Following a 100-day review by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority, on Tuesday Queensland’s premier David Crisafulli laid out the infrastructure plan for when Brisbane – and Queensland more broadly – hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032.
Brisbane will get a new 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park, which was also a recommendation of the previous review under the last government that was ultimately rejected.
A national aquatic centre will also be built at the site of the Centenary Pool on the edge of Victoria Park with capacity for 25,000 spectators, while the RNA Showgrounds will get “a much-needed and long-awaited upgrade” including an improved 20,000-seat stadium and the Queensland Tennis Centre is also in line for major works including a 3,000-seat show court arena and 12 new match courts.
The Brisbane Live Arena, which had been planned for Roma St, has been removed from the taxpayer funding allocation with the Government determining it can be funded through private investment. In announcing the venue plans, Crisafulli said a market-led proposal process would begin immediately to develop the arena, with the site to be moved from Roma St to a vacant site in Woolloongabba.
As part of the plan for Brisbane, the premier also said the Gabba, which had been proposed for complete redevelopment, would come down after the Olympics “to make way for urban renewal”.
When laying out the reasons for choosing to build a new stadium in Victoria Park, Crisafulli said that time had run out to redevelop the Gabba before the Olympics.
“So it came down to a choice. A choice between the embarrassment of hosting the Games at QSAC or a new stadium at Victoria Park,” he said.
“It became a choice between spending billions on temporary facilities and temporary stands that delivered no legacy or securing the future of AFL and cricket at a new home.
“It became a choice between delivering a Games with an eye to the future or rewinding the clock four decades.
“In the end, the choice was clear.
“The Games must be held at a new stadium at Victoria Park.
“Any other choice would have meant placing the government’s political interests ahead of the interests of Queenslanders.
“We’ve had enough of that in the last few years and I wasn’t prepared to do that.”
Beyond Brisbane, both the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast will get new arenas, with the Gold Coast Council to fully fund theirs, while it appears the proposal put forward by the Walker Corporation to develop the Horizon Centre on the Sunshine Coast through a public private partnership has been accepted.
Crisafulli also outlined the other regional locations which will host sporting events during the Games, including Rockhampton, which will host the rowing, Cairns, which will host football and basketball, and Townsville and the Whitsundays, which will host the sailing. Maryborough on the Fraser Coast is also in line to host the archery while Toowoomba will host equestrian events. If cricket is included in the sports for the 2032 Olympics, Mackay will host some cricket matches. Most of these regional centres will receive infrastructure upgrades.
The state government says the venue plan laid out today can be funded within the $7.1 billion funding agreement already in place, with Crisafulli pointing out that money being saved by having the Brisbane arena privately developed could be put towards other parts of the plan.
