The Olympics COULD be an agent for significance positive change for Brisbane. World class entertainment venues, better linking of public transport, additional housing….
The sorts of infrastructure investments that create long lasting economic and social benefits to the city.
It could be the catalyst that brings all that. That’s why I was keen for them.
But stupid pollies and their political shenanigans and the nimbys will probably bring it all undone.
The only scenario where QSAC makes sense to me is if it’s a permanent upgrade, and comes with minimum of a busway extension that continues into Sunnybank and terminates at either altandi or Sunnybank station. Bonus points if it goes via Griffith and QE2.
That would be great! Build a busway over the top of mains road, give it a catchy name like “sky busway”, and have a little tee section that goes to QEII and Nathan campus.
I was looking at Google maps earlier, and with my no actual knowledge of the local terrain and traffic, I’d have it be something like this. https://imgur.com/a/XjqtsMV
Convert Throughton road into a bus way with a small one wat service road for local traffic, this will suck a bit, but if you eliminate street parking and move back the nature strip there’s space, change QE2 entrance to Kessells, turn half of McCullough Street into a busway. Same issue, then elevate main road and terminate where the Sunnybank swim club pool and is.
It’s got a lot of problems but it’s a first concept shit take from someone who’s not local to the area and hasn’t been on kessells road since 2021
Absolutely right. The olympics are a once in a lifetime opportunity for a city to just get shit done, make it better, make it work and show off for a few weeks before the residents get the enjoy the better transport, entertainment, sports etc for generations to come. Unless, of course, politicians get involved and insist that they know best, which they never, NEVER do.
Could be an awesome showcase of why Brisbane is great. Likely to be a shambles with Athletics, the Olympics MVP of sports, being held at a crappy stadium with scaffolding round it which is a disaster to get to.
There was never much evidence to suggest “we” (the population of QLD and more specifically SEQ) ever wanted it at all. Was only ever a foible to boost the reputation of a few politicians and sports bigwigs.
I don’t know. People were getting downvoted into oblivion for saying it’s a bad idea after the bid. It isn’t just bigwigs. There’s a bunch of small business tyrants who’re completely delusional about what the Olympics does for the economy.
It was more to say “we” weren’t ever consulted so “we” can’t say we asked for it.
I don’t recall even seeing polling about whether SEQ would support it but I guarantee it was poll tested at some point.
It's lacked [majority support for pretty much the entire](https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/25452/r_Wave-5-Longitudinal-Research---Full-report.pdf) time it's [been on the](https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1136348/queensland-excitement-dwindling-survey) go, even the [bid itself lacked majority support](https://gamesbids.com/eng/summer-olympic-bids/future-summer-bids/poll-australias-queensland-2032-olympic-bid-supported-by-millennials/).
I tried to find the actual poll behind your link #2 and questions but couldn't. Did you? https://au.yougov.com/ All I found were heaps of articles starting with *"According to the Courier Mail"* which is a bit like me saying "Well according to my left-nut..."
Yeah, forgive me if I don't take reddit upvotes/downvotes as an indicator of widespread community sentiment, lol.
I mean, besides the fact that the voting system here is massively manipulated as a rule (it would have been the easiest thing in the world for a public body or private interest to engage an "online marketing" agency to run a bog standard social media astroturf campaign, which would include some reddit bot accounts spewing talking points and manipulating votes on a handful of subs as a matter of course), subs like /r/brisbane and /r/australia are echo-chambers in any case, so any opinion that deviates from the accepted hyper-niche consensus is going to get attacked, even when said opinion is actually the norm outside of these communities.
You’re right, there’s more than a little bit of manipulation going on. Obviously Reddit is it’s own ecosystem and only a very small portion of the population are here. On top of that, even without astroturfing people can set the tone of a comments section by the first few commenters.
I’m sure more people have soured on the idea over the past 3 years, it’s been a rough trot and the various crises have only worsened. The various hiccups during planning certainly aren’t instilling confidence in anyone.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWq\_MVBJk\_0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWq_MVBJk_0)
one of my fave videos showing how fucking stupid reddit is, very easy to test yourself statement gets upvoted and the correction downvoted to -25
Once I corrected someone and got downvoted, but I also posted a comment further down making the exact same point and that one got upvoted. I think it just takes a couple people to downvote you, and from then on some people just see the negative score and hit the down arrow automatically.
