Save the Regent

Savetheregent.com's Brett Debritz was on the Jamie Dunn and Ian Calder show on Radio 4BC this morning reacting to Sustainability Minister Kate Jones's dismissal of the 6000-plus-signature Save the Regent epetition. The audio is here. If you want to take a stand against the minister, email her and contact your local Member of Parliament, reminding them that you vote and you want to Save the Regent even if Kate Jones, Anna Bligh, Paul Lucas and Stirling Hinchliffe do not. There's a full list of contact details for Queensland MPs here.

Some further comments on Anna Bligh's responses regarding the Regent at People's Question Time:
1) Under the Heritage Act no listed areas can technically be demolished or altered radically. Ms Bligh's claim of intervening to save the facade and staircase areas is bunkum. It was already heritage listed and "protected".
2) The Regent has recently been commercially unviable, but arguably that was because its operators were not motivated as they have other premises nearby at the Myer Centre. We know there are other cinema operators who would give their eye teeth to take the Regent as is, and make it a goer.
3) Why no mention of the Brisbane International Film Festival? It operated successfully at the Regent for 17 years and now lacks a home.
4) If the Regent has failed as a commercial cinema and people are crying out for more theatre space here, why not take the perfect opportunity to negotiate with the building's owners for a multipurpose theatre to go in there instead of a carpark and and tower lobby?
5) It might be privately owned but the Regent is a building of state significance and iconic status. The wishes of the community to save and continue the Regent as a proper cinema should be taken into account by the owners and the government.
6) Ms Bligh should look at the thriving live theatre scene in Melbourne, which is due to the number and variety of commercially viable venues. We need more venues so more big shows can come here to Brisbane, not just a larger Lyric Theatre stage.

Premier Anna Bligh faced some tricky questions about the Regent at People's Question Time on August 18. The full audio and transcripts are here, but here's what was said about the Regent:

MODERATOR: ... And certainly one of the most popular questions that was asked online was about the Regent Theatre in Brisbane, and there’s a question for the Premier: Kim, Bonnie, David, Lara, Michael, Belinda, Prue, Thomas, Daniel, and Brett are all interested in this issue but Damon of Red Hill says “Given that Premier Anna Bligh stated that the Regent Building is one of the last pieces of the cultural history of early life in our city, why was a February 2008 ministerial directive which protected the entire Regent Building rescinded in February 2009 in favour of a development which does not meet best practice standards for the preservation of a historic site.

... the more they stay the same. Here are some newspaper clippings from the 1978 Save the Regent campaign, inlcuding ads from the Courier-Mail and a feature article from the Sunshine Coast Advertiser. (Please note that the phone no. and postal address are not relevant for the current STR campaign).

Queensland MP Aidan Mclindon talks about the Regent: