Palaszczuk skirts around Olympics construction concern, confirms Brisbane Live arena site
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists she is “comfortable” with the progress of Brisbane’s two premier Olympic Games venues despite concerns both will suffer cost blowouts before the first sod is turned.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists she is “comfortable” with the progress of Brisbane’s two premier Olympic Games venues despite concerns both will suffer cost blowouts before the first sod is turned.
It was revealed this week government bureaucrats are toying with tunnelling Vulture and Stanley streets to fit an upgraded Gabba stadium and considering demolishing the Queensland Police Service headquarters at Roma St to build the Brisbane Live swimming and water polo arena.
While no decision has been made and planning is in its infancy, both changes could add hundreds of millions of dollars to project costs.
Ms Palaszczuk was on Monday questioned about the progress of the city’s two premier Olympic venues after it was revealed both were already at risk of skyrocketing construction costs.
However, the Premier insisted the Games were “a long way off” and confirmed the Brisbane Live arena would be located within the Roma St precinct.
“There is a whole lot of consultation that needs to happen before our final decisions are made, but there will be a Brisbane Live arena in that vicinity,” she said.
“We’ll work through all of those issues and when we are ready to make an announcement, we will make an announcement.”
The Premier offered a similar response when asked whether tunnelling under Vulture and Stanley Streets would be necessary to fit a larger Gabba stadium.
“We are very comfortable with the proposal for The Gabba that we put to the International Olympic Committee and once again there is a lot of consultation to happen and when we have the final decisions we will release those final decisions to the public,” she said.
“We’ve got 10 years to go.
“The International Olympic Committee is very excited about the Gabba so we are locked in there.”
However, the timing of infrastructure projects coupled with reports the Palaszczuk government will attempt to manage it from within the public service has raised concerns with the state opposition.
LNP Leader David Crisafulli called for the Palaszczuk government to release its infrastructure timeline and said the state’s 10-year runway would “disappear in a heartbeat”.
“The Olympic Games is a once-in-a-generation opportunity but Queenslanders were promised an infrastructure pipeline and they were promised levels of government working together,” he said.
“This has to be more than a vanity project for one person.
“It’s got to be an infrastructure opportunity to deliver things for more than 5 million people and right now it doesn’t seem to be the case.”
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