Australia rewrites plan to host 2032 Brisbane Games

SYDNEY: Australia said Monday it is overhauling its multi-billion-dollar plans for hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane after years of “chaos and crisis”.

The new plan, reportedly including a new 60,000-seat stadium, rewrites much of a Aus$7.0 billion (US$4.4 billion) infrastructure scheme announced two years ago. “I do believe we´ve got a plan that can get the show back on the road,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told reporters on the eve of the official unveiling of the new scheme.

“It´s a plan to make sure that we do deliver generational infrastructure, and it´s a plan to make sure that we do host a great Games when the eyes of the world are on us,” the conservative state leader said. “Even the most partisan person, looking at where we are at the moment, would acknowledge that it´s been three years of chaos and crisis since we were awarded the Games.”

The Queensland capital was awarded the 2032 summer Olympics and Paralympics in July 2021, returning the Games to Australia for a third time after Melbourne 1956 and then Sydney 2000.

Two years ago, the state´s then centre-left Labor government had announced plans to expand the famous Gabba cricket ground and create a new 17,000-seat indoor stadium for the Games.

But Australian media, including Brisbane´s Courier Mail, said plans for the revamped Gabba and new stadium were now expected to be scrapped. In all, six of the previously planned 14 Brisbane Games venues were set to be changed or axed, the Courier Mail said.

The new plan would likely feature a new 60,000-seat stadium to be built in the city´s Victoria Park, the newspaper said. Crisafulli said he had discussed the revamped plan with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose Labor government faces general elections in May.

The federal government had committed to paying for much of the Brisbane Games infrastructure in the previous scheme. “Of course, that there´s been some strong negotiations,” Crisafulli said in a joint news conference with the Australian prime minister.