The Games will send us broke
How many better ways could the Brisbane 2032 money be spent?
If the excellent reporting by Tim Arvier on 9News in recent times is correct, then the Premier, David Crisafulli, is on the verge of breaking an election promise.
He pledged there would be “no new stadium” for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And yet, if Arvier’s sources are correct, Crisafulli seems poised to announce a 60,000 seat stadium to be built on green space at Victoria Park, with an athletes’ village at the nearby Showgrounds.
(On a side issue, maybe Crisafulli will have done us a favour, because the fact that politicians are economical with the truth is an important one to remember in the lead-up to the looming federal election.)
Whatever is announced on March 25 at the end of the 100-day independent review, it will be too late and too expensive. It may seem a long way away, but the things that need to be built will almost certainly face delays — legal challenges, shortages of building supplies and construction workers, bad weather, and possible industrial action — that will put pressure on delivery of the Games.
Meanwhile, another 9News/Brisbane Times story this week, by Josh Bavas, revealed that a heck of a lot of expensive repair work is needed to existing venues at the Gabba, Boondall, Lang Park and QSAC.
The issue of where the tennis will be played is still being debated, and there’s a swimming complex to be built somewhere, possibly at the Brisbane Live venue (which may be built at Roma Street or the Gabba or somewhere else or not at all) or on the Gold Coast but probably not at the Centenary Pool near Victoria Park.
It’s all going to cost a lot of money — much, much more than has already been put aside or even thought about. And the only return will be a warm and fuzzy feeling that will evaporate very quickly.
The upshot? The 2032 Olympics and Paralympics will be remembered as “the Games that broke Brisbane”.
Even if that sounds dramatic, the reality is that we’ll be pumping a lot of money into a fleeting few weeks of global attention that could have been better spent on projects with tangible long-term benefits for the people who live here. Like putting roofs over people’s heads, and improvements in health, policing, emergency services, transport and education.
I’m doubling down on my assertion that the Olympics and Paralympics model needs a total rethink. I’ll back either my suggestion of having individual events in the cities best equipped and most eager to host them, or the idea that the Games are set permanently in Greece, over breaking the bank just so a few people can feel important for a short period of time.
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