Brisbane bids to keep events as Sunshine Coast seeks seat at Olympic table
Two councils’ submissions to the 100-day Olympic infrastructure and planning review have some shared priorities.
Adrian Schrinner is a member of a prestigious international club – mayor of an Olympic city.Credit: Albert Perez/Getty
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has drawn a line in the sand, telling the 100-day Olympic review the lion’s share of events must remain in the city.
The Sunshine Coast, meanwhile, wants a seat at the Olympic table.
Those were some of the key messages from the two councils’ submissions to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority’s review of Olympic infrastructure and planning.
With suggestions some sports could be moved from Brisbane, such as the Gold Coast’s bid to poach swimming and Toowoomba’s request to take equestrian from the RNA Showgrounds, Schrinner makes the point that a host city is, indeed, a host city.
“The commitment made to the IOC [International Olympic Committee] was that the premier events, including swimming and athletics, as well as the basketball, rugby sevens and football finals, would be in Brisbane, the host city,” he writes to GIICA.
“There is a real risk that removing even smaller events from Brisbane will not only drive overall delivery costs up, but jeopardise the viability of the main athletes’ village, federal government venue funding and the financial success of the Games.”
Hockey Queensland and Hockey Australia have also suggested moving events from Ballymore to the Gold Coast.
As for the contentious issue of a new Olympic stadium, Schrinner’s submission does not offer any preferred location.
But Schrinner says the original Games bid “always envisaged the construction of a new stadium” as a replacement for a Gabba fast approaching obsolescence.
“In concert with this, the original bid also made a commitment to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the opening and closing ceremonies would be held in Brisbane,” he says.
The Gabba ready to host Cameroon and Kuwait during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.Credit: Darren England/ALLSPORT
“More importantly, the current Gabba stadium is approaching end-of-life which means Brisbane will need a new oval stadium to accommodate AFL, cricket and major events, such as music concerts, in the near future regardless of the Games.”
The Gabba was mostly built prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where it hosted Olympic football.
When it comes to governance, the Sunshine Coast Council feels somewhat snubbed.
“Games governance is complex,” the council says in its GIICA submission.
“To ensure Games responsibilities are well-defined and stakeholder commitments and obligations are enabled to be met, governance needs to be clear, agile and centred around genuine collaboration.
“...At the time of this submission, Sunshine Coast Council is the only Games delivery partner not represented on the Board of the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee – Brisbane 2032.
“The evaluation of governance arrangements provides this opportunity to be corrected. The Sunshine Coast Council Mayor should be granted membership to the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee Board as a priority.”
Along with requesting Mayor Rosanna Natoli join the Brisbane 2032 board, the council has also urged GIICA to stick with plans to upgrade Sunshine Coast Stadium and build a new indoor arena on adjacent land at Kawana.
There has been a move among LNP-affiliated Sunshine Coast politicians to instead build a new Convention Centre at Maroochydore, which could host Olympic events such as basketball.
Mayor Rosanna Natoli (centre) and the Sunshine Coast Council.
“It is critical to note that the planning for these two venues has resulted in efficiencies from their co-location,” the council says in its submission to GIICA.
“The removal of either will detract from the performance of the remaining venue and likely require additional planning and design further delaying the delivery of the venues.”
Natoli said the process was already well progressed, so any deviation would cause more unnecessary delays.
“While the state government must ensure their investment into Games infrastructure is right, the project validation process we have already followed to get the go ahead from all levels of government for our three competition venues was extremely rigorous,” she said.
“It demonstrated profound social and economic benefits for our community, outside hosting the Games. These are facilities our community needs.
“Each venue has been in the pipeline for many years – long before the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 was awarded to Brisbane – and stand to benefit our region long after the Games take place.”
The proposed Sunshine Coast Stadium expansion and the adjacent indoor arena.Credit: Sunshine Coast Council
In its submission, Sunshine Coast Council argues it had already invested considerable resources – “both financial and human” – into the planning and delivery of Brisbane 2032, with its focus on the Coast’s three permanent venues.
Along with the Kawana facilities, the council’s third permanent venue for the Games was slated to be the new Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Centre, for which it had already compulsorily acquired land at Parklands.
A spokesman for the council said a court case challenging that land acquisition was dismissed on June 7 last year.
During the Games, the SCMBC would accommodate 10,000 spectators, including 2000 in temporary seating.
“In addition to hosting Olympic Mountain Biking in 2032, the centre will enable the region to host other major mountain bike events and facilitate participation in trail running, bushwalking, horse riding and multi-sport events,” the council says in its submission.
Several sports are planned to be held on the Sunshine Coast. At the permanent venues, the outdoor stadium at Kawana would host football, basketball would be held next door at the indoor sports centre, and mountain biking would be at Parklands.
The marathon, race walk, road cycling and kiteboarding were also to be held using temporary facilities at Alexandra Headland.
“Each of our venues, including our temporary venues, is critical in delivering the positive legacy we had planned to achieve as a result of our role in attracting and hosting the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Natoli said.
“Funding for our region’s much-needed transport infrastructure, including the delivery of a rail line to Maroochydore by 2032, is also intrinsically linked to our Olympic venues and the role we will play in hosting the Games.”
On the rail line, which came into sharp focus on Monday when Infrastructure Australia removed it from its federal funding priority list, Sunshine Coast Council says it was always an integral part of the region’s Olympic bid.
An artist’s impression of one of the stations along the Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line.Credit: Department of Transport and Main Roads
“The objective has always been very clear: to utilise the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games to secure long-overdue investment in road and transport infrastructure in our region and to ensure a legacy for our communities,” the council says in its submission.
“Prioritising transport legacy for the Sunshine Coast should be a key consideration and critical factor in any proposed amendments to the current Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Venue Master Plan.”
It was a similar argument from Brisbane. While not as detailed as the Sunshine Coast’s, Brisbane’s submission did have Schrinner singing from the same infrastructure hymn sheet.
“The growth experienced by our region was the key reason why the South East Queensland Council of Mayors put forward the proposal to host the Games to begin with,” Schrinner writes.
“The mayors rightly identified the Games were a unique opportunity for all levels of government to work collaboratively together to deliver inter-generational transport infrastructure as an enduring legacy that would benefit all residents.
“That’s why our Council has developed a detailed transport legacy plan to keep Brisbane moving today, during the Games and beyond.”
The council wants an expanded Brisbane Metro network for 2032.
That plan, Race to Gold: Brisbane’s Games Transport Legacy, was released last August and called for a major expansion of the Brisbane Metro bus system.
“There are 18 Olympic and Paralympic venues planned across Brisbane and a target of 90 per cent of trips to venues to be taken by public and active transport,” Schrinner tells GIICA.
“However, Brisbane’s current public transport system can only deliver about half the expected trips to and from Games venues.
“Given the unacceptable time, cost and disruption associated with building new above-ground heavy rail through our suburbs, bus rapid transit along existing road corridors is the only real way to shift Brisbane from public transport to mass transit during the Games and beyond.”
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