Green light for ‘uncosted’ Redland whitewater Olympic venue as state hounded over massive $2.7 billion Gabba blowout

A southside council has decided to proceed with an Olympic whitewater rafting venue, despite no financial costings, on the same day the state government came under fire for massive Olympic venue cost blow outs.

An Olympic whitewater rafting venue will be built at Birkdale but no financial analysis has been done to tell ratepayers how much it will cost to maintain after the Games.

A southside council approved a master plan for an elaborate $300 million Olympic whitewater rafting venue and community hub despite not yet having undertaken any financial costings.

Redland City Council voted to accept plans for the Olympic facility, to be built by the state and federal governments on council land at Birkdale.

The council decision coincided with the state government coming under new scrutiny over its whopping $2.7 billion cost blow out to demolish the Gabba for a new Olympic-style venue.

Approval followed contractual obligations with the state government made in April 2021, when the council offered the site as an Olympic venue.

The council also awarded itself an infrastructure designation which allows it to control and co-ordinate all aspects of the precinct’s development.

An artist impression of a proposed swimming lagoon at the Birkdale Olympic precinct. PHOTO: Redland City Council

The approved master plan shows the Old Cleveland Rd Olympic venue will double up as a swift water disaster management training ground with prospective users including Queensland Fire and Emergency Services along with international bodies.

It will be the only swift water rescue training ground in the southern hemisphere which will accommodate inflatable rescue craft and jet skis.

The plans also included a massive public swimming lagoon, a cafe precinct, a heritage trail, a radio receiver museum, an Indigenous centre, a wildlife hub, picnic grounds, camp sites, and an adventure playground, which has been put on hold until after the Games.

A 50m Olympic-standard swimming pool, designed to replace the city’s only public Olympic-standard pool at Cleveland, was scrapped.

Councillors were divided on whether to approve the plans without costings or a business case and before prospective tenants for the site had signed contracts.

Following the 2032 Olympics, the venue will be handed to Redland City Council to maintain and manage with those costs yet to be determined.

The council was told half of the whitewater rafting venues built around the world over the past 20 years had failed with a centre in Athens abandoned in 2004; Beijing closed in 2018 and a site in Rio shutting in 2016.

Venues in London, Tokyo and Sydney still operate but are heavily subsidised by governments and have also run at a loss.

The derelict Beijing whitewater rafting venue after the 2008 Games.

Redland general manager of major projects told Wednesday’s council meeting no costings or financial projections could be made until after the state government had done detailed designs for the venue.

He said it was too premature to calculate costs as the state had not given specifics of the venue including how it would operate, how much water would be required, what pumps would be used and how it would be paid for.

He also said if the project’s finances “did not stack up” the council could rescind its support for the project.

“All of the due diligence work that we have done shows that the venue can reasonably break-even or be profit generating,” he said.

“But there is uncertainty with those figures as we don’t have a detailed design of the venue.

“The modelling that the council did shows a profit in 2030, which allows a couple of years before the Olympics – on the assumption that the venue is delivered in 2026 by the state.”

A council spokesman also said extensive site specific studies and management plans covering a variety of topics were prepared and along with some due diligence, including design, engineering, financial and operational considerations suitable for a project that is at the Master Plan stage.

Redland Community Alliance for Responsible Planning said the council had not given the Brisbane 2032 bid team a detailed business plan and, at this stage, had been unable to demonstrate the facility’s long-term financial viability.

Redland Council said it planned to have the natural hazards training facility built before the Games.

Its spokeswoman Lavinia Wood said the International Olympic Committee’s “New Norm” policy told governments not to build new facilities, but to use existing ones.

“They know that white elephant Olympic facilities are crushing host cities,” Ms Wood said.

“The only exception is if a new facility was already much-needed, long-planned and already on its way – and has a strong business case which shows it will run in the black.

“The proposed Redlands whitewater stadium is none of these, yet Redland City Council has told the Brisbane 2032 Bid Team that it is.”

The state government’s Department of Infrastructure was contacted for comment.

State Opposition Leader David Crisafulli called for an Independent Coordination Authority to be responsible for assessing what Olympic venues were required and to be responsible for managing projects and budgets.