Queensland’s Olympic Games leader set to be selected by 2022

One month after winning the Olympic Games, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed the difficult choices have already begun.

A powerful committee responsible for planning Brisbane’s Olympic Games will be in place before the end of the year as speculation mounts over who will take the vital leadership role.

One month after returning from Japan, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed she will introduce legislation next month to establish the Brisbane Organising Committee for the Olympic Games – a pivotal group responsible for planning and delivering the global spectacle in 11 years.

“We’ll be working through a number of issues now and we’ll have in place some legislation before the end of the year,” the Premier said.

The Brisbane Olympics Organising Committee is expected to be accountable to, but work independently of the state and federal governments.

Queensland’s Olympics Taskforce – which was responsible for driving the final stages of the state’s Olympics bid – held its first meeting on Thursday since Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates returned from Tokyo.

Members of the Brisbane 2032 delegation Annastacia Palaszczuk, Adrian Schrinner and John Coates celebrate after Brisbane was announced as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Getty Images)

Ms Palaszczuk said there was a “lot of enthusiasm” at the meeting, but insisted there was no shortlist for who would be appointed to the highly sought-after committee.

“This is such early days, we’re 11 years out so we’ll be making sure we get things right,” she said.

“There’s going to be a lot of people out there with a lot of ability, it’s going to be really tough narrowing down who actually sits on that committee.”

Brisbane’s committee is likely to include a team of executives with diverse corporate, events, technical and communications experience.

Under the 50-50 Olympics partnership agreement the state and federal governments will negotiate the membership of the committee, which is set to be incorporated by the end of the year.

Names being touted for the committee include former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk, former Palaszczuk Government Minister Kate Jones and Star Entertainment chairman John O’Neill.

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

Organisers of Brisbane’s 2032 Games will travel to every summer and Winter Olympics in the next decade for a first-hand look at how the mammoth sporting events should be run.

Members of Brisbane’s yet-to-be established Games organising committee will join the International Olympic Committee’s “experience program” from Paris 2024 where they will receive first-class treatment and an inside look at how to run an Olympics.