Analysis: Four words that laid bare state’s shambolic Games ‘preparation’

With four simple words, Senator Bridget McKenzie summed up the feelings of a state that has been promised so much but seen so little delivered for the 2032 Games, writes Stephanie Bennett.

Senator Bridget McKenzie on Wednesday. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

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“Nothing has been done” – with those four words, Senator Bridget McKenzie summed up the feelings of a state that has been promised so much but seen so little delivered since it proudly won its bid to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Over nine hours of hearings, a federal inquiry found little evidence that Brisbane is on the right track.

What we did hear was concerning evidence into the actions of Premier Steven Miles – who went behind the back of his independent venues reviewer Graham Quirk.

Mr Quirk agreed to the Premier’s request to take on the role on the proviso that he be independent. Instead, he told the inquiry he was left blindsided when his recommendation for a stadium at Victoria Park was rejected on the same day it went public.

We also learned that state bureaucrats were ordered two weeks before the review was released to look into the Premier’s preferred venue – the old QEII Stadium at Nathan (that Mr Quirk’s review explicitly recommended against).

Oh, and not one of the senior bureaucrats who gave evidence yesterday could say who it was that directed the department to go behind the Quirk review’s back – only that they secretly were – despite that happening just last month.

What is now clearer than ever was that the Quirk review was nothing more than a political ploy – that you paid for – to dump the Gabba, which then backfired when Mr Quirk delivered an independent option which the politicians decided was unpalatable.

We also learned that the Gabba rebuild was never more than a thought bubble concocted from former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Not one person giving evidence had anything good to say about it, a plan so heavily spruiked by then deputy premier Miles.

Enter another former premier, Campbell Newman. He told the inquiry the stadium should be at Boondall.

Senator McKenzie: “Another day, another stadium option it seems in Bris Vegas.”

Originally published as Analysis: Four words that laid bare state’s shambolic Games ‘preparation’