Secret Brisbane Olympics report recommends new Victoria Park stadium
A new stadium at Brisbane’s Victoria Park has been recommended by a draft secret report reviewing plans for the city’s 2032 Olympics, sparking fury in the top ranks of the new Queensland government.
A new stadium at Brisbane’s Victoria Park has been recommended by a draft secret report reviewing plans for the city’s 2032 Olympics, sparking fury in the top ranks of the new Queensland government after David Crisafulli repeatedly promised voters there would be no new stadium.
The LNP Premier and his top ministers are scrambling to work out how to respond to the 100-day review of Olympic infrastructure, which is also understood to recommend shifting the $2.5bn Brisbane Arena swimming venue from the Roma Street parklands across the river to a state-owned site adjacent to the Gabba.
A source with knowledge of the review – conducted by a panel hand-picked by Mr Crisafulli and his deputy Jarrod Bleijie – has warned it will put pressure on the Premier’s repeated insistence the joint state and federal infrastructure budget for the main Games venues will not exceed $7.1bn.
“With a new stadium and all the infrastructure surrounding it like walkways and station upgrades, you’re looking at $4bn to $5bn (for that venue alone), and the Brisbane Arena is going to cost at least $3bn, and then on top of that, you’ve got the regional venues which will add a couple of billion,” the source said.
“Along with the still increasing costs of construction worldwide, you could be looking at a cost envelope of $12bn instead of the planned $7bn.”
The panel handed its draft report to Mr Crisafulli, Mr Bleijie, Treasurer David Janetzki and a select few other key lieutenants last weekend, and the plans were then discussed at a cabinet budget review committee meeting.
Several sources said Mr Crisafulli and his team were “furious” about the recommendations which, if followed, would mean the government would have to break a major election promise not to build a new stadium.
“They are between a rock and a hard place,” one source said.
In 2021, the International Olympic Committee awarded Brisbane the 2032 Olympics. And despite the 11-year head start, a location for the Games’ main track and field stadium has still not been decided.
Former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had originally proposed to rebuild the Gabba. Her successor Steven Miles scrapped that idea in favour of redeveloping the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre, home to the 1982 Commonwealth Games, and Mr Crisafulli went to the election promising “we’re not embarking on new stadiums” and handballing the planning to an independent panel.
At a press conference on the Gold Coast on Friday, Mr Crisafulli said he “absolutely, categorically” wanted the private sector to chip in funding for Games venues.
The former Labor government investigated possible public-private partnerships for Olympic venues and it was found not to be realistic or viable.
Mr Crisafulli dodged questions about whether he had read the draft report, and said Queenslanders would finally know the government’s plan on March 25, the day after cabinet was due to ratify it.
“I know there’s a lot of excitement, but March 25 isn’t that far away. And on March 25, after over 1000 days of missed opportunities and no clarity, Queenslanders are going to have a way forward,” he said.
Asked whether he had outsourced his leadership to the panel, led by former chief executive of commercial real estate group Jones Lang LaSalle Australia Stephen Conry, Mr Crisafulli said he had not.
“The decision’s mine and the Deputy Premier’s,” he said.
The Australian understands the panel’s preferred option for the Brisbane Arena is to shift it to the old state-owned GoPrint site near the Gabba stadium from the current proposal at the Roma Street parklands. It was originally to be built on top of the Roma Street railway station, an option axed because of the expense, and Mr Miles shifted it to the nearby parklands.
It is understood the parklands site was still considered too tricky because it would cause major disruption to the train network.
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