Qld deserves a vision on Olympics infrastructure, says LNP

An independent body must be set up to run the state’s Olympics infrastructure plans, the LNP says, as insiders warn the planned Gabba rebuild could be axed.

An independent body should be tasked with managing Brisbane’s Olympic Games infrastructure, according to the LNP, after state government insiders flagged the Gabba rebuild could be shelved over cost blowout fears.

On Saturday, The Courier-Mail revealed the government was conducting a “project validation’’ report into why it should spend as much as $2.5bn on a new stadium for 8000 additional seats.

LNP Leader David Crisafulli said Queenslanders “deserved a plan”, and the delivery of major infrastructure for the 2032 Olympic Games must be done “on time, and on budget”.

“We’ve called from the start for an independent body to deliver this infrastructure,” he said.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

“That’s the best way to tie all levels of government together – the state doesn’t have a great record in Queensland of delivering projects on time and on budget.

“Let’s take the politics out of it and get everybody together, and deliver the sort of generational infrastructure that every Queenslander will benefit from.

“But that starts with a plan.”

Government sources said the original estimate of $1bn for the Gabba’s was “laughable’’, with a spokesman for Deputy Premier Steven Miles confirming the stadium plans were in the “project validation report stage’’.

On Saturday, a number of senior government ministers came to the defence of the Olympics timeline, including Agriculture Minister Mark Furner.

“There’ll be a detailed and instrumental tendering process to go through in terms of the design, and in terms of the construction of the Gabba,” he said.

A digital depiction of how the Gabba could be transformed for the 2032 Olympics.

“So let’s wait for that, rather than start trying to tear down a good prospect, a good outcome that we’ll see for decades to come.

“Let’s wait and see the actual final design, the tendering process, before we start raising issues associated with expanded plans.”

Education Minister Grace Grace said: “I think it’s early days still.

“We’re in the design phase at the moment; we’ve got 10 years to go yet.”.

Mr Crisafulli said he was concerned over the varying figures “bandied about” with regards to redeveloping the Gabba, saying it was “not acceptable” to continue to delay releasing a strategy.

IOC president Thomas Bach and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in May. Picture: Richard Walker

“I’m not sure it gives people confidence when we have figures ranging from $1bn to $2.bn, and ministers saying ‘don’t worry, don’t panic, this is something we’ve got a lot of time to deal with’,” he said.

“It shouldn’t be about one person, it shouldn’t be about an ego trip.

“It’s looking more and more like the government doesn’t have a plan.

“The last thing we want to see is it bogged down in political squabbles by a government that doesn’t have vision for the Games.

“We’re already a year down the track after securing the Games and at the moment we don’t know what the stadium will cost, what it will look like, or what it will be used for.”