Major Olympics legacy ‘now dead’ amid political infighting

The Sunshine Coast’s federal Liberal National MPs and the state Labor government are at war, with claims a major infrastructure project is dead amid political infighting.

South-East Queensland’s key Olympic Games transport legacy project “is now dead” following years of delays by the state government, critics argue.

The state government on Sunday trumpeted its pledge to pour almost $3bn to build a 19km, $5.5bn rail line extension from Beerwah to Caloundra – short of the original plan to extend the line north to Maroochydore.

The rail extension to Maroochydore, past the 2032 basketball preliminaries venue and where the satellite athletes’ village will be located, was touted as a key piece of infrastructure deliverable as a result of Brisbane winning the Games.

While the corridor remains allocated, political infighting between the state and federal government had delayed progress on the project to beyond the 2032 Games – with both Labor and the LNP blaming the other side for the stall.

Artist impression of a rail line into the heart of the Sunshine Coast. Source: Queensland Government.

Federal LNP Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien argued the state government was delivering “half a rail line at twice the cost”.

“Only Labor would be brazen enough to declared victory on a failure – the premier’s rail announcement confirms the legacy centrepiece of the 2032 Games is now dead,” he said.

“We had all our ducks in a row more than two years ago, work should already be underway on the rail project as part of a 50-50 federal, state partnership for the Games … instead Labor jumped the partnership and have wasted two precious years.

“Everybody was sounding warnings to Labor to hurry up but they failed to listen and failed to act.”

Premier Steven Miles told The Sunday Mail the project would be built in three stages – from Beerwah to Caloundra, then Birtinya, before ending in Maroochydore.

Only the first section to Caloundra can be built in time for the 2032 Games, though this is contingent on the federal government coming on board with an extra $1.1bn on top of its existing $1.6bn commitment.

Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Premier Steven Miles. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Stage one will cost $5.5bn at least and up to $7bn at the highest end of estimates – more than double the $3.2bn initially earmarked by the Morrison government in 2022.

Queensland Deputy Premier Cameron Dick on Sunday said the state’s commitment of $2.7bn meant the project “comes to life”.

“The previous federal Coalition government, the Morrison government and the state LNP did a back of the envelope calculation of what they thought it was,” he said.

“The decision of the Morison government is a decision, a nonsense decision, made at the end of the dying government.

“There are lazy LNP federal MPs up here on fat margins who have never delivered anything for the Sunshine Coast.”

Mr Dick noted the project had been talked about for 40 years, but acknowledged it still wouldn’t be completed before the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“We said all along that we would need to do a business case before the project could go ahead,” he said.

Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow.

Robert Dow of advocacy group Rail Back on Track, who first predicted the government would struggle to build major new rail infrastructure in the eight years before the Games, said it was a bittersweet announcement.

“It is disappointing that the original timelines for this project keep get pushed back,” he said.

“We are however, grateful, that there is a chance for stage one prior to 2032.”

Transport Minister Bart Mellish refuted claims stopping the railway at Caloundra would turn the suburb into a carpark, but said the government was realistic about what it could achieve before the Games.

“We want to deliver what we can deliver within the time frames of the Olympics coming up,” he said.

“We have been very clear about what the funding can deliver and our money is on the table.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie labelled the announcement “an extraordinary broken promise”.

“Residents on the Sunshine Coast or anyone who has been stuck in traffic on the Bruce Highway will not forgive Steven Miles for this farce,” he said.

“The project has been slashed with Steven Miles tearing up two-thirds of the planned tracks to Maroochydore and its completion has exploded beyond any reasonable timeline.
“After a decade in power the only thing the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor Government has done is cut the project and consigned Caloundra to becoming a car park.”