2032 Brisbane Olympics: Graham Quirk tipped to lead organising committee

He went out on top when he retired as lord mayor a year before the council elections. Now he’s tipped for another high-profile role.

Former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk is emerging as the hot favourite to be appointed chairman of the 2032 Olympics organisational committee.

If, as expected, Brisbane gets the green light from the International Olympic Committee in July, just before the Tokyo Olympics, a separate and stand-alone body will be established.

It will be similar to SOCOG, which ran the Sydney Games.

An Olympics minister would be appointed, likely to be Stirling Hinchliffe.

Crucially, despite having been an LNP mayor Mr Quirk is highly regarded in Labor circles, and was appointed to the Racing Queensland board by the State Government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also has a high opinion of Mr Quirk, who stepped down to make way for Adrian Schrinner a year before the last council election.

Brisbane residents could be saying hello again to former lord mayor Graham Quirk.

Mr Quirk started the ball rolling on the 2032 Brisbane bid in 2015, when he convinced the SEQ Council of Mayors to commission the original feasibility study.

It is also expected Local Government Association of Queensland chairman Mark Jamieson will be appointed to the board, as will the Federal Government’s bid representative, Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien.

Star Entertainment chairman John O’Neill, a close ally of AOC boss John Coates, is touted as another likely board member.

Mr Coates has been elected to the IOC executive board until 2025.

The International Olympic Committee executive meets later this week, and it is certain that the Queensland bid for 2032 will be discussed.

Feverish behind-the-scenes work is being conducted to satisfy the IOC’s demands around Queensland’s fiscal and operational capabilities.

If the Queensland bid gets the all clear, the new body – likely to be named BOCOG or QOCOG – will be set up before Christmas.