Steven Miles has appointed an independent panel to make a call on whether the controversial Gabba rebuild will go ahead so he won’t have to wear any political damage.
Nine months out from a state election that will be dominated by cost-of-living woes, overcrowded hospitals and crime issues, selling a $2.7bn stadium rebuild will be laborious.
Especially in must-win regional parts of the state where voters already feel they have been deprived of their fair share of government spending.
Don’t forget Brisbane 2032 was supposed to be affordable, embracing the International Olympic Committee’s “new norm” to keep costs down by using existing venues.
In the early planning days, taxpayers were repeatedly assured there would be no big splurge on stadiums, while the Games would produce $7.4bn in economic benefits and 130,000 direct jobs, and grow trade exports by as much as $8.63bn.
Almost three years on, Brisbane’s Olympics have been plagued by mammoth cost blowouts, political infighting and a failure to take the public along for the ride.
Much of the blame has been laid at the feet of former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who first guesstimated the Gabba redevelopment would cost $1bn without seeing a business case.
As Auditor-General Brendan Worrall noted last year: “I think you’ll find the source of that (figure) was from a press release.”
Last year, some members of Palaszczuk’s cabinet began pushing behind closed doors for an independent review of the infrastructure program, as they grew increasingly concerned the public was turning against the Olympics.
But Palaszczuk refused.
Asked on Thursday if he was pressured by Palaszczuk to sign off on a project he was not entirely comfortable with, the new Queensland Premier said he was “not going to get into those kinds of internal discussions”.
As the former minister in charge of Olympic infrastructure, Miles led the defence of the Gabba redevelopment.
He argued that the stadium was nearing its end of life, it lacked disability access and adequate women’s facilities, and was so outdated it would struggle to attract future sporting events and concerts.
Miles went to his department last year asking if there was a cheaper alternative to demolishing and rebuilding the Gabba, but was told that remained the best value for money.
Graham Quirk’s 60-day review could come back with the same advice, but the feeling inside the government is that the Gabba rebuild is dead and buried.
But with an election around the corner, Miles will let the independent panel pull the trigger.
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