Anthony Albanese spooked by Gabba Olympics rebuild blowout

The federal government walked away from the $2.7bn rebuild of Brisbane’s Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics after being spooked by a 170 per cent blowout in costings, sources say.

The Gabba stadium in Brisbane is to be rebuilt for the 2032 Olympic Games.

The federal government walked away from the $2.7bn rebuild of Brisbane’s Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics after being ­spooked by a 170 per cent blowout in the project’s preliminary costings, multiple sources say.

The decision last month by ­Anthony Albanese to pull the plug exposed a rift with Queensland’s state Labor government over the staggeringly expensive Gabba upgrade and departed from the original model to fund and manage a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure spend on the Games. The state is now in technical breach of an undertaking to the International Olympic Committee to set up an independent agency to oversee the development of venues, transport links and other big-­ticket amenities within months of the world’s biggest sports event being handed to Brisbane in mid-2021.

The Olympic Co-ordination Authority was to have been established alongside the Organising Committee for the Games which has been operating for nearly a year under the leadership of international business figure Andrew Liveris.

But in response to questions from The Weekend Australian, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would not say when the OCA would be up and running, despite its centrality to the plan sold to the IOC. Infrastructure Minister Catherine King on Friday distanced federal Labor from the issue, with her office insisting that the federal government was “not a party to the Olympic host contract or the bid”.

This was despite then prime minister Scott Morrison committing the federal government to split the Games’ cost with Queensland in a 50-50 funding deal that covered the Gabba, sealed ahead of the IOC’s vote on the hosting rights during the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

In a video message to IOC ­delegates, he guaranteed that “every level of government is working ­together to deliver Brisbane 2032”.

But Ms King’s spokeswoman said: “The Albanese government inherited from the previous government and previous prime minister one line in a letter about investment by the Australian government in the Brisbane 2032 Games. There was no funding ­appropriated, no actual venues chosen and no costings completed.

“The Australian government is not a party to the Olympic host contract or the bid. Any questions regarding the establishment of an Olympic Co-ordination Authority is a matter for the Queensland government.”

Ms Palaszczuk, speaking through a spokesman, would say only that the Games partners had “agreed in principle” to establish the OCA.

While both leaders profess to be co-operating closely on Games infrastructure, the federal government’s refusal to sign on to the Gabba rebuild after the initial $1bn budget cited by Ms Palaszczuk soared to $2.7bn was “the clearest vote of no-confidence you could get”, one federal Labor source said.

Another insider, familiar with the deliberations, pointed out: ­“Albanese is a former infrastructure minister … who can see all the holes in a project.”

The 42,000-seat cricket and AFL stadium was put forward in the final May 2021 bid submission to the IOC as the central venue for athletics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The glossy document was stamped with the logos of the federal and state governments, the Brisbane City Council and southeast Queensland Council of Mayors.

The revised cost-sharing agreement announced on February 17 by Mr Albanese and Ms Palaszczuk takes a more piecemeal approach, with the state assuming sole responsibility for the program to demolish the Gabba and replace it with a 50,000-seat stadium.

The federal government is to take charge of the technically challenging construction of the 17,000-seat Brisbane Arena, proposed to sit above a heavily used railway yard on the outskirts of the CBD. A drop-in pool would make it the Olympic swimming hub.

A further 16 venues would be built or upgraded at a cost of $1.87bn to be shared by the two governments.

However, Ms Palaszczuk has refused to explain how the original $1bn costing for the Gabba was ­arrived at or why it nearly tripled inside two years, beyond referring to increased “prices for commodities and everything” plus the cost of demolition.

Pressed on Friday, her office said: “The cost is based on projections for 2025 taking into account inflation and the rising costs of construction materials.”

The Queensland Department of State Development said the $1bn figure was an “indicative” costing calculated in 2020 dollars, excluding construction cost escalation and supply chain constraints.

The OCA was to have had “an assurance role” in developing Games infrastructure, with its ­establishment to “coincide” with that of delivery agency OCOG.