Squiz Shortcuts - The 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games plan

Your Shortcut to… The 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games plan

After a 100-day review, the Queensland Government has revealed its new plan for hosting the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. It’s an ambitious one, with a big new stadium and other facilities to be built, and not a lot of time to do it. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take you through:

• how we got to this point

• what the Crisafulli Government has got planned

• and how it’s going to fund those plans

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Squiz the Shortcut

When will Brisbane host the Olympics?
In 2032, so in 7 years’ time. The Queensland Government has revealed its plans for the Games, and it’s got quite a few new venues to build - including a 63,000-seat stadium… 

Where will it be?
In Victoria Park, in the city’s north, but there’s a bit of controversy about it because Premier David Crisafulli made a promise going into last year’s election that he wouldn’t build a new stadium.

Sounds like a backflip
Let’s just say Simone Biles would be proud… He said he had to make a choice between Brisbane being “embarrassed on the world stage” or breaking his election promise, and that building a new stadium was the better choice. 

What’s the damage?
It’s going to cost $3.8 billion. As part of the plan, the famous Gabba (which was floated as a stadium option) will be demolished and turned into apartments. For the uninitiated, the Gabba’s an icon in Brissie but even the sports that call it home - the AFL’s Brisbane Lions and Queensland Cricket - are behind the plan.

Do they get to use the new stadium?
They sure do… But part of the deal is that they’ll also pitch in for the cost. 

What are some of the other venues planned?
A 20,000-seat indoor stadium at the Brisbane showgrounds, which will also be where the athletes’ village will be built, as well as a new national aquatic centre and upgrades to the city’s tennis centre. 

Will any of the events be held outside of Queensland?
There were suggestions that Queensland should share the sports around the country to save costs - for example, the tennis could’ve been moved to Melbourne where the Aussie Open is held, and the rowing held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre - but Crisafulli says that won’t be necessary, and Queensland will host the whole shebang.

Which events will be held outside of Brisbane?
Sailing will be held in the Whitsundays, the equestrian events will be in Toowoomba, and, somewhat controversially, the rowing has been slated for Rockhampton’s crocodile-infested Fitzroy River. 

Seriously?
Yep… Nothing like paddling away from a saltwater croc to set a record-breaking pace. The course would be safe - it has to pass international standards - but this very Aussie-style take on the event did make for some entertaining headlines. The venues and the whole plan have come out of a 100-day review undertaken by the Crisafulli Government. 

So where is the money coming from?
Crisafulli says this new Olympic master plan isn’t going to exceed the original $7.1 billion budget for the Games - which includes $3.5 billion chipped in from the federal government. But that was all agreed to before the plan to build a big new stadium was in the mix, and crucially, the Albanese Government was against that idea. 

How does the federal government feel about it now?
Crisafulli says he’s confident that PM Anthony Albanese will sign off on the plan, given Treasury had already accounted for it in the Budget. There is still a gap though…

What’s the gap?
Money out of that original $7.1 billion has been redirected to the new stadium and taken away from a planned venue called Brisbane Live, where the swimming and water polo was to be held. But Crisafulli says he'll go to the private sector for investment to fill that gap instead… And the other thing to note is that upgrades to transport systems, roads, and rail infrastructure will be needed to get people between venues and around the state - and those works haven’t been included… 

They’re not likely to come cheaply
Exactly… On top of all of that, a heap of new building projects will put pressure on the construction sector which is already struggling with shortages of labour and skilled tradies. It’s a national issue, but it’s been pronounced “critical” in Queensland - and Crisafulli is hoping to attract workers to relocate to Brisbane to make up the shortfall.

Was all of this construction ever meant to happen?
Nope. Back in 2021, Brisbane was the first city chosen to host an Olympics under the International Olympic Committee’s “new norm” approach, which aims to reduce new infrastructure costs by reusing existing venues as much as possible…

So the city had an 11-year lead-in?
They did. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s original bid involved 32 venues across southeast Queensland, built around the promise of a new Gabba stadium. But when Steven Miles replaced Palaszczuk (who retired from politics) at the end of 2023, he ordered a review of the Olympics projects. 

What did it recommend?
It suggested, funnily enough, a new stadium be built for around $3.4 billion, because the costs for the Gabba plan had tripled. But Miles disregarded that advice, and, he decided instead that Suncorp Stadium (where NRL games are played) would hold the opening and closing ceremonies. Then he lost the election…

…to Crisafulli, who made a certain promise
And we know how that turned out. Crisafulli said his preference would’ve been to do up the Gabba for the Olympics, but he’d accepted the 100-day review panel’s advice that there wasn’t enough time left to get it done. So here we are, with the 3rd plan in 4 years…

What’s the reaction to Olympics 3.0 been?
Mixed… One group opposed to it are First Nations people, who claim Victoria Park is a site of Indigenous significance - they’ve briefed lawyers, so there could be a legal challenge to come. But the Australian Olympic Committee is all for it, as are many of the sporting bodies involved, and the Brisbane Lord Mayor Schrinner. He says the plan’s going to turn Brisbane into “Australia’s sporting capital”.

Big call - there’s a few Aussie cities who might dispute that…
Only time will tell if he’s right. And time is ticking… 

Onto our Recommendations

Reading/Looking 👀: Here’s a list of all the sports and where they’ll be held around Queensland for the Games.

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