Olympic committee boss runs a ‘lean’ team to avoid cost blowouts

Despite having billions of dollars under his control, Brisbane’s Olympic committee boss says he will run a tight ship and won’t go overboard with an army of workers. Here’s why.

Brisbane’s powerful Olympic Games committee will operate on a “lean” budget for several years to avoid cost blowouts during the unprecedented 10-year runway into the event.

The 20-person organising committee, formed just five weeks ago, is preparing to recruit its first CEO and has already established critical subcommittees a decade out from the 2032 Olympic Games.

However, despite hitting the ground running, committee President Andrew Liveris revealed an army of workers would not be employed for several years and declared the organisation would stay “lean at the beginning” to keep costs under control.

He holds “no fear” the committee would run out of steam despite Brisbane being granted an unprecedented 10 years to plan for the event.

“I’ve been here five weeks … but it is palpable, the enthusiasm,” he said.

“We have 20 soon to be 22, very very capable people on that board, I want to utilise all their skills and talents and deploy them.

“We are going to be spending some time today putting together a stakeholder engagement framework … we have so many stakeholders involved here.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk alongside OCOG Board President Andrew Liveris, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and AOC President Ian Chesterman. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Mr Liveris revealed he would visit organising committees in Paris and Los Angeles over the next few months to learn about their experiences and hoped Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner would join him.

A three-month recruitment process to find the first chief executive officer of the organising committee will also be launched within days.

Mr Liveris said the CEO would be tasked with running the committee as a business, with billions of dollars in state, Commonwealth and private funding to manage.

“We have to find $1.7bn of domestic sponsorship and the Australian Olympic Committee and ourselves are going to be working closely on that,” he said.

“It’s a business, but it’s a celebration of community and sports.”

Pressers

Mr Schrinner said there would be a local and global recruitment process to find the best candidate.

“This is such a critical role because the board provides that strategic oversight but the CEO works every single day to make things happen,” he said.

“You cannot under underestimate or understate the importance of that role.”

Mr Liveris on Thursday met with First Nations Peoples to learn about their priorities and pledge to involve them in planning for the Olympics.

“We will spend our initial years listening to, and learning from all community groups and key stakeholders as to their aspirations and priorities for Brisbane 2032,” he said.

The organising committee on Friday gathered at Brisbane City Hall for its second meeting, with new Albanese government Sports Minister Anika Wells joining as an observer.

It was also the first committee meeting involving new Australian Olympic Committee boss Ian Chesterman, who was elected in April to replace John Coates.