Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s shock rethink on Gabba 2032 Games stadium plan

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has softened his staunch opposition to rebuilding the ageing Gabba, despite having repeatedly attacked it as a bad idea.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner at Victoria Park, a proposed site for an Olympic and Paralympic Games stadium. Picture: Liam Kidston

• Cases for, against stadium options

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has backflipped on his staunch opposition to transforming the ageing Gabba into an Olympics stadium after months of attacking it as a bad idea.

Speaking at Council’s new Brisbane International Cycle Park in Murarrie on November 5, Mr Schrinner said all options needed to be looked at by the government’s 2032 Games 100-day review panel.

“From what I’ve seen in terms of proposals, there’s actually a number of different exciting proposals,’’ Mr Schrinner said.

“I also think that the Gabba has to be looked at again to see if there’s a better way to do that.

“If we have these decisions made by the independent experts and not have elected members jumpings to conclusions (while) more work is being done, I think we will get the best outcome.’’

His comments came just one day after he said “everyone agrees the former government’s idea for a temporary venue at QSAC is a terrible idea, however the previous plan to demolish and rebuild the Gabba was disruptive and costly’’.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner at the cycle park. Photo: Steve Pohlner

Mr Schrinner told Tuesday’s council meeting that the Albion Park harness racing track, first proposed as a stadium site in 2019, should be put back on the table.

While stating several times his preferred option was “the best possible outcome” for Queensland, he said transport was critical.

He said Victoria Park already had a train station and soon would have the Metro.

But the Gabba’s transport options had become increasingly expensive with the cost of an underground Metro likely to grow from the original $450m to $600m, taking the total rebuild cost to $3.3bn.

Mr Schrinner insisted a legacy oval stadium was critical, not just for the Olympics but to host AFL, cricket and concerts in the years to come.

“For people in regional Queensland might be thinking, why should a stadium be built in Brisbane, I would simply say this - would you prefer to fly from Rockhampton to Melbourne and have your money go to Melbourne or stay in Queensland?” he said.

And at a rowdy council meeting last week Mr Schrinner said a Victoria Park stadium was not on council’s radar but he was not “ruling anything in or out while there was a 100-day review under way’’.

“There’s a proposal to rebuild the Gabba and to build a stadium at Hamilton Northshore,’’ he told the Council meeting.

“All of these have to be looked at but my view is the Gabba won’t work, the Gabba won’t stack up and there’s a reason it fell over in the first place.

Mr Schrinner has made multiple comments on other occasions on the unsuitability of a Gabba redevelopment, which would leave the AFL and cricket without a home, potentially for years.

As recently as May, he said he was gobsmacked after hearing about a plan to slash the size of a new Gabba stadium.

The new $35m cycling park. Photo: Steve Pohlner

“They’ll have to remove 4000 seats from the existing capacity,” he said.

“So we’re spending $1bn on the Gabba to get 4000 fewer seats.

“It’s crazy. There needs to be a better option than that.”

In March, then Premier Steven Miles axed Labor’s former Gabba knock down and rebuild option in favour of spending $1.6bn for a temporary venue at Nathan’s QSAC.

Early work by the state to also upgrade the Gabba indicated its capacity would dwindle from the current 36,000 seats to just 32,000.

Incoming Olympics Minister Tim Mander, who also was present at the cycle park launch, refused to be drawn on his preferred stadium option, saying that decision must be left to the 100-day review to decide.

But he said Premier David Crisafulli had been very clear during the election campaign that there would be no new stadiums and the LNP was sticking to that promise.

Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tim Mander. Photo: Steve Pohlner

Mr Mander said he supported any possibilities of private funding, but would not be drawn on comments from Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie that the federal government’s Games funding could be redirected.

An intergovernmental agreement inked in February 2023 by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk provided a capped financial contribution to Queensland of up to $3.43bn for venue infrastructure.

It included up to $2.5bn for Brisbane Arena and $935m for minor venues.

Mr Schrinner meanwhile announced that the cycle park would open to the public on November 22 at a final cost of $35 million, just two per cent above the budgeted amount despite problems with remediating the former landfill site.

While not an Olympic venue, it would help the training of elite road cyclists.

The 1.5km road cycling course, 1.2km international-level criterium track and 500m inline skating track would also be open to the public and the facility included a learn-to-ride facility and BMX track.