TSBE report into Olympics 2032 events in Toowoomba to be showcased to councillors

After several months of planning, a special report into the opportunities present for Toowoomba at the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane will be released soon. See details here.

Mark Mason of TSBE on the panel at the Future Toowoomba lunch at Wellcamp Airport. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The list of sporting opportunities Toowoomba could capture ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games will be revealed to the council this week behind closed doors.

Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise’s Mark Mason, who is on secondment from the council to complete the report due to his extensive experience in the development of prior Olympics, will deliver a draft version to councillors on Wednesday, before a final version is released to the public as early as next month.

It is understood the report will highlight the region’s most attainable ways of securing and expanding its current Olympic event spread, which is currently limited to preliminary football matches.

Mr Mason declined to comment on the report.

It comes a few weeks after TSBE requested the council extend Mr Mason’s secondment for another 12 months to help the organisation capitalise on a number of non-sporting opportunities that the region could develop out of the Olympics.

Potential areas for exploration include a development of a culturally significant indigenous trail through South East Queensland, a partnership with the University of Southern Queensland to reinvigorate the Olympic volunteering model and develop a labour force plan from the Pacific Nations.

The request at the ordinary meeting on January 18 sparked a wave of concerns from councillors over whether TSBE’s focus was aligned with the community’s expectations that Toowoomba secured more sporting events.

“Nothing here (in the attached report) is about sport, I’m just not sure if the work that’s being done matches the hopes and the vision of the community,” councillor Rebecca Vonhoff said.

“I understand there’s a strategy here, but there does appear to be a lack of alignment with what Brisbane is doing and what we’re doing.”

This sentiment was endorsed by Councillors Nancy Sommerfield, Carol Taylor, Tim McMahon and Deputy Mayor Geoff McDonald.

The councillors eventually voted to extend the secondment until the end of February to allow Mr Mason to deliver the report, with future extensions to be considered in the future.