Editorial: Clock is ticking on big calls for 2032

The end of this year marks the deadline for the biggest of the government’s decisions about 2032 Games venues, writes the editor.

An artist’s impression of a proposed Gabba redevelopment for the 2032 Games

Brisbane was awarded the 2032 Olympic Games exactly 849 days ago, and if the clock wasn’t already ticking on some big decisions about venues it sure as heck is now – a full two years and four months on.

It is well known that the end of this year marks the deadline for the biggest of those decisions – that decision being what the plan is for the rebuild of the Gabba to serve as the main Olympic and Paralympic stadium, and therefore where to re-home the Brisbane Lions AFL team and cricket for what will be close to a decade from when the demolition work begins in early 2026.

We can only assume the secretive State Cabinet process is under way, and at some point soon the Minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, will share with Queenslanders the decision that has been made.

It is critical that happens as soon as possible, as there are more than a few people who will be impacted by the decision that need to know how their lives are about to change.

The Courier-Mail believes there is merit in the plan to rebuild the Gabba. While our head spins at the likely cost (around $3 billion at last count), we understand that is just what things cost these days – thanks in more than an insignificant part to the deal Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni has cut with the militant construction union the CFMEU to grant workers a 20-30 per cent pay rise and deliver them a range of benefits that will reduce productivity by a similar proportion.

We understand, however, the very real difficulty in transforming the existing Gabba into the type of stadium the International Olympic Committee demands of its primary venue for the Games – most of which relates to back-of-house amenities that the decades-old Gabba just does not have. We also see the massive opportunity the new Cross River Rail presents for the Gabba precinct – with the underground Woolloongabba station just across Main Street from the stadium, and it being just one stop into the centre of the city.

All that said, we also call out the need for the government to accept that the Gabba’s usual tenants, the Brisbane Lions and Queensland Cricket, deserve a properly planned solution for the years they will have to play somewhere else.

We have long advocated in this column for the development of a new boutique 25,000-seat stadium at the Main Arena at the RNA showgrounds, the venue where Sir Donald Bradman played his first Test match.

The grand old heritage-listed John McDonald and Ernest Baynes stands (built in 1906 and 1922 respectively) would form a unique backdrop to what into the future would become a much-loved and much-used inner-city venue for sports such as the AFLW. It is also already locked in as the venue for the Olympic equestrian events of dressage and showjumping in 2032.

Queensland Cricket meanwhile is asking the government help fund its planned upgrade of Allan Border field at Albion to a 10,000-seat purpose-built facility where Test matches could be played between 2026 and 2033.

The Courier-Mail backs this proposal as well – and suggest it be paid for by the 2032 funding package, seeing as cricket will from 2028 be an Olympic sport. Without this facility, Queensland will not host any Tests for a decade.

Yes, to deliver on all three venues would require some pretty serious taxpayer cash. But all three will – if indeed they are approved by State Cabinet – leave a lasting legacy for the world’s newest Olympic city.

LIVES AT RISK FROM POLITICAL DECISION

All of the warnings have come true, it seems, relating to the dangerous game the state government has played with Queenslanders by labelling its new state-run medical centres “satellite hospitals” – for purely political reasons.

Revelations today that 356 people assessed with “imminently” and “immediately” life-threatening conditions have shown up for help at the first three “satellite hospitals” in the first three months of their operation should sound alarm bells.

Queensland Health dismisses it because the almost-400 patients are a “very small proportion” of those 15,000 people who have shown up at the medical centres so far; and that’s true. But it is still 356 people who needed a proper emergency department who showed up there anyway expecting they would be getting hospital-like treatment.

If five of them had died as a result, would the Health PR unit say it’s all fine because that’s an even smaller proportion of patients?

Surely politics should never be put ahead of people’s lives. But the Palaszczuk Government has remained unapologetic.

It is bizarre and it is dangerous.

But we are also realistic. This is a government that is fighting for its very existence, and these “satellite hospitals” are unsurprisingly in electorates it needs to win next year. So we won’t be holding our breath.

Instead, we urge Health Minister Shannon Fentiman to ensure the $1.3 million being spent spruiking them includes proper information about what they actually are.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here