The Brisbane Olympics are eight years away. Time for a reality check

It’s been three years since Brisbane was confirmed as host of the 2032 Olympic Games, and the gargantuan task of preparing isn’t getting any easier.

As inflation and cost-of-living pressures reshape society, progress on building infrastructure has slowed. More time has been spent on debate than decisions.

But we shouldn’t downplay the importance of healthy debate. If the Games are truly going to shape Brisbane for centuries to come, then every decision and dollar spent is worth interrogating.

Wynnum State School pupils with Olympians and Paralympians Eithen Leard (wheelchair basketball), Emily Seebohm (swimming), Patrick Johnson (athletics) and Raissa Martin (goalball) celebrate eight years to go until Brisbane 2032.Credit: Lyndon Mechielsen/ Brisbane 2032

So has Brisbane lost its way? Or is there still a chance to leverage the event for a positive legacy?

Against the backdrop of the Paris Games, the University of Queensland brought a panel of experts together on Tuesday night to discuss these questions.

As urban land-use strategist Peter Hyland reminded the audience, the original plan was to deliver infrastructure to the whole of the south-east region, not just new stadiums for the inner-city.

Have we forgotten that this is just a sporting event, not a silver bullet for all the world’s problems?

“If you think back to where the bid started, it was from the SEQ Council of Mayors,” he said. “This would be a regional bid. It wouldn’t just be a one-city bid.

“The transport, the housing, the community engagement happened in broader areas. And that certainly was the original intent and I think still is the ambition of the legacy.”

The most contested point of the one-hour discussion was legacy: what it should be, what it could be, and what it gets conflated with.

Host cities are tasked with delivering a positive societal and economic legacy. But have we forgotten that this is just a sporting event, not a silver bullet for all the world’s problems?

“A bunch of promises are usually made for major events of this kind, and those promises usually aren’t delivered,” economist and commentator John Quiggin said.

“The idea that there’ll be a very large and useful, good legacy – I think that was very common early on – and then we quickly realised that wasn’t going to be the case.

“So this has been a very difficult pattern of excitement, followed by disillusion, but followed by almost invariably a really good time when the Games actually happen.”

Sociologist Lynda Cheshire was more frank. We may want inclusivity, parity, and people to have the same opportunities, she said, but the truth is that “society is not equal [and] some people are much more disadvantaged than others”.

Brisbane’s progress ahead of the 2032 Games has – rightfully – being slowed by debate. As Paris wraps up, we should take stock of what we can achieve and what should be called a pipe dream.

“[Compared to] the expectation that the Games can actually change the broader social, political and economic circumstances of people, it’s no wonder there’s failure to live up to the dream.”

As the Paris Games wrap up, perhaps it’s time for a reality check. A pause to look at what is promised, and what will actually be delivered in 2032.

The original organisational budget for the Brisbane Olympics was put at $4.45 billion.

Senior economics correspondent Shane Wright wrote earlier this week about research that examined the true cost of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It found every Games since 1960 had cost more than promised. In most cases, the end cost had at least doubled its original estimate.

The 2028 host city, Los Angeles, is already over budget by 28 per cent, while Brisbane’s expected costs have gone up by 44 per cent.

We know the original budget will be blown out by near-unfathomable sums of money. What would change if we just accepted this and the community was told?

There are obvious reasons the government doesn’t do this. But if it is genuine about what the Olympics will deliver, that’s a necessary step.

The same could be said of housing. What global city is not facing a housing crisis right now? In the context of growing inequities, who is really in a position to host the Olympics?

“There’s only so much money available to support all the priorities we have,” Cheshire said.

“Any resources that go towards supporting the Olympics will have to be taken away from some other priority.”

Grant us all the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and the courage to change the things we can.

For many people, the Olympics will drastically worsen the housing crisis.

The idea that a two-week sporting event can solve problems decades in the making is, as the speakers pointed out, unrealistic.

But there might be a chance of focusing on the structural changes needed to deliver affordable and social housing and a greater diversity and density of dwellings in every suburb now.

And the community – from all corners of south-east Queensland – might just be our north star as we look to tackle the next eight years.

We will host a great Olympics, but it should the people who will decide who will wear the cost and the benefits to guide it.