Brisbane 2032: $1b Gabba plans to be released despite major funding question mark

Plans for the billion-dollar rebuild of the Gabba will be publicly released within weeks despite the federal government’s refusal to say whether it will split the bill on the project. TAKE OUR POLL

Plans for the billion-dollar rebuild of Brisbane’s iconic Gabba stadium will be publicly released within weeks despite the federal government’s refusal to say whether it will split the bill on the project.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk remained adamant on Wednesday the Gabba would be knocked down and rebuilt – the proposal which was taken to the International Olympic Committee at the time of Brisbane’s successful bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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The Premier also made clear she expected the federal government to honour their commitment to jointly fund Olympics projects – including the Gabba – saying “funding commitments given to the IOC are funding commitments honoured”.

The Gabba will be the centrepiece of the 2032 Games.

But despite a 50-50 Olympics infrastructure funding arrangement deal struck with the former Morrison government, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been repeatedly noncommittal when asked whether the federal government will jointly fund the billion-dollar plus costs to rebuild of the stadium.

Last week Mr Albanese said the federal government was “awaiting information from the Queensland government, including all the business cases”, on projects for the Games, and decisions would also have to be made on whether they would be counted as “Olympics projects”.

“We certainly will front up for our share of the investment,” he said.

“For a lot of the projects, of course you can talk about ‘are they an Olympics project, or are they not an Olympics project?’ Are they transport projects or are they infrastructure projects?

“My government isn’t like our predecessors who decided things without any detail.”

Asked whether the government was reconsidering plans to “knock down” the stadium following Mr Albanese’s comments, Ms Palaszczuk said “no”.

“We are currently working on the finalisation of the Gabba redevelopment and we will be announcing those plans in the next couple of weeks or so,” she said.

She also said she expected the federal government’s commitment to jointly fund Olympics infrastructure projects to be honoured, saying “I have had very good discussions with the Prime Minister”.

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister, with Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland. Photo Steve Pohlner

“Funding commitments given to the IOC are funding commitments honoured. I have been very clear about this,” she said.

Pointedly, Mr Albanese last week made reference to funding arrangements for the 2000 Olympics, saying “federal funding for the Sydney Olympics was nothing like 50-50, but we’ll discuss cooperatively with Queensland”.

The federal government funded about 8 per cent of the 2000 Olympics infrastructure costs, the remainder was funded by the NSW government.

While a rebuild of the Gabba was previously given a $1b price tag, a number of experts have claimed the existing small footprint, rising cost of materials and labour, and potential street modifications could see costs double.

Ms Palaszczuk has also conceded the cost could rise above $1b.

South Brisbane Greens MP Amy MacMahon has been a staunch opponent of a rebuild of the Gabba, and said “despite huge community opposition, the state government seems intent on pushing ahead with the demolition and rebuild of the Gabba Stadium, creating a $2 billion white elephant”.

“Last week the Prime Minister said that Federal funding is far from guaranteed – is the Palaszczuk Labor government planning to spend $2 billion of Queenslanders money on a project we don’t need?”