Brisbane council’s AI cameras catch offenders as worst suburbs revealed
The worst suburbs for complaints of illegal dumping have been listed after the council announced it was introducing more cameras across Brisbane using artificial intelligence technology to catch criminals.
Illegal dumping costs the city nearly half a million dollars each year, and it was revealed on Tuesday that there has been a more than three-fold increase in complaints in the past 12 months.
Approximately 830 complaints were recorded by the end of May, and more than $525,000 in fines were issued during that period.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach to leaks,” head of customer services Sarah Hutton told the council chamber on Tuesday.
“We’re cracking down on people who think they can turn our city into a dump.”
CCTV footage released on Tuesday showed scores of people dumping white goods, beds, mattresses and other items on the side of Brisbane’s roads.
Moorooka, Sunnybank Hills, New Farm, Coorparoo and Forest Lake were ranked as the suburbs with the highest number of complaints of illegal dumping throughout 2026.
Mount Coot-tha (318), Mount Gravatt (125), Richlands (49) and Bald Hills (45) were the areas with the highest number of violation notices and warnings issued during this period.
More than 200 motion-activated CCTV cameras across the city use artificial intelligence to detect vehicles, license plates, people and thrown objects and relay this information to municipal teams.
Approximately 25 additional cameras will be installed in 2026.
New signs have also been erected at garbage disposal points with messages in English, Arabic, simplified and traditional Chinese, Hindi and Vietnamese.
The Labor opposition said the figures highlighted the discrepancy between how the inner city and outer suburbs were treated.
“The council faces hundreds of thousands of breaches, but how many taxpayers can say our streets have become cleaner?” leader Jared Cassidy said.
“The LNP’s own data once again reflects that the outer suburbs are hardest hit.
“The city needs to increase this budget and make it affordable and accessible for everyone to dispose of garbage properly.”
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