Cate Campbell says Brisbane Olympic planning has been squandered ‘time and time again’
Four-time Olympian Cate Campbell says the Brisbane Games planning has been squandered ‘by short term visions by the government looking for ways to keep themselves in a job’.
Queensland taxpayers could be hit with a $1bn bill for 26,000 temporary seats for athletics events at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, undermining purported legacy benefits offered under the government’s new venue plan.
Plans to rebuild The Gabba as Brisbane’s main Olympic stadium were formally axed this week, with Premier Steven Miles instead planning to spend up to $1.6bn upgrading the ageing Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, previously known as QEII stadium, to host athletics events.
An independent review of venue options for Brisbane 2032, led by former lord mayor Graham Quirk and published on Monday, found revamping the near 50-year-old QSAC would be a waste of money and proposed a new $3.4bn stadium at Victoria Park.
On Mr Quirk’s numbers, $600m would be spent building 14,000 permanent seats at QSAC and another $1bn to increase capacity to 40,000 seats with related infrastructure.
“The panel’s view is that the investment of up to $1.6bn in QSAC does not demonstrate value for money and is very hard to justify,” his review found.
Mr Quirk told The Australian that costings used in the review came from a group made up of “a mix of state government officers and private sector specialists engaged by the state”.
“We also did some cross checking to make sure that the costings that we were being provided with were peer reviewed,” he said.
But speaking to The Australian from Lausanne this week, Olympic powerbroker John Coates said an independent analysis given to the International Olympic Committee of the cost of a refurbishment and upgrade at QSAC came in at around $600m and would allow for temporary seating to stretch capacity to 40,000 spectators.
The IOC vice-president suggested the extra $1bn quoted in the Quirk review was for improved transport to the stadium which would also enhance transport options to the nearby Griffith University.
Mr Coates said the idea of a new stadium at Victoria Park was not in the IOC plans. He added that if there were a change of state government after the October election any new proposal outside of repurposing existing stadiums for the 2032 Games would have to be signed off by Lausanne and the international sports federations.
State Development Minister Grace Grace’s office said there would be room for 40,000 spectators at track and field events in 2032, but the breakdown of temporary and permanent seats was yet to be decided.
Four-time Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell on Wednesday added her voice to criticism of Mr Miles’ Olympic venue plan, accusing his government of allowing its re-election prospects to get in the way of progress.
“We are really squandering an incredible opportunity by all this bickering, by short-term visions by the government looking for ways to keep themselves in a job as opposed to what will actually be good for southeast Queensland,” she told Nine’s Today Show. “We thought that we had nearly a four-year headstart to prepare and get ready for these Games and it’s just been squandered.
“I know that the state Premier is talking about cost of living and not wanting to spend things, but you’ve just spent $450,000 on a review when you had a perfectly good action plan.”
Campbell’s comments came as Labor MPs grew more fearful about how three years of shambolic Games planning would affect their re-election prospects.
“It is a complete shit show,” one Labor MP told The Australian on the condition of anonymity. “In terms of legacy, we have gone with the worst option.”
Another said: “Any goodwill has been destroyed. Punters are confused about what is happening because the plans keep changing”.
A regional Labor MP said the QSAC plan was the best option to sell to voters outside of the state’s southeast corner. “A new stadium in Brisbane would not go down well in regional Queensland,” they said. “But upgrades at three stadiums where they go down to watch AFL, cricket and footy is a plan they can wear.”
In question time on Wednesday, Mr Miles again denied seeking “formal” legal advice about cancelling the Games after media reports claimed the state had investigated scrapping the event amid community anger about cost blowouts.
Cabinet sources said they were aware the government would have to pay $500m in compensation to cancel the Games, but the option was never actively considered.
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