Brisbane to build main stadium on parkland for 2032 Olympics
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The issue of venues has been a matter of much political conflict since the Games were awarded to Brisbane in 2021.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – A new 63,000-seat stadium and a national aquatics centre will be built in an inner-city Brisbane park for the 2032 Olympics, Queensland state Premier David Crisafulli announced on March 25 as he unveiled the third venue plan for the Games.
He said another 20,000-seat boutique stadium would be constructed at Brisbane Showgrounds, while some events have been moved out of the city to regional Queensland.
Brisbane’s Queensland Tennis Centre will be upgraded with the addition of a new 3,000-seat showcourt, while the Gabba ground will host cricket at the Games before being torn down.
“Finally, Queensland has a plan. The time has come to just get on with it,” Mr Crisafulli said in Brisbane, adding that the organisers could now get started on constructing and refurbishing the various arenas.
The issue of venues has been a matter of much political conflict since the Games were awarded to Brisbane in 2021, returning the Games to Australia for a third time after Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000.
Two years ago, the state’s then centre-left Labour government announced plans to expand the famous Gabba cricket ground and create a new 17,000-seat indoor stadium for the Games.
Mr Crisafulli scrapped those plans on March 25, saying Australia would have wasted “billions” on temporary facilities that “delivered no legacy”.
The 63,000-seat stadium was billed as a “world-class” venue that would also host other major sporting events in future, including cricket.
Temporary seating would boost the capacity of the new national aquatics centre to 25,000, the state government said, hosting swimming, diving, water polo and other sports.
Smaller venues such as the Gold Coast Hockey Centre will also be upgraded.
The main athletes’ village would be built nearby at the existing Brisbane Showgrounds, while two smaller villages would be located on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
Rowing will now take place on a crocodile-infested river in Rockhampton some 600km to the north of Brisbane, while sailing events will be staged in the Whitsunday Islands near the Great Barrier Reef.
An A$2.5 billion (S$2.1 billion) indoor arena and entertainment venue which was to have been paid for by the federal government will now be put out to private tender with the promised funds going to other infrastructure.
Mr Crisafulli is likely to come under fire for the stadium plan as he went on the record opposing the construction of a new arena in the city in the run-up to the state elections that brought him to power in October 2024.
“It’s my decision,” he added. “I wasn’t prepared to take the politically easy option when the truth is that wouldn’t be of benefit to the state.
“I believe in this plan and I think Queensland is going to back it.”
Environmental lobby group Save Victoria Park picketed outside his announcement venue on March 25 and issued an open letter last week saying any construction in the park for the Olympics would be an embarrassment for Brisbane.
“Do we really want to be known as the city that concretes over its historic parkland for a mega stadium?” said spokeswoman Sue Bremner.
Another major reverse on venues looks unlikely, however, as Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) chief executive Matt Carroll has already warned that the plan needs to be in place by the end of June.
The AOC welcomed the announcement as a “very positive step towards delivering a successful Games”.
Although official costs are yet to be released, Australia has previously set aside around US$4 billion (S$5.35 billion) for Games infrastructure.
The announcement came on the back of a second review of the venue options undertaken by a seven-person panel earlier in March. The government said they had adopted over 90 per cent of the panel’s recommendations.
Queensland is nearly five times the size of Japan and Mr Crisafulli said it was only fair that the whole state would take part in hosting the Games.
Brisbane organising committee chief Andrew Liveris said he had been in contact over the plans with Kirsty Coventry, who is the International Olympic Committee’s point person for the Games and was elected as the new head of the Olympic movement last week.
“This is a go-get-it-done plan and this will be delivered,” he said.
“Queensland gets the best of venues, the Games get the best of Queensland.” AFP, REUTERS
