Editorial: Brisbane 2032 feature that will shock Sydney and Melbourne

The truth is that the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics will be the greatest Games yet, writes the editor.

A concept image of Brisbane during the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. Picture: Urbis

It’s getting pretty amusing watching how Brisbane’s modern-day success seems to come as such a shock to those who live in the sprawling big cities to our south.

The truth is that Brisbane’s Olympics – and Paralympics, as we always ensure we add – will be the greatest Games yet.

Not only are our plans for venues elite (name another Games where the Athletes Village was walking distance to both the main stadium and the central business district), but the distributed model where events will be held across the southeast will minimise the usual chaos caused by the world’s biggest show in one city.

It will come as quite a shock to our cousins from Sydney and Melbourne, most of whom have only just caught up with the fact the 2032 Games will be here at all.

(And as an aside, how proud the people of Victoria must be that the government they had just re-elected for the third time gave up the chance to see Queensland’s global sprint sensations Gout Gout and Torrie Lewis perform on home soil at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.)

As we have observed in this column before, people who live in Sydney and Melbourne still do not understand Queensland – and they certainly don’t get Brisbane.

These days they do like to visit – “I stayed at the Calile darl, I had no idea!” – but in the way they speak about us you can hear the now-very much out of date sneer that still sees us a big country town, in a bad way.

But do you know what? That’s totally fine. Because they are living on the wrong side of history.

As legendary Brisbane city-shaper and business leader Steve Wilson rightly says: These days, there are two types of Australians – “Queenslanders, and those who want to be”.

The coming decades will be ours, as we ride the magic carpet that the International Olympic Committee has gifted us while the other two big capitals sink under infinite urban sprawl and traffic congestion on one hand, and the earth-shattering impacts of the nation’s worst state government on the other.

There will be those who continue to see us as nothing more than a slightly grown-up “hillbilly town”, or as “Texas Down Under”.

But we no longer really care.

Because we have arrived.

And it is not because Brisbane’s AFL team won the flag (again) and our rugby league team and their fans proved (also again) that our stadium features the best atmosphere of any in the country. (Although they both did.)

Forty-three years after Matilda’s iconic wink, and 37 years since Expo 88 actually did “show the world” how welcoming the Queensland attitude to life is, we stand ready to emerge as a truly relevant global city – home to five million people, stretching from Coolangatta in the south to Noosa in the north.

READY TO HOST GRAND FINAL

Back in October 2019, the NRL made an incredibly short-sighted decision.

To reward the NSW government for its $2bn upgrade of the city’s stadiums – with the central plank a complete rebuild of the Sydney Football Stadium to add a few extra seats – the NRL locked in Sydney to host the grand final until at least 2046.

Queensland was outraged, and rightly so. But a lot has happened in the six years since that decision was made, and maybe it’s time that the NRL looked at ways of getting out of it’s contract with NSW.

Firstly, the continued success of Magic Round has shown all footy fans that Queensland – and in particular Suncorp Stadium – is the true spiritual home of the game in this country. As mentioned above, our southern neighbours have now discovered Brisbane, and they know we do rugby league like nowhere else.

Over the last three years around 150,000 people have attended the three days of Magic Round, with a huge percentage coming from NSW. They pack Suncorp Stadium and then hit the pubs and restaurants on Caxton St and further afield.

Compare that to the deserted showgrounds surrounding the soul-less former athletics stadium in Sydney’s western suburbs. Fans can’t get out of there quick enough after the game (although there are usually long waits for trains).

Then of course we had Covid, with Brisbane stepping in to host the 2021 grand final due to restrictions in NSW.

Despite closed borders and reduced capacity, the 39,322 fans who saw the Panthers beat the Rabbitohs 14-12 produced more noise and atmosphere than 80,000 at Stadium Australia.

Now, with Brisbane preparing for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Premier David Crisafulli says he will look at a possible Suncorp Stadium upgrade, to boost capacity towards 60,000.

If Suncorp Stadium can host Olympic and Paralympic events, it can host a grand final.

The NRL needs to find a way to make it happen.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here