Queensland backtracks on Brisbane Olympic authority

The Queensland government will officially go it alone in delivering Olympic infrastructure, despite assurances to the IOC that an independent body would be established to oversee preparations.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles hit back at criticism from former prime minister Scott Morrison in The Australian that an Olympic Co-ordination Authority had not been established, despite it being an “express understanding” between the Morrison and Palaszczuk governments.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the state government will take ownership of the 2032 Olympic Games.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Miles said such an authority would be another level of bureaucracy that Queensland taxpayers would not welcome.

“There is mention in the documents that we forwarded [to the International Olympic Committee] for the host questionnaire that there will be a co-ordinated agency,” Miles said on Thursday.

“This notion that’s come from Scott Morrison that it will somehow be joined or independent, that doesn’t stack up.”

But the Brisbane bid’s IOC Future Host Commission Questionnaire Response expressly outlined an Olympic Coordination Authority that would include all levels of government.

“It is anticipated the OCA will be established as a government entity with Australian, Queensland and Local Government representatives,” the bid team wrote in its questionnaire response.

“It will have the capacity to co-ordinate the activities of all Australian and Queensland government departments and agencies with responsibilities for Games-related matters.

“This shared governance model will ensure public authorities have full oversight of all Games projects from the planning, scoping and design phase through to contracting, construction and delivery.

“It is expected the timing of the establishment of the OCA will coincide with OCOG [Organising Committee for the Olympic Games].”

It was also a central plank of the Morrison government’s support for the bid.

“Our proposal for a genuine and shared partnership between the Commonwealth and state government would see a jointly owned, funded and run Olympic Infrastructure Agency - with full oversight of all projects from the planning, scoping and design phase through to contracting, construction and delivery,” Morrison said in April 2021, when his government officially backed the bid.

“This takes the Olympics out of the day-to-day politics. It provides a platform for bipartisan support at every level of government and lets those who we will jointly appoint to get this job done, to just get on with it.”

A spokeswoman for Miles said the IOC, and other levels of government, were happy with inter-governmental co-ordination so far and, at this stage at least, a new agency would be wasteful.

She said there would, however, be a co-ordination agency, as opposed to a more powerful authority, announced in the near future.

Opposition Olympic and Paralympic Infrastructure spokesman Jarrod Bleijie said it was a breaking of a promise that had been made on the world stage.

“The premier and her office now hold unchecked authority over the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said.

“That will send a shiver down the spine of every Queenslander who is paying for the Games.”

But Miles said the lack of a co-ordination authority did not mean a lack of transparency.

“I don’t think a new bureaucracy that would just soak up resources is a useful and necessary part of the value of how we structured the [inter-governmental agreement],” he said.

“The Queensland government will lead and fund the Gabba, while the Australian government will fully fund the Brisbane Arena.

“It allows for much clearer lines of responsibility and further diminishes any need for a new public service agency.”