Here's the council's answer.
Dear Mr Frei
Thank you for submitting your request to Brisbane City Council regarding Tree maintenance / Removal of trees.
The Brisbane City Council is the only authority that can remove street trees. It is an offence under Council Local Laws for an unauthorised person to remove street trees.
I have forwarded a service request regarding your enquiry to the work unit responsible for street tree removal. The service request reference number is 1196177.
Council will not remove healthy trees unless they are causing damage to property/services or creating a hazard that cannot be fixed using other methods. A Council representative will inspect within 15 working days and then assess the situation depending upon the reasons given.
If you have any further Brisbane City Council enquiries, please access the Contact Information page available from the Home Page at
Home - Brisbane City Council or phone our 24 hour Contact Centre on (07) 3403 8888.
Yours faithfully,
Robert
Customer Contact Centre
Officer Code: sccc50