Editor’s view: Time is running out for Gabba stand-in

It is just rude that the Palaszczuk government has still not figured out a solution for both the Brisbane Lions and Queensland Cricket for the years that their home stadium of the Gabba will literally be demolished for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, writes the editor.

It is just rude that the Palaszczuk government has still not figured out a solution for both the Brisbane Lions AFL club and Queensland Cricket for the years that their home stadium of the Gabba will literally be demolished before being rebuilt as the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.

The announcement on Friday at The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane summit that state cabinet had signed off on the $2.7bn project was a welcome one.

There is no time to waste – with the clock counting down towards 2032, now two years and four months since the International Olympic Committee approved our bid. That the decision is now made is a good thing, ahead of demolition being set to begin at the start of 2026.

But that means it is now just two years until both cricket and AFL will be booted from the Gabba for at least four seasons. And without another oval-shaped stadium of any significance anywhere in Brisbane, both organisations remain confused about what the plan actually is.

It is of course their responsibility to try to figure that out. But it is also incumbent on the government to help provide that solution. After all, it is the government that has decided to build the main stadium at the Gabba site. If they had made the same decision with your home then you would expect to know what compensation is coming for you, so you are not left worse off.

For both cricket and AFL, there is a cashflow impact, of course.

Hundreds of people turned up to protest against Labor's plan to demolish and rebuild the Gabba stadium. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The Lions host at least 11 home games there each year, pulling crowds of – these days – about 30,000 fans.

Cricket’s five Big Bash games are also big crowd-pullers, as are the international Test matches and shorter-format Australian games held at the Gabba each summer.

This decision now locked in, all these matches have to be played elsewhere.

The Courier-Mail has long advocated as the most sensible solution to this challenge the redevelopment of the Main Arena at the RNA Showgrounds, which will host the Olympic equestrian dressage and showjumping events.

For under $100m, the historic Main Arena could be reimagined as a boutique inner-city stadium with 20,000 seats – just about the perfect solution for both sports.

And yet the government, for some undisclosed reason, appears to not want to commit to this.

And it is running out of time. That upgrade would need to be under way by early next year to be done in time for the 2026 football season. That means there are only weeks to go, and yet the cabinet – so eager to sign off on $2.7bn for the Gabba – appears to be no closer to coming up with a solution.

This is a real risk for the Lions in particular. Without an inner-city solution, they would need to play their home games at their facility in Springfield. It is a lovely venue, and one that 5000 fans flocked to on Saturday for the AFLW semi-final.

Hundreds of people turned up to protest against Labor's plan to demolish and rebuild the Gabba stadium, as well as closing down the East Brisbane Sate School. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

But in a rugby league city, the AFL contender needs to be visible. And that means playing close to the central business district.

We understand the political challenge for the government in a hard-fought election year of spending yet more cash on a sporting facility in the Brisbane CBD, but an upgrade of the RNA must happen for the Games anyway – and so it has to just bite the bullet and bring this funding forward.

The Gabba itself is a brave call that we back because of both its necessity, with the existing facility running up to its use-by date, and also the opportunity to anchor urban renewal in what will become known as the East Bank precinct of the inner-city. But to make that decision without the displacement issues being resolved suggests the processes around the decision-making by state cabinet are, at the very least, not in the best of form.

Fact: Homebuyer grant will boost house prices

Encouraging the construction of more homes in a market that is in crisis because of a lack of supply is a good thing. The doubling by the Palaszczuk government of the
first-homebuyers grant to $30,000 for new-builds is in that sense an initiative that could really help.

Obviously, it is also welcome for those 3800 or so Queenslanders expected to take up the offer over the next 18 months. For them, it is essentially the government signing a cheque for $15,000 in their favour.

The questionable thing about the policy is whether that by helping maybe 4000 individuals, everyone not eligible will see an increase to what they are paying for property.

To help allay these concerns – raised by a number of economists – the State Treasury released on Sunday modelling that forecast house prices would likely lift by “just” 0.2 per cent because of the policy.

That is $1500 for a $773,000 property, which is now the median sale price across Brisbane.

Treasury says that lift is “not material” in the context of overall prices in the market. But that is from the same government that has been busily spruiking its special $550 annual rebate on power bills.

Yes, $1500 might not be much in the contest of a $773,000 spend.

But it is also not nothing, and to pretend otherwise is just wrong