The present interval of Labor dominance of mainland politics is prone to be temporary: Queensland Labor now seems set for a wipe-out in October within the wake of big swings to the Liberal Nationwide Get together on the weekend. That implies that the issues of Brisbane’s disastrous “successful” of the 2032 Olympics (in opposition to precisely no competitors) will belong to the LNP from then on.
Queensland Labor has found, to its price, that voters are beginning to smart as much as the pernicious behavior of politicians promising main sports activities infrastructure that yields minimal social or financial profit and finally ends up costing way over promised.
The dodgy maths on which the then Palaszczuk authorities’s case for the Olympics was constructed has lengthy been obvious. However the political issues have solely turn out to be clearer not too long ago. Annastacia Palaszczuk had dedicated to a knockdown and rebuild of the Gabba as a part of the Olympics — which even the spivs of the Worldwide Olympic Committee stated wasn’t essential — however that concept steadily garnered opposition, particularly with the associated fee initially anticipated to be $2.7 billion.
The brand new premier, Steven Miles, learn the room, put the entire thing on pause late final yr and employed former Labor Brisbane mayor Graham Quirk to “evaluation” venue necessities for the Olympics in January.
Quirk, unsurprisingly, has nixed the concept of the Gabba rebuild, saying the associated fee had already blown out to a minimum of $3 billion — demonstrating but once more that no main challenge infrastructure costing from any Australian authorities needs to be believed. However problematically, Quirk says the Gabba can by no means be “a top-level tier one stadium” due to the shortage of area and the truth that it’s “dilapidated” and may ultimately be demolished.
So he suggests a wholly new stadium needs to be constructed for $3-3.4 billion (so, probably $4-5 billion) in Victoria Park, together with sundry different smaller venues to accommodate the varied operating, leaping and standing nonetheless Olympic sports activities.
Miles, properly, rejected the brand new stadium thought. As a substitute, he says, Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park, as we oldtimers name it) would be the predominant stadium. Queenslanders have thus dodged a $4 billion bullet.
The pondering behind Quirk’s suggestion, that cities will need to have what’s termed a “prime tier worldwide stadium”, is the form of assumption that’s by no means questioned within the relentless starvation for taxpayer cash of “elite” sports activities. Stadiums could be the worst infrastructure spending of any sort, given they sit unused for practically all of their lives — even multi-use stadiums are solely used comparatively occasionally and present little or no financial profit to taxpayers.
The brand new $830 million (authentic costing: $730 million) Sydney Soccer Stadium, on the positioning of the earlier one constructed within the Eighties, can match 45,000 individuals however has by no means reached capability, and has averaged fewer than 18,000 in any respect occasions because it opened in 2022, together with concert events by worldwide performers — sports activities matches common round 10,000 attendees. Recognising that sporting groups present poor utilization for such an costly piece of infrastructure situated on the doorstep of the Sydney CBD, the NSW authorities needs to make use of the stadium extra as a live performance venue.
Not less than Miles has declined to comply with such spendthrift behaviour. However the smartest factor the incoming LNP authorities in Queensland might do can be to desert internet hosting the Olympics altogether (after one other “evaluation”, by a suitably dependable determine) and get out earlier than Queensland begins losing different cash on new amenities and upgrades to present stadia. There may be unlikely to be one other alternative to stroll away from wasted infrastructure funding with such political impunity.