Olympic Games push for Brisbane to replicate ‘bombed out Munich’

Munich’s use of the Olympic Games to transform the city and deliver major infrastructure is a model Brisbane should follow, advocates say.

Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic Games will make southeast Queensland Australia’s “hottest growth area” this decade, meaning billons of dollars in infrastructure must be built to cope with demand, a leading demographer has declared.

The southeast of the state is tipped to experience a “population bonus” as a result of the Olympics, with millions more residents expected to migrate in the lead-up and post-Games, Demographics Group director Simon Kuestenmacher says.

To mark a decade to go until the Games Mr Kuestenmacher on Friday joined the Council of Mayors SEQ to reveal key challenges facing the region in the next 20 years.

The respected demographer has urged Queensland’s political leaders to use the Olympics to end Australia’s “lagging” infrastructure build by delivering “future-fit” projects to cater for growth in the decade after the Games.

Mr Kuestenmacher cites Munich, which was a “bombed out city” prior to the Games but used them to invest in major public transport and social infrastructure.

He said by the 1972 event the rail network was extended from the city to provinces which had little population.

“We decided to build out the infrastructure well beyond what was needed … rail went into tiny villages north, south, east and west,” he said.

“It was a build it and they will come approach.

“The rail skeleton built in the 1960s the for the Olympics is still shaping the urban footprint today.”

The Olympic Tower in Munich, built for the 1972 Games. Picture: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Mr Kuestenmacher said Australia was “playing catch-up” on infrastructure development, and warned it would continue to be the case unless political leaders think long-term.

“I think it takes a leader that just looks a decade or two ahead because once you do the future issues become comically clear,” he said.

He said South East Queensland cities would become more decentralised as regional growth increased.

“South East Queensland will be the hottest growth area of the 2020s, no doubt,” he said.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane Adrian Schrinner with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk viewing ideas to revitalise Brisbane at the Property Council of Australia's Green and Gold Runway event on Friday. Photo Steve Pohlner

Mr Kuestenmacher acknowledged it was “politically unfeasible” to build everything on an infrastructure wishlist, but said the focus should be on ensuring the state’s ageing population lived in more walkable and public transport-friendly cities.

He encouraged South East Queensland mayors to “understand where the growth is coming from” and advocate for critical projects.

Mr Kuestenmacher tipped the nation would also face a further shortage of skilled labour, with more Australians aged over 85.

Council of Mayors chief executive Scott Smith said delivering development remained one of the “core” reasons the group first bid for the event.

“It’s not about limping across the line and just delivering the games, it’s about using this as the catalyst we all see and leaping ahead as a region,” he said.

“This sets up, like Munich, for the next 50 years.”