Steven Miles rejects Brisbane Olympics review’s $3.4bn stadium proposal

Steven Miles rejected the key finding of the ­inquiry he ordered into the troubled Brisbane Olympics and will spend up to $1.6bn on an ageing stadium.

Suncorp Stadium General Manager Alan Graham, Queensland Premier Steven Miles, and Wally Lewis on Monday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Queensland Premier Steven Miles rejected the key finding of the ­inquiry he ordered into the troubled venue program for the Brisbane Olympics and will spend up to $1.6bn on an ageing suburban stadium that did not provide “value for money”.

Mr Miles announced on ­Monday that the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games would become ground zero of Australia’s third Olympics, even though it was not on a train line and might seat only 40,000 people.

State cabinet backed Mr Miles’ decision to override the recommendation of an expert panel led by former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk to spend $3.4bn on a new Olympic stadium at Victoria Park, north of the CBD, instead of redeveloping the historic cricket and AFL ground at the Gabba.

In backing the proposal by International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates to repurpose the former QEII ­stadium for the 2032 Games, the Queensland government up-ended the existing venue plan ­centred on the Gabba and a new 17,000-seat Brisbane Arena ­earmarked for the swimming competition.

The hall will now be moved from its proposed site at Roma Street railway station in the CBD to a nearby park, saving up to $1.5bn in construction costs.

The proposed redesign of the Gabba ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games.

In his review delivered on Monday, Mr Quirk was scathing of the QSAC option, saying the ­investment of up to $1.6bn in the 42-year-old stadium to stage the Olympic athletics competition “does not demonstrate value for money and is very hard to justify”.

“When accessibility challenges are then considered alongside a variety of other compromises needed to stage the track and field events, the QSAC option becomes less attractive – and with minimal additional benefits to the current facility for a lasting legacy when compared to the demand and use currently,” the panel reported.

Mr Quirk told The Australian: “So we looked at it and we said $1.6bn, what do you do with it at the end of the Games? We saw a very limited legacy, for the spend.

“In the case of Victoria Park … it would be a far better new facility than what even a rebuild at the Gabba would be, because the Gabba has limited space, and it was far, far better, we felt, than the QSAC option.”

Steven Miles on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

A blowout in the cost of a ­complete rebuild of the Gabba – from $1bn originally flagged by former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to $2.7bn and now the $3bn cited by Mr Quirk – had made the project a political liability in a state election year for the Miles government.

A taxpayer-funded poll in ­November found support for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics had plunged to its lowest levels, with only 38 per cent of voters agreeing the Games were a good idea for the city.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Monday, Mr Miles said he had launched a separate investigation to progress Mr Coates’s QSAC proposal a few weeks ago, after learning Mr Quirk was likely to recommend a new stadium be built.

“I cannot support building a brand new stadium when ­Queenslanders are doing it tough,” Mr Miles said. “When it was clear the direction the panel was heading in, I indicated to our public servants that we needed another option.

“I knew that it was going to be very, very hard to accept a brand new $3.4bn stadium without any of that planning work, effectively starting from scratch.”

Deputy Liberal National Party Leader Jarrod Bleijie said the ­opposition did not have a position on where the marquee Olympic stadium should be, and that it should be decided by an independent delivery authority which is due to be set up by the middle of the year.

“We have to end this madness,” Mr Bleijie said.

Mr Quirk’s report found the cost of upgrading QSAC would benefit existing users but had no broad community legacy and “did not represent value for money”.

“Given the lack of direct public transport, access to QSAC ­Stadium during the Games could only be facilitated by bus shuttles. In order to ensure a secure level of access for the Games it would be necessary to construct ­permanent bus hubs capable of handling more than 380 bus trips for each ticketed session with ­capacity to site up to 150 buses at each,” his report read.

“Delivering the track and field events with a capacity of 40,000 spectators would be by far the ­lowest capacity for any Games held in recent history and would potentially leave little opportunity for the general public to attend major finals.”

Mr Quirk’s review also considered revamps at the RNA Showgrounds, Albion, Toombul, Carrara Stadium and Suncorp ­Stadium but found the sites were not “viable” options.

The infrastructure spend for the 2032 Brisbane Games is being split between state and federal governments, although contributions from the commonwealth is capped at $3.44bn.