Brisbane is not a world-class city – the Olympics are out of its league
When Brisbane was announced as the winning host in July 2021 it was a case of the dog chasing the car having the misfortune of getting its fangs well stuck into the tyre. It’s time for the PM to step in.
It’s not too late for Brisbane to withdraw from hosting the 2032 Olympics. Lest I be condemned to forever hold my peace, I want to set out the reasons why this is the right thing to do.
I say this as a denizen of this fine town, the town of my college education and capital of my home state. For Queensland and Australia to persevere with this folly will not be good for the state or the country.
When Brisbane was announced the winning host in July 2021 it was a case of the dog chasing the car having the misfortune of getting its fangs well stuck into the tyre. What the heck do we do now?
Like all provinces whose erstwhile leaders are always on the hunt for events that will bring international attention and business to their capitals, Annastacia Palaszczuk went after the biggest prize and grabbed a mouthful of rubber for Queensland.
It’s four years later and not much has been achieved in terms of preparation for 2032. At least that’s the way it looks from the outside.
These are my arguments.
Brisbane is not a world-class city. Australia has two world-class cities: Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane is in the second tier with Perth and Adelaide. All other cities that ever hosted the Games are of world class. Perhaps St Louis, Missouri, is arguable, but in 1904 it was only the third Games of the modern era and its selection coincided with the World’s Fair.
Along with St Louis, Brisbane is the smallest host city to be selected. The others include the world’s greatest metropolises: London, Los Angeles, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, Rio and Berlin. It’s like sending an Australian A-League team to the football World Cup or the Queensland Reds to the Rugby World Cup: Brisbane is just not in this league.
Only the US has hosted the summer Games in more than two cities: St Louis in 1904, Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984, and once again in 2028, and Atlanta in 1996. The US has a population of 340 million compared with Australia’s 27 plus million. It has the people, the cities and the money to host the Olympics in several locations.
I, along with almost every Australian, believe Sydney 2000 was the GOAT, the Greatest of All Time. It surpassed every other city before and since. It is now 25 years since Sydney 2000 and by 2032 it will be 32 years.
The case for a repeat of Melbourne 1956, the city often voted the most liveable in the world, is much stronger than a three-peat of Los Angeles. As is the case for a second Sydney Games.
Queensland can’t afford these Games. The new Liberal National Party government of Premier David Crisafulli has inherited a liability, and no doubt is excited and enthusiastic about likely being the government in charge when Brisbane 2032 comes around. Lobbyists, businesses and the sporting interests that salivate over opportunities such as this will have all the arguments in the world as to why the Brisbane Games will succeed. Politicians excited about all of the budgets and contracts they can disburse over the coming years, and the public acclamation they hope to receive, will not give this opportunity up though it be the rational thing to do.
Queensland has many more pressing issues to deal with over the coming decade.
Declining health, education, housing and infrastructure to meet a growing population. Homelessness, poverty, youth crime, children in out-of-home care and a decaying environment. New sources of employment and economic development and productivity for the state, all need urgent government attention and investment.
A city and state cannot live by bread and circuses alone. Entertainment in the form of sporting and gaming facilities are all that politicians seem to support with unadulterated enthusiasm and massive public investment.
Tasmanian politics and society have been riven by the fight over a stadium for years now. It still isn’t resolved and state politics is dysfunctional as a result.
Hasn’t the country got enough sporting venues?
There is now a large body of literature based on the poor returns to the public from enormous outlays involved in the building of sports stadiums and other events infrastructure – particularly one-offs such as the Olympics and Super Bowls in the US. As well as subsidising private owners of teams and franchises, public outlays for public facilities do not seem to produce the economic multipliers claimed by promoters and the politicians who buy their sales pitches.
One American economist, JC Bradbury, told the Associated Press: “When you ask economists if we should fund sports stadiums, they can’t say ‘no’ fast enough.”
On claims made for the economic benefits of building stadiums, a recent article in The Atlantic reported economist Victor Matheson’s conclusion that “sports stadiums typically aren’t a good tool for economic development” and he advised: “Take whatever number the sports promoter says and move the decimal one place to the left. Divide it by 10. That’s a pretty good estimate of the actual economic impact.”
That the cost-benefit of the infrastructure for Brisbane 2032 is a serious question is evidenced in the time it has taken for the Queensland government to land on the way forward. Brisbane was selected early in Palaszczuk’s third term of government. It still had no definite plan by the end of Labor’s third term when Steven Miles had taken over the premiership in the final 10 months.
Strangely, Miles established the independent Sport Venue Review led by former lord mayor Graham Quirk. This 60-day review assessed various venue options and recommended the construction of a new stadium at Victoria Park at a cost between $3bn and $3.4bn. I say strangely because on receiving the Quirk review the Labor government promptly rejected its recommendation. Why establish your own review only to reject it?
