LNP claims $500m Brisbane Arena blowout was hidden from voters

Queensland’s new government claims Labor hid a $500 million cost associated with a major Olympic venue from voters before the election, leading to counterclaims of “petty” politics from the opposition.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said not only would Brisbane Arena “likely” cost more than the previously anticipated $2.5 billion, there would also be a need for a half-billion-dollar upgrade of Roma Street station to provide links to the new venue.

The arena was originally going to be built over the railway tracks near the station, but prohibitive costs and logistics identified during the Quirk venue review resulted in its relocation to the site of an existing car park and maintenance depot at Roma Street Parklands.

The revised plan for the Brisbane Arena saw the indoor stadium moved to the northern end of Roma Street Parklands.Credit: Queensland government

“[Former premier] Steven Miles needs to apologise for hiding these cost blowouts,” Bleijie said on Sunday.

“As I said last week, I’m going to continue to advise Queenslanders, in the spirit of openness and transparency, what these Labor blowouts are – were – and why they were hid from the people of Queensland by the Labor Party.

“Roma Street Station is likely going to have to have an upgrade of $500 million, and that’s not budgeted – no one knew about it.

The original plan for Brisbane Arena to be built above Roma Street railway tracks proved too costly and prohibitive.

“The Labor Party knew about it, and they hid it from the people of Queensland.”

Opposition health spokesman Mark Bailey, speaking for the Labor opposition on Sunday, rejected the accusation of a cover-up.

“The project validation report isn’t even complete yet on this aspect of the infrastructure program, and yet he’s trotting out these figures,” he said.

“Let’s be clear, these are code for future cuts. You know the LNP love to cut, and they’re now making out a case for cuts.

“And this is Jarrod Bleijie – this is the guy who wore a stuffed rat on his shoulder in parliament. It’s pretty hard to take him seriously.”

Bailey said the true costs would not be known until the project validation report was completed, and any accusation of a cover-up was a “petty political ploy” on Bleijie’s part.

Regardless of the possible extra cost, Premier David Crisafulli said the LNP remained committed to the Brisbane Arena, which was originally touted by Brisbane stadiums supremo Harvey Lister as a market-led proposal in 2016.

“[Olympic] projects that are already underway, we back – and we back Brisbane Live, by the way,” Crisafulli said.

“I think [Bleijie’s] point is that no one in the former government had the ticker or the sincerity to say we’ve got, potentially, a half-a-billion-dollar blowout here that we haven’t planned properly for.

“And we’re finding these across the board – $181 million just in three venues.”

Last week, Bleijie said the LNP government had found $181 million in cost blowouts for two indoor sports centres, at Chandler and on the Sunshine Coast, as well as the adjacent Sunshine Coast Stadium at Kawana.

Crisafulli again ruled out allowing a new stadium to be included in the terms of reference for his proposed 100-day review of Olympic infrastructure, which he called “a plan to end all plans”.

“I want Queenslanders to know we’re serious about this, and it involves world-class venues as well,” he said.

“But our focus won’t change. And what the main prize is, and that’s generational infrastructure, is what the original bid was.”

Last week, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said any suggestion a new stadium was not part of Brisbane’s original Olympic vision was “rewriting history”.

The original plans submitted to the International Olympic Committee included a new stadium on the Albion Park raceway site.

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