Editor’s view: 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games remains undeniably good for entire state

The 2032 Games will be good for our entire state, but needs to be done right. So far, the State Government has failed to reassure Queenslanders that will be the case, writes The Editor.

The hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane in 2032 remains undeniably a good thing for our entire state.

Done right, the return on what is actually quite a meagre investment for governments will be massive – and every Queenslander will benefit.

That is the reality. But the key is it needs to be done right. And so far, the State Government has failed in its responsibility to reassure Queenslanders that it will do this thing right.

And it is the State Government’s responsibility. The Organising Committee’s job is the event itself. It is up to the government to do everything else – and it’s the everything else that matters, as it is the broader benefits of this once in a forever opportunity for our state that has been the reason for The Courier-Mail’s unflinching support.

But first to the cost.

An artist’s impression of a redeveloped Gabba for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Seven billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. And it is, for sure.

But actually, the $7bn that has been set aside by the federal and state governments to build the venues for the Games is a relative drop in the ocean.

For comparison, the $3.56 billion promised for the venues over the next NINE years by the State Government as part of the 50-50 funding deal struck early last year is just over one-third of the royalties it will take from mining companies in THIS year alone.

Since the Games were awarded to Brisbane in mid-2021, the cost of a single rail project – the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail – has meanwhile blown out by $3.1 billion, to a new cost estimate of $5.75 billion. And so ONE single transport project that nobody even really knows about is now going to cost 1.6 times what the state will spend on ALL the venues for the 2032 Games.

And it is an even more insignificant number for Canberra, with the Federal Government’s projected surplus in last year’s Budget for THIS year alone forecast to be $4.2 billion after total expenditure of $682 billion. That means the feds spend almost 200 times EVERY single year what it has pledged for the Games over almost a DECADE.

Former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk appointed herself the Minister for the Olympics.

And yet by allowing the Games over the past two years to become a totemic exercise in self-promotion, former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk managed to turn Queenslanders against an event that will actually cost not much and yet deliver so much for the state.

A survey on our website last month found that 66 per cent of the almost 7000 respondents now do not support Brisbane hosting the Games, a huge turnaround from early 2021.

Now, that in itself should not be surprising. As any student of history knows, the hosting of the Olympics (and consequently the Paralympics) is always unpopular until the Olympic torch relay begins its journey a few months out from the Opening Ceremony.

It is also a process that is always fraught, with controversies assured as plans are made for what is by a considerable margin the world’s biggest event. Heck, the organising of an Olympic Games have literally been fodder for at least two mockumentary sitcoms in two different host countries.

Within that context, it remains a mystery why Ms Palaszczuk wanted to appoint herself the Minister for the Olympics (and a year later, after repeated requests, “and Paralympics”).

One can only assume that at least part of the motivation was to bask in the personal glory of it all – an assumption supported by the fact she controversially (and bizarrely) invited her partner to have a seat in the first official meeting on home soil with International Olympic Committee officials.

Putting on the world’s biggest event is hard yakka. And as the years have passed with nothing substantive to show or prove to Queenslanders the broader value of hosting the Games, it is little wonder that support has waned.

Opinion writer Mike O’Connor – someone who has proven to be consistently in tune with popular opinion – today wrote: “The exercise has been driven by political egos since Day One, the Palaszczuk government blinded by visions of grand opening ceremonies with the adoring masses heaping garlands of praise on the visionaries who had driven this magnificent spectacle. Nobody asked us if we wanted to stage them. And if we had been asked, the most likely response would have been “maybe, but how will we pay for them and where will they be held and surely there are other things that the government should be prioritising”.”

If this is indeed what Queenslanders are thinking then this is a failure that Ms Palaszczuk and those around her have to own. They have totally stuffed up the sell.

New premier Steven Miles now has the job of convincing Queenslanders that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are good for the state.

And now the entire mess has landed in the lap of new premier Steven Miles – a man whose many jobs in the Palaszczuk Government included being the “Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympics and Paralympics Infrastructure”.

He has responded by scrapping the role of Olympics Minister and promising a yet-to-be established full review of the venues for the Games, most likely to give his government an elegant exit from the expensive and trouble-plagued full demolition and rebuild of the Gabba.

The Courier-Mail has been a consistent supporter of the 2032 Games since it was little more than a twinkle in the eye of local mayors back in 2015 – who saw it as a way to bring forward the transport infrastructure the region already needs, rather than a vanity project for politicians.

We have proudly played an active role both publicly and behind the scenes in advocating for the bid, even convincing a then-sceptical Ms Palaszczuk of the benefits.

We have since unapologetically held the line in backing in the benefits through the past two years as an increasingly unpopular Ms Palaszczuk slowly but surely lost the PR battle by treating the entire event as her own personal plaything.

We make no apologies for that support.

As we have said many times, the hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane in 2032 is a once in a forever opportunity for our entire state.

It will deliver certainty to our economy over the next decade, it will benefit liveability by leading to better – necessary – infrastructure for the entire southeast and a more vibrant inner-city, it will help our critical tourism industry continue its post-Covid recovery, and it will deliver myriad benefits to local businesses to invest off the back of the certainty of Games contracts.

We understand that at a time when many Queenslanders are struggling to afford the weekly groceries, they can’t see the value of an expensive four-week sporting carnival in eight years from now. But if you do feel that way, we urge you to broaden your perspective.

Done right, the Games will be but a blip on overall government expenditure and yet will deliver benefits that will protect and enhance our lifestyle into the future.