John Coates has change of heart, agrees to inquiry appearance

Australian Olympic supremo John Coates has been listed to appear before a Senate inquiry into Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic Games preparations, after previously declining an offer to provide evidence at Wednesday’s hearing.

This masthead revealed last week that Coates, whose intervention Premier Steven Miles credited with the Queensland government’s controversial decision to select the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre on Brisbane’s southside at the main athletics stadium, had declined an invitation to appear before the inquiry.

John Coates has agreed to appear before a Senate inquiry into Brisbane’s preparedness to host the 2032 Olympics.Credit: Jono Searle/Getty

But Coates has since had a change of heart, and is listed as the second witness for Wednesday’s hearing in Brisbane.

Senate inquiries have the power to compel witnesses to appear, but it was understood Coates was persuaded to appear, without being compelled.

Comment has been sought from Sydney-based Coates, who will appear via teleconference.

Former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk was listed as first to appear at the hearing at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, overlooking the Roma Street Parklands – where he recommended the new Brisbane Arena be built.

It was Quirk’s 60-day review into Olympic venues that indirectly highlighted Coates’s influence on Brisbane 2032 planning.

The Quirk review recommended a new stadium be built at Victoria Park as a long-term replacement for the Gabba, but Coates pushed the cheaper QSAC option as part of the International Olympic Committee’s “new norm” of using existing infrastructure – a policy Coates had championed after previous controversies of cost blow-outs and white elephants.

Also scheduled to provide evidence on Wednesday was Archipelago Architects founding director Peter Edwards, whose Brisbane Bold vision first mooted a stadium at Victoria Park, and who last week criticised Coates’ refusal to appear.

Former lord mayors Campbell Newman, Jim Soorley and Sallyanne Atkinson will also give evidence. All three, from both sides of politics, united last week to oppose any new stadium at Victoria Park.

Two Queensland government directors-general – Graham Fraine from the Department of State Development and Infrastructure, and Sally Stannard from the Transport Department – were scheduled to provide evidence, as was Stadiums Queensland chief executive, Todd Harris.

Other scheduled witnesses included Olympian Kieran Perkins, in his capacity as Australian Sports Commission chief executive, and Victoria Park/Barrambin Residents Action Group representative Rosemary O’Hagan.