Olympic Games will be a boon to regional Qld too

Southeast Queensland might be the host, but if our 2032 Olympic Games bid is successful there’ll be hundreds of millions of dollars flowing to the rest of the state too.

STRUGGLING regional centres are primed to pick up hundreds of millions of dollars in manufacturing and supply contracts and from hosting international teams in the lead-up to a 2032 southeast Queensland Olympic Games.

In a swift rebuff to Pauline Hanson’s campaign against the games, bid backers have highlighted the landslide of economic and social benefits Queensland experienced as a result of Sydney 2000.

SEQ 2032: Hometown hero John Millman backs Olympic bid

Council of Mayors says Pauline Hanson’s campaign against Olympics bid not in Queensland’s interests

Bid architect and former lord mayor Graham Quirk said regional Queenslanders were on board the Games proposal once they were reminded of what Sydney 2000 did for Queensland, and the tens of millions of dollars visiting teams tipped into their towns.

A state government report compiled in the months after the Sydney 2000 Games says more than 179 teams with 2500 athletes from 48 countries trained across the state from Cairns to Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Toowomba, the Gold and Sunshine coasts and Brisbane.

A home Games would only make Queensland centres more attractive for teams in 2032, Mr Quirk said, who launched the 2032 SEQ Games push while head of the Southeast Queensland Council of Mayors.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with IOC president John Coates

Queensland businesses picked up contracts worth over $400 million in year 2000 terms, with major contracts going to companies including in Townsville for prefabrication of parts of the Olympic Village down to others who supplied Moreton Bay figs for the Olympic Park, the taskforce report says.

Olympian and prominent Queensland businessman Mark Stockwell, who sat on the Queensland Olympics 2000 task force, said while Queensland did well out of targeting spin-off opportunities from the Sydney Games, a home event would multiply those “100-fold”.

The Council of Mayors (SEQ) proposed a Games bid to fast-track new roads and rail with a feasibility study which gathered momentum on the back of The Courier-Mail’s Future SEQ campaign.

In June, The Courier-Mail and southeast Queensland sister mastheads officially backed the bid with front-page editorials.

In December, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Queensland was going for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, won over by projections showing billions of dollars extra would pour into the state economy and create another 129,000 jobs.

Olympian Susie O’Neill has thrown her support behind the 2032 bid.

The Government’s value proposition analysis showed 10,000 jobs predicted from tourism in the Games year alone, with half of all international games tourists tipped to visit regional Queensland providing a $10 billion uplift to the regional economy.

Mr Quirk, who has spoken to nearly every mayor in Queensland and told them bluntly the Games proposal would only win IOC backing if events were centred on the southeast, said there were massive flow-on financial, jobs and tourism opportunities for regional areas.

Mr Stockwell said Queensland needed to focus on winning the Games bid, harnessing support across the state.

The Olympic medallist offered to sit down with high profile Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson, who says she is opposed to the Games being held in southeast Queensland when rural Queensland needs more spending.

AOC president John Coates has said staging the Games would be cost-neutral for the state, with $US2.3 billion to come from broadcast agreements and a minimum $US1.8 billion from the IOC to help stage the event.

Mr Quirk said a southeast Queensland Games would also inspire a generation of young Queensland kids to put down their electronic devices and get into sport.

Bid architect and former lord mayor Graham Quirk (right) meets with Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey to discuss his town’s role.

Senator Hanson’s campaign against the Games bid has drawn the ire of regional mayors, who say the games could deliver vital infrastructure for their regions.

The Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regional councils’ campaign to secure a passenger rail link between Brisbane and the key regions may be boosted by a successful bid for the Olympic Games.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning and announcing the formation of the Ipswich to Toowoomba Passenger Rail Alliance, Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan said Senator Hanson’s campaign was “all politics”.

“I’m disappointed by the comments. Put your energy into something that’s really great for our community,” Cr Milligan said.

“If everyone worked together, regardless of what party you belong to, the community would be far more grateful. We would get a hell of a lot more done.”

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio was also critical of the senators opposition to the games.

“My response to Pauline Hanson is that the Olympics do many things for communities,” Cr Antonio said.

“We put our hand up because it will generate significant activity here – we’ll get infrastructure, we’ll get a legacy in this area, that we wouldn’t have without the Olympic Games.”