What you said about Victoria Park stadium, Gabba Olympic plans

The 2032 Olympics are still years away but the fun and games are well underway. HAVE YOUR SAY

The 2032 Olympics are still years away but the fun and games are well underway.

The government was in March told a “world class” $3.4bn stadium should be built in inner-Brisbane’s Victoria Park as the centrepiece of the Games – in place of the controversial proposed Gabba rebuild.

Former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s bombshell Games venues review also recommended a new $2.5bn 15,000-plus seat indoor arena be constructed at Roma Street Parkland, adjacent to the Normanby fiveways.

Premier Steven Miles immediately shot down the review and vowed to instead spend billions of dollars upgrading the dilapidated Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre.

Instead, Mr Miles pledged to bulldoze ahead to spend billions of dollars to upgrade the grandstands and facilities for athletics at QSAC and use the spare $1bn to upgrade Suncorp Stadium and the Gabba.

Further fuel was thrown on the fire in August 2024 when cricket great Allan Border proposed knocking down the Gabba, a view opposed by Brisbane Lions AFL legend Jason Akermanis.

The debate sparked immediate fury among readers, with more than 65 per cent voting Victoria Park as the best location for the main Olympics stadium, ahead of the rebuilt Gabba and QSAS.

Some insisted the latest to and fro was yet another sign of a government out of its depth.

Others said there still remains better alternatives, while there are still calls to axe the Games completely.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

There are better options

Wally

Adelaide and Perth are making Brisbane look like a backwater without an Olympic Games. We need a new stadium to attract events. The Gabba is landlocked. Sell the land and develop a high-class multi-purpose stadium with ROOF

Oh no not again

A big missed opportunity with the Gabba to build a new stadium on the Cross River Rail site across the road and keep the existing stadium as warm up etc until after the Olympics and turn it into parkland afterwards. But then forward planning has never been a strong point of the Labor government.

J & J

Why wasn’t the exhibition grounds considered as an option with its new railway station once cross river rail is completed.

Steeven

Scrap the Games, Build More Jails.

Blackstar

Not long ago people were complaining about spending $3.4 billion for the games venue, now they’re complaining because we’re saving $1.8 billion??

Philip

Dan Andrews cancelled the Commonwealth Games. There was a fuss at the time but no one cares anymore. Cancel the Olympics and it will all be forgotten soon enough. Either that or let us have an election. If you believe one word this government says, you’re dreaming.

Brisbane’s Games plans remain up in the air.

Labor’s a joke

Tanya

Call the election now!!!! There is an absence of any aspect of Leadership in any definition you can use. Nil vision. Completely reactive and out of control. Nil understanding of economy, finance nor community. Let us not allow failure to perpetuate.

Hmmmm .......

Labor ignored advice .... should be their slogan

Dave

miles sees the writing on the wall and is deliberately making it as difficult as he can for the new LNP government.

Scobie07

The combination of the IOC plus Labor and the Unions equals a financial disaster for all Queenslanders...... roll on October!

Just make a call!

Sharyn

Whatever they are going to do they need to get moving on it. Only 8 years to go and they have had the Olympics in their hands for 2-3 years already and done absolutely nothing and still don’t even know where half the venues are going to be.

Em

Build something MCG sized. Ekka? Vic Park? Boondall? Roma street? But do SOMETHING!

MM2

Stop spending money on reports! Almost $500,000 to not follow advice.

But I do think fixing QSAC is a good idea. It is dilapidated but it already exists. We need to fix and maintain our infrastructure. The big reason this doesn’t work is transport and fixing that will benefit the community going forward.

Troy

Miles you are completely out of your depth and missed an opportunity - this city and tourism sector needed this investment of world class facilities not only for sporting events but entertainment events like concerts that Brisbane is now missing out on…….this will now limit further investment in this city in hotels and other related infrastructure and amenity. You and your government are complete amateurs and the sooner you are gone the better for this city and state!!!!

Cam

Will Crisafulli be able to roll back Miles’ dud call when LNP take power? Or will it be too late? I assume Miles will be scrambling during his last few months trying to lock in billion dollar construction contracts for his union masters.

Shanelle

We don’t need a bloody stadium we need to house our people living in tents and struggling on the poverty line. We need to get priorities straight.

Still not sure

just do it soon

a round stadium doesn’t suit athletics, rugby, league or soccer. Build a new 80k seat stadium in a small part of vic park & make it oval not round. Very close to 3 train stations. BTW-we used to have athletics at lang park in the late 1970s.

CandM

Anyone saying “cancel the games” needs to read the first part of the report about the Gabba. Even without the Games it needs to be replaced by 2030 for AFL and cricket. It’s not even disability compliant, where are all the disability advocates.... they should be very vocal, they certainly were when the government built a non compliant train. If we build a new stadium now we’ll even be able to use Federal funding.

Mystickle

He didn’t overlook anything. He asked for a review and that review did what he promised wouldn’t happen, to use Vic Park which he promised will stay as parkland.

RogerJ

Quirk should have spent more time explaining to Labor what is meant by a legacy. Labor has no understanding of the concept. Never have.

Bruce

Listen Giggles - forget the Olympic Games and fix housing health cost of living What a waste of money for Quirk’s report

Originally published as What you said about Victoria Park stadium, Gabba Olympic plans