
| Preceded by | Sally Anne Atkinson |
| Succeeded by | Tim Quinn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
8 April 1951 Ipswich, Queensland |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
| Alma mater |
Macquarie University Loyola University Chicago |
James (Jim) Gerard Soorley (born 8 April 1951) is a former Australian politician. He served as Australian Labor Party Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1991 to 2003. Soorley is a former Roman Catholic Priest. Soorley has a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in psychology, from Macquarie University, and a Master of Arts in organisational psychology from Loyola University Chicago.
The 1991 election was a close election with Soorley just edging out the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane Sally Anne Atkinson through the preferences of Drew Hutton, the Australian Greens candidate. Soorley was not expected to wrest the Lord Mayoralty from the very popular first female (and first Liberal Party of Australia) mayor of Brisbane. The transition period between Atkinson's administration and the incoming Soorley administration was difficult, with the outgoing Atkinson refusing to believe she had lost the election for many weeks afterwards.
Soorley was a virtual "unknown" at that first election, but was one of the few Australian politicians to increase his popular vote in each of the next three elections, standing as Lord Mayor for 13 years.
Soorley defeated the following Liberal candidates: 1991 Sally Anne Atkinson; 1994 Bob Ward; 1997 Bob Mills; and 2000 Gail Austen.
Some of the changes in Brisbane Soorley has been credited with include allowing widespread footpath dining, introduction of the CityCat ferries, advancing the Busway system, building the Inner City Bypass, starting Riverfestival including the popular Riverfire fireworks and the River Feast, bringing all sewage treatment up to at least secondary treatment standards (with removal of nitrogen and phosphorus to additional standards), a city wide recycling program, gas CNG powered buses, starting air conditioning on buses, accelerating the purchase of "at risk" bushland, Implementing a system of long term re-habilitation for old municipal solid waste tips and a long term plan to link riverfront land and open it up to the people of Brisbane through a series of pathways called Riverwalk.
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