Premier David Crisafulli turned the first sod at the Victoria Park construction site yesterday, officially taking the first step in building the much-disputed Olympic venue after the last of the protesters were removed.
“It’s game on, we have a plan to deliver for the 2032 Games and beyond, and today, we get cracking on delivering it. We are going to create a world-class green space, bookended by a world-class stadium for a world-class event for a state on the rise,” the Queensland representative said at the ground-breaking event where children from the Wests Junior AFL team accompanied him.
The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority was handed control of the zone at midnight yesterday to finally begin works on the 63,000-seat arena, five years after Brisbane won the bid to host the Summer Games.
Major delays have plagued the event’s organising committee, which needed an extension from the Olympic governing body to finalise its proposal for infrastructure projects for the Games.
When it finally unveiled the venue plan, it included the $3.6 billion (€2.2bn) stadium in Victoria Park, much to the surprise of Queenslanders.
In 2024, Crisafulli campaigned for his seat with a ‘no-stadium pledge’. “When we signed on to the bid, there was a figure nearing 90 per cent of existing venues. That’s what Queenslanders bought into… I want to restore faith in the process,” the politician said.
A year later, now firmly at the helm, Crisafulli went back on his word, explaining that “it became a choice between the embarrassment of hosting the games at (the run-down Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre) or a new stadium at Victoria Park.”
In addition, Queensland parliament also introduced a bill that gave GIICA the power to override 15 planning laws, including the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act, the Queensland Heritage Act, and the Nature Conservation Act.-insidethegames
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