Olympics supremo John Coates refuses to appear at Brisbane 2032 Senate inquiry

The architect of the state government’s plan to use the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre as Brisbane’s main 2032 Olympic stadium has refused an invitation to appear before a Senate inquiry to explain his stance.

Australian Olympics supremo John Coates, who Premier Steven Miles cited as the inspiration for the controversial stadium call, had been called to give evidence to an ongoing inquiry into Australia’s preparedness to host the 2032 Games.

John Coates has refused to appear before a Senate inquiry into Australia’s preparedness to host the 2032 Games.Credit: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

Coates, along with former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk, was asked to appear before the inquiry last month, following the release of Quirk’s report into Brisbane 2032 venues.

“John has advised he has declined – with no further comment,” an Australian Olympic Committee spokesman said.

Comment was sought from Senate committee chairman Matt Canavan, who requested Coates’s attendance at next week’s hearing in Brisbane.

Coates has been the driver of the International Olympic Committee’s “new norm” for selecting host cities, which encouraged them to use pre-existing facilities.

Archipelago founding director Peter Edwards, whose Brisbane Bold vision first mooted a stadium at Victoria Park, said Coates’s role needed scrutiny.

“It’d be great to understand how people like John Coates are actually providing advice to the process, as his focus seems to be on a demonstrated evidence of his new way of delivering the Olympics, which is ‘don’t build anything’,” he said.

“Now that might be fine for London, Tokyo, Paris, LA – those major cities have had their significant moments of growth, but our city has to double in size by 2040 and we need to be using this moment to deliver the important infrastructure for our future.”

Brisbane would be the first city to host a Games under the new norm, and Coates reportedly told the Quirk review he was concerned the Olympic brand was being damaged by public disquiet over the projected $2.7 billion cost of the Gabba rebuild.

Archipelago’s Brisbane Bold proposal for the stadium precinct at Victoria Park.Credit: Archipelago

That disquiet led to Miles announcing the review, in one of his first acts as premier-in-waiting.

A few weeks later, Miles appointed Quirk, a stalwart of the LNP, to lead the 60-day review, which was handed down last month.

It recommended the Gabba rebuild be scrapped in favour of a $3.4 billion stadium to be built in a corner of inner-city Victoria Park, which was being repurposed from a golf course to public green space.

But Miles rejected that recommendation and instead announced QSAC would host Olympic and Paralympic track and field events. The stadium would hold just 40,000 people during the Games – the smallest Olympic capacity since Amsterdam 1928 – with permanent seating for just 14,000 post-2032.

When asked why he would support the $1.6 billion option, which the Quirk report noted had “very limited broad community legacy” and “did not represent value for money”, Miles showed how much stock he put in Coates’s views.

“The advice that QSAC was suitable for the Olympics, for the Olympic athletics, came from the International Olympic Committee, came from the submission from John Coates,” he said.

Quirk was also asked to appear before the inquiry when it sits in Brisbane at the Hotel Grand Chancellor next week.

“I’m happy to co-operate with any inquiry that the Senate might be having and so, yes, I’ll certainly be appearing,” Quirk said.