Back to the Olympic inquiry, where John Coates has insisted he did not reveal to the state government his preference for the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre to be a Games venue, before making his position clear in the media.
Coates said he could recall one conversation with Premier Steven Miles during the time Graham Quirk was conducting his review into Olympic venues.
“He’d been on the Gold Coast and at the end of a media conference he did there, said Carrara was an option for athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies,” he said.
Coates said he told Miles there were consequences to what he said, such as moving the largest pool of athletes from the Hamilton to the Robina Olympic village.
“He thanked me for that and I think he took it on board,” he said.
Asked whether QSAC came up in that conversation, Coates was unable to say with any certainty.
“I don’t recall that, but presumably I did,” he said.
As for Victoria Park, Coates said he did not want the Olympic movement to be blamed for the $3.4 billion cost.
“You can go ahead and build Victoria Park if that’s what the city needs, but don’t tick it off as an Olympic cost,” he said.
“If we can do QSAC at $1.6 billion, that’s what we should be doing.”