Former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk to get $150,000 for Gabba rebuild review

Queensland taxpayers will pay former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk about $150,000 to decide whether the controversial rebuild of the Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics should go ahead.

Artist’s impression of what the RNA Main Arena might look like during the Gabba redevelopment.

Queensland taxpayers will pay former Brisbane LNP lord mayor Graham Quirk about $150,000 for him to decide whether the rebuild of the Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics should go ahead.

A 60-day review of the multibillion-dollar Olympic infrastructure program was ordered by Premier Steven Miles in January to allay community outrage over early cost blowouts and criticism of the planning for the Games.

The total cost of Mr Quirk’s contract will be finalised at the end of the review, but The ­Australian understands that the State Development Department has estimated it would be between $140,000 and $150,000 for 60 days of work.

Taxpayers have already spent $788,000 on a separate report by consultants at Deloitte, which advised the state government to scrap plans for an independent Olympic infrastructure body.

An independent oversight body was a key part of Brisbane’s pitch for the Games and it was promised the body would publish a report by mid-2022 with an “outline of monitoring methodology mapped to a detailed legacy delivery program and specific quantifiable targets alongside appropriate quality measures”.

As Olympic infrastructure minister, Mr Miles decided the agency would instead be brought in-house, handing the state government total control over the ­rebuild, which had already blown out from $1bn to $2.7bn.

He resurrected the axed agency when he became Premier in December, saying he had been convinced it was “the right way to go”.

The infrastructure authority will be set up after Mr Quirk’s review, and be operational towards the middle of this year.

Former Labor tourism minister Kate Jones, who quit politics ahead of the 2020 election, was rumoured to be vying to head the agency but had said she would not put herself forward. “I have not approached the Premier or any member of Queensland cabinet regarding the proposed independent infrastructure body and will not be nominating to be on the board or employed in the agency,” she said.

Mr Quirk is being assisted by former bureaucrat Ken Kanofski, who reviewed NSW’s infrastructure program last year, and major events consultant Michelle ­Morris. While their findings will not be delivered until mid-March, Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner has already declared the Gabba plan “dead, buried and cremated”.

Olympics powerbroker John Coates last week said the Gabba rebuild had lost public support, was damaging the Olympic brand and “just does not stack up”.

Mr Quirk’s review will also scrutinise the federally funded Brisbane Arena, which was to be built above a CBD railway station and host swimming events for the Games.