Lack of vision will be tragic Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games legacy

Olympics legacy plan shot down - due to funding - yet we’re meant to swallow the state government spending $627.6m to build 80 cushy rooms for young crims, writes Kylie Lang.

One of Queensland’s sharpest business couples comes up with a meritorious plan to deliver an Olympic and Paralympic legacy that would benefit millions of people and it gets shot down because of funding concerns – yet we’re meant to swallow the state government spending $627.6m to build 80 cushy rooms for young criminals.

Plan one is full of promise, plan two a doomed failure.

Way to go, Premier.

Steve and Jane Wilson are forward thinkers, investing in the past to improve the future. They’ve bankrolled the makeover ofthe Princess Theatre in Woolloongabba and are restoring historic Lamb House in Kangaroo Point – to name just two of theirinvestments with positive spin-offs for the public.

The Wilsons would like to see a Games golden triangle comprising a main stadium at Victoria Park, an indoor arena at the Gabba and an upgraded Suncorp Stadium.

Steve and Jane Wilson. Image supplied.

“We couldn’t sit by and watch us have the worst own goal and run with a cut-price Olympics … having waited 30 years sinceSydney for our chance to shine,” Mr Wilson told The Courier-Mail this week.

“These dollars of expenditure are simply bringing forward to a deadline what are necessary anyway.

“Suncorp is not big enough for the NRL Grand Final, World Cup Rugby and Taylor Swift, the Gabba has dropped to number fivetest cricket venue and could go lower … everybody in Brisbane knows Boondall (entertainment centre) is

a dog.

“We must now bank the commitment of both sides of federal politics to go halves in the funding for the Games. Queenslandersare then up for about $400m per annum, or less than five per cent of our annual state budget of $87bn, to deliver a Games – and legacy – we can be truly proud of.”

With too much time lost on stupid captain’s calls by former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Wilsons’ idea deserves to beproperly investigated.

Instead, Premier Steven Miles was quick to dismiss it, allegedly on the grounds of funding.

However, he’s perfectly happy to splash taxpayer dollars on a facility that, as readers have noted, many

kids would commit crimes in order to get into.

These are not holding cells with a wooden board for a bed.

Developing Queensland - Brisbane Queensland Australia - January 10 2023 : Woolloongabba (Gabba) stadium is seen on a summer morning. This stadium is set to welcome Brisbane Olympics summer games in 2032.

The $627.6m detention centre sounds more like a luxury hotel in which “home-like accommodation units” cost as much as new-build mansions in any blue-chip neighbourhood.

Work on the 80-bed facility at Woodford began on Tuesday and is due to open at the end of 2026.

Some dent that will make in the youth crime crisis – ha! – keeping

80 kids temporarily off our streets while thousands run rampant after being released on bail or escaping court altogether.

In 2022–23 in Queensland there were 10,878 offenders aged between 10 and 17 years proceeded against by police, an increaseof six percent (574 offenders) from 2021–22, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

I dread to think what the figure will be in a few years’ time if sensible methods to tackle the problem continue to eludethe geniuses

in power.

PeakCare Queensland chief executive Tom Allsop likens increasing detention centre

capacity to “fixing a leak by using a bigger bucket”.

“Imagine what could be achieved if we invested $627m directly into communities to help them break the cycles of offendingand address the drivers of crime,” Mr Allsop says.

Indeed.

Also imagine, using Steve and Jane Wilson’s estimates, if $400m of Queenslanders’ money was spent annually on building a world-classGames precinct within a 3km radius of the GPO.

While I understand the two projects are designed to serve different purposes, questions must be asked of our state governmentaround value for money, investment returns, and lasting community benefit. Sadly, the Premier and his reshuffled cabinet haveblinkers on but they should remember the adage, build it and they will come.

Providing cushy accommodation to young offenders is an insult to hard-working Queenslanders, especially those struggling tothe extent of sleeping in their cars.

We deserve bang for our buck, not short-sighted and ill-fated schemes that effectively reward a law-breaking minority.