Gabba rebuild on table under LNP’s 100-day Olympic venue review

The news

A significant upgrade or rebuild of the Gabba to host the 2032 Olympic ceremonies and athletics would be on the cards under the LNP’s proposed 100-day review of venue plans should it win government this month.

LNP leader David Crisafulli confirmed his promised review would “of course” consider the idea, but it would not investigate a new stadium and was unlikely to back the current QSAC plan.

The Gabba is expected to reach the end of its “useful life” in just six years’ time.

Premier Steven Miles seized on the comments while campaigning on Bribie Island on Sunday, suggesting the LNP was committed to rebuilding the Gabba but afraid of the community backlash.

During an LNP campaign stop at Pine Rivers in Brisbane’s north, Crisafulli also announced the party would fund $250 million in grassroots community sports facility upgrades in the lead-up to 2032.

Why it matters

While Crisafulli told journalists he had said “from day one” that a Gabba upgrade or rebuild was “part of the mix”, senior LNP figures this year switched to talking down Labor’s previous plan to do so.

The LNP’s tune changed in March after the Miles government’s venue review by former LNP lord mayor Graham Quirk recommended against Gabba works in favour of a new Victoria Park stadium.

While rejecting a new stadium and escalating opposition to the proposed Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre upgrade, Crisafulli and his deputy, Jarrod Bleijie, qualified their Gabba upgrade support.

“We said that project did not have our support, and I think that was fair and reasonable,” Crisafulli told parliament on March 19, referring to the plan to “knock down [the Gabba] without a business case”.

In the days that followed, he declined to rule out accepting any recommendations from his proposed 100-day review for a Gabba upgrade.

What they said

Crisafulli was asked repeatedly by journalists about the state LNP’s rejection of a new stadium in Brisbane and the pledge to bar its review from investigating one – even with a private sector partnership.

But when asked whether upgrading or rebuilding the Gabba counted as a new stadium, he said, “of course it’s part of the mix, I’ve said that from day one”.

“We need to upgrade the Gabba. Whether or not we have an Olympics or not, that venue isn’t befitting of a magnificent city. Great location, but it needs a bit of love.”

David Crisafulli speaking to ABC Radio Brisbane in August 2022

“The Olympic infrastructure co-ordination authority will be tasked with ... making sure that we have world-class venues,” he said.

Bleijie confirmed the LNP would use existing laws – altered, if need be, to ensure regional and rural representation – to set up the body tasked with the 100-day review.

Also charged with driving the delivery of the eventual venue, Bleijie suggested this meant the LNP would proceed with appointments to the board, in consultation with Games partners.

“We will work with the bodies,” he said of federal, state and local governments, along with Olympic and Paralympic groups, which were “as frustrated as Queenslanders”.

Another point of view

Miles – whose government is yet to detail its own necessary upgrades to the ageing stadium – accused Crisafulli on Sunday of “lying to Queenslanders”, as he called on the LNP leader to detail his rebuild idea.

“That’s his plan, but he doesn’t want to be held to account for that come October 26,” Miles said, while pledging new boat ramps, upgraded camping facilities, and net-free fishing in Moreton Bay.

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