The answer lies in the fact Victoria Park will be a sinkhole for public funds. There are no good options. And Labor knew it when it was the government. And Labor knows it now it is in opposition.
This unwillingness to take the risk on Victoria Park is not because Labor was or is particularly prudent with public funds. It is a testament to how diabolic the cost-benefit numbers must be for all options.
But governments, political parties and their leaders are like large ships: they don’t turn easily once they are set on a course.
No matter the iceberg ahead, they are paralysed by the choices they have made earlier and they are snookered by the political and electoral implications of changing course – even when a change of course is imperative.
And those with an interest in the outlay of these vast public resources have lobbied their way to ensure the compliance of the politicians to their agendas.
The federal government should really be making the call. Because it is the Australian people who will ultimately pay for the Games in 2032. As we should; the Olympics are a great honour for the nation, and as long as our governments and leaders are sensible with their stewardship of public funds, then of course we should invest in the Games.
But the responsibility for ensuring the best value for money should be the responsibility for Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a native of Brisbane, Anthony Albanese and the Labor government. The Brisbane dilemma should not entirely be a matter for the provincial government.
In March the Crisafulli government selected the Victoria Park option, reversing a pre-election commitment that an LNP government would not build a new stadium. The slated cost was put at $3.8bn for a 63,000-seat stadium.
But my argument is not primarily about the cost-benefit of these options that have roiled the Queensland government for four years now. My principal point is that Brisbane is not the best choice for Australia to host its third Olympic Games.
We should not be asking the question: Has such and such a city got the right venue or venues? But rather: Does Australia have the right venues? Melbourne Park is chockers with world-class venues, not the least the magnificent MCG. Same with Sydney. There is no wonder why large music acts – from Taylor Swift to Coldplay – increasingly fly over Brisbane and Adelaide in favour of Melbourne and Sydney.
When I left Brisbane for university in Sydney as a 17-year-old, Brisbane was a large country town. It is now a sizeable city but it is still nowhere near Melbourne or Sydney. You can walk from one end of the city to the other in 15 minutes. The cultural and entertainment precincts and facilities are that of a large town rather than a modern city.
Each day I walk the South Bank, trying to avoid being smashed to death by electric scooters and bikes that have made the footpaths and walkways along the Brisbane River such dangerous places, devoid of children and the elderly lest they be maimed or killed.
The most depressing sight is that of the failed Star casino on the northern bank, a monstrosity. Right next to the casino stands the new Executive Building of the Queensland government, the so-called “tower of power” but better called the “chubby bus” after the superannuation fund owners of the building, Cbus.
The two buildings seem to be holding hands like partners, dedicated to the corruption of the citizens and the destitution of families. In the shadows of both sits the parliament, the third of the trio but the weakest.
And like a stairway to heaven arching over the brown river is a new walkway that leads from South Bank to the Star casino. Is there no sense of foreboding about the risks Brisbane and Queensland are taking with 2032 when the politicians see the desultory condition of the Queens Wharf precinct?
It’s true that the 1988 World Expo represented a milestone in the maturation of Brisbane. But this is the Olympic Games, not an exposition.
Brisbane is not a cosmopolitan city, it is provincial and quite monocultural with growing but still small multicultural communities reflective of modern Australia. The thing that made Sydney 25 years ago was the people. Yes, Sydney has the most magnificent harbour on the planet, and its city beaches are as good as you can get anywhere, but it was the people who welcomed and chaperoned visitors from all over the world who most reflected the best of Australia.
It’s about putting our best feet forward as a people, as a nation. That’s what we should be doing. That means we put forward our best. We are blessed to have two cities of world class.
There is good reason why Manchester in Britain should yield to London. There is good reason why Miami should yield to Los Angeles. So too should Brisbane have never been proposed ahead of Sydney or Melbourne.
There are three options. They involve the Albanese government convening the governments of Queensland, NSW and Victoria, about establishing the best alternative to Brisbane 2032.
One option is for Sydney 2032. This would be the best option. The city already has an Olympic stadium and whatever upgrades are needed will be possible in the time remaining.
A second option is Melbourne 2032. The state of Victoria’s public finances may preclude this. Former premier Daniel Andrews made a mistake when his government went for the 2026 Commonwealth Games but had the courage to back out when it projected cost overruns.
A third option is for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to host an Australian Games. The opening ceremony would be held in Melbourne, the closing in Sydney, or vice versa. Brisbane would host many events, but especially the swimming. Brisbane is after all a strong contender for the swimming capital of the world.
The air transport triangle of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane is one of the busiest in the world. The venues needed to host the Games are already extant in the three cities. It would be a new way to host the Olympics that would showcase the best of Australia while avoiding throwing money into a sinkhole for an event that, even if it were pulled off, could never be as great as Sydney 2000.
Noel Pearson is founder of the Cape York Partnership, director of Good to Great Schools Australia and a director of Fortescue.
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