Brisbane 2032 Olympics: Bid to lure more sporting bodies to city

With the AOC, AusCycling and Water Polo Australia eyeing a shift to Brisbane, another big scalp is in the Olympic city’s sights.

Major sporting organisations would be lured to Queensland ahead of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics under a bold plan to cement the state as Australia’s sporting capital.

A flurry of sporting organisations including the Australian Olympic Committee, AusCycling and Water Polo Australia are eyeing a shift to Queensland before the opening ceremony in 11 years, and could be offered cash incentives to do so.

There are also calls for the Australian Institute of Sport to expand its presence in the Olympic state, with the institute’s innovation and administration hubs thought to be the most likely to shift north.

Treasurer Cameron Dick, speaking at the launch of a new Boeing facility in Toowoomba, said the Government was open to luring companies and organisations north.

Mr Dick said that the ­government would support companies “that want to support Queensland”.

“If there are incentives we can provide, if there is support we can provide whether that be direct support or whether it be taxation relief for companies we always look to do that,” he said.

“The reason we want to fight hard to get investments like this in Queensland is the multi-year, sometimes multi-generational benefits we get for our state.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said yesterday she “absolutely” wanted to see more sporting organisations invest in Queensland.

Gold-medal-winning Paralympian Curtis McGrath has just gotten out of quarantine after the Tokyo Games. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“The Olympics are in 2032 so there’s a long time to go so there’s a lot of years ahead of us,” she said.

“We’ve shown that Queensland can be the sports capital of Australia and we would welcome those sporting bodies eventually moving here.

“That’s not going to happen overnight, that’s going to take years but that’s a show of confidence in Queensland.”

The Australian Institute of Sport’s approach to the State Government was made in 2018.

It is understood the proposal – worth over $50 million – would be to shift the headquarters and high performance centre to a new world-class sporting hub at Chandler or Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.

Former Australian Sports Commission chair John Wylie agreed the AIS should be relocated to Brisbane.

Paralympian Curtis McGrath said moving the AIS should be considered.

“The current facilities that we have around Queensland are very good,” he said.

“Maybe if we can update them and make them a little bit more modern that will be more sufficient.”

McGrath said the Brisbane 2032 Games would be focused more on venues and events rather than the training facilities, but said he could appreciate the change AIS could make in Queensland.

“The Games have a great long-term legacy that can facilitate growth in sport having something like that AIS would be an amazing facility for the future,” he said.