Former premier torches Miles, LNP over Olympic stadium fight

Former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has torched her former deputy and successor Steven Miles, as well as the current LNP government, over preparations for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Speaking in her strongest terms since election night last year, the former premier said she was shocked, annoyed and “quite sad” that the Games preparations had become a “huge fight over stadiums” and a “political football”.

“I’m absolutely shocked at the state of this. If I was at the IOC [International Olympic Committee] at the moment, I would be saying, ‘What is going on, Brisbane?’” she told Nine’s Today show on Thursday morning.

“When I left, we had a plan, we were sticking to the plan and the tenders would have been out now for the Gabba.”

Palaszczuk said planning and construction would already be under way if her plan to rebuild the Gabba remained locked in.

“I’m absolutely shocked at the state of this,” she said.

“Everything’s getting unpicked. I often describe it as like, if you’re knitting a sweater and someone pulls a bit of wool, it’s all going to come untangled and everyone is pulling bits of wool out of this sweater.”

Palaszczuk also revealed she had been told the LNP government’s 100-day Olympic review committee had already decided to pursue a stadium at Victoria Park.

“I’ve been told the committee has actually already decided it’s going to be Victoria Park. It’s got no transport, it’s going to cost a lot more, billions and billions and billions of dollars that Queenslanders don’t have at the moment with cost-of-living pressures ...

“And I think there’s going to be a lot of outrage about the last piece of pristine greenness in our city being ripped up for stadiums.”

Victoria Park is 64 hectares of open green space in Brisbane’s inner city, spanning the suburbs of Herston, Kelvin Grove and Spring Hill.Credit: Matt Dennien

She said she had held her tongue about the Miles government’s decision to use the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan as the main Olympic stadium, which she described as “an absolutely ridiculous idea”.

When Brisbane secured the Olympics in 2021, beating bids from Indonesia, Qatar, India, Spain, China, Germany and Hungary, it gave the city an unprecedented 11 years to prepare for the 2032 Games.

Almost a third of that time has passed, leading many in business, sport and political circles to lament a squandered advantage.

Palaszczuk said under the proposal to rebuild the Gabba that she had finalised with the IOC and former prime minister Scott Morrison, construction for the Games would have been completed by 2030.

“There was a plan, there was a new norm,” she said, referring to the IOC’s push to use existing venues to avoid host cities being left with unnecessary infrastructure.

“We had 80 per cent of our stadiums locked in and, frankly, I’m pretty annoyed about how it’s turned out, it actually makes me quite sad as well ...

“Let me be very clear here, time is running out.

“Now we’re going to be pushed right up to the line until 2032.”

Palaszczuk, the so-called “accidental premier” who led Labor to three Queensland election victories, resigned from politics after almost nine years in the top job in December 2023. She was succeeded by Miles, who was ousted as premier by the LNP at last October’s election.

Miles sent Olympics organisers back to the drawing board last year when he announced a 60-day review into Games venues, to led by former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk.

Another 100-day review commissioned by new premier David Crisafulli, headed by property industry executive Stephen Conry, is due to release its findings in March.

Miles did not respond to questions on Thursday, but shadow treasurer Shannon Fentiman said Labor had a credible plan for the Games at a time when it was focused on delivering cost-of-living relief.

Given the dire state budget update delivered by the LNP on Thursday, Fentiman called on Crisafulli to reveal his priorities.

“Is he going to put Queensland families first, or is he going to build a new stadium? They have absolutely no answers when it comes to the Olympics,” she said.

with Sean Parnell

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