Jarrod Bleijie claps back at federal counterpart over Olympic infrastructure

Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie has responded to federal calls for the new state government not to further delay Olympic projects.

Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie on Monday. Picture: Richard Walker

• Industry leaders: Clock is ticking

Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has warned the Queensland government of causing further cost blowouts to Olympic Games projects by delaying decisions by another 130 days.

The government will launch a 100-day review in December to assess the viability of all infrastructure projects related to the 2032 Brisbane Games.

Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie, who has been charged with heading the Games implementation, revealed Ms King has written to him warning him against the 100-day review.

“She said we should just get on … with the job,” he said.

“My response to Catherine King is Queenslanders can’t afford that at the moment because of Labor blowouts.

“The new LNP state government is not comfortable with Queensland taxpayers forking out all this additional billions of dollars.”

Ms King’s letter, seen by The Courier-Mail, specifically warns: “Any delay to these projects as a result of another review risks increasing the costs of these important projects and will ultimately mean projects are delayed and Queensland taxpayers have to pay more as construction costs increase.”

While Mr Bleijie insisted he wanted to work cooperatively with Ms King, he reaffirmed he would not allow any project to exceed budget, nor would the government chip in any extra funding beyond the existing $7.1bn envelope.

Asked how he could control inflation and rising construction costs, Mr Bleijie said: “We wouldn’t have accepted them.”

Mr Bleijie, in response to Ms King, reminded her that the Intergovernmental Agreement determining the partnership between the federal and state governments for the Games was due for review in February.

“And the outcomes related to the 100-day review will inform this review,” he wrote, hinting at room for change to the existing funding arrangement, despite Ms King’s insistence that the Commonwealth would not be contributing more money to Brisbane 2032.

The infrastructure co-ordination authority board is due to be appointed by the end of November.

It will then have 100 days to review all Olympic related infrastructure projects, current and future, before handing a report back to government by March 12.