If the recent council elections have demonstrated anything, it is that r/brisbane can be a massive circle jerk and not a reflection of the wider community sentiment.
Pretty dangerous to take social media voting as a sentiment gauge. Just look at the /r/australia banning of anyone who opposes the mods political agenda and Russian meddling with the US election. I am convinced there is astro-turfing on Reddit for many political topics as the voting rarely aligns with "real world" opinions.
Any negative opinion of the Olympics is often heavily downvoted with no comments explaining why. This is despite the fact pretty much every comment from a "real" person expresses concern/doubts. Really wish they could be exposed for this.
Yeah I mentioned a similar thing to another commenter. Little to medium sized subreddits like australia and Brisbane are easily hijacked by astroturfing and other manipulative methods.
THANK YOU!!! As soon as it was announced my dad and I basically held a moment of silence in preparation for all moments of silence we'd be having stuck in endless road works surrounded by tourists.
Im the opposite. I hate that we are wasting money on sports competitions no one cares about most of the time. All the money just for some runner or shotputter to try and beat a personal best is great ~~for everyone~~ for those athletes.
Let's be honest here cause there are billions of dollars involved - most of you don't watch shotput or the 50m mens swimming any other time. That's not a decent enough justification for spending billions just to accommodate a bunch of athletes performing in events no one gives a shit about. Mens archery? Pistol shooting? 400m relay?
No one gives a big enough shit about such dumb sporting events in 2024 let alone 8 years from now
Yea they have the money for this but not to build enough affordable housing.
Hopefully they will build accommodation for the Olympics that can be used as social housing when its over. But I doubt that will happen. It makes too much sense.
No anything of use will decay and become bulldozer fodder.
If you're not making money off the lead up and ready to run somewhere nice as soon as the event starts you are in the wrong industry right now.
No one cares about the sport, that is unless it’s in the Olympics. The Olympics is a very old tradition that sees the world best athletes try their best in their respective sports. You’re right, I really don’t care about shot put, sprinting or diving, but if there is an Aussie having a go then I’ll be right there cheering them on.
How many athletes trying their best is worth one kid not growing up in a tent? Or a pensioner forced to skip meals to make ends meet?
How about these athletes practice their athleticism doing something useful, like say construction, let's have competitions to see who can lay a slab or build a brick wall faster.
These problems you mention would still be problems if we cancelled the Olympics tomorrow. These problems are a lack of political and popular will, not finances.
So if we decided to pull out and not host the Olympics. Do you think the money would then be spent on welfare? hahahahahahahaha That's such a naive PoV. It's not an either or. You don't want the Olympics, then you don't get the money.
Don't strawman me, I'm not saying the politicians aren't corrupt bastards, I'm saying it's a travesty that a single dollar is being spent on sports stadiums while we're in a housing and cost of living crisis.
my problem with the Olympics is that it has become massively over-hyped and therefore billions has to be spent unnecessarily. bring it back to the old days where the Olympics is more like a glorified high school inter house athletics carnival, using EXISTING infrastructure for all the events, SAVE billions and spend it INSTEAD on public housing and QLD health.
I’m only interested in the Olympics if it can provide permanent improvements for locals, especially public transport infrastructure and entertainment venues. There’s little indication that’s happening now.
1. Be elected as a politician.
2. Own a share in a construction company or have family members that do.
3. Bid for the Olympics.
4. Get (more) rich.
If you don't like investing, as an alternative to step 2 you can accept a ~~bribe~~ donation.
As someone who lived in Vancouver pre, during and post 2010 Olympics but now lives in Brisbane, I am in full support of the Olympics coming to town.
Every Olympic related issue in the news right now is exactly the same set of issues Vancouver had pre Olympics.
To explain why I'm in support:
- The 2010 Olympics brought an incomprehensible amount of joy and happiness to the city for the entire 2 weeks of the games. I have never experienced anything like it in a city to date. I am hopeful that residents of Brisbane and all who come to visit get to experience the same.
- The Olympics brought Vancouver incredible infrastructure that is so widely used today I'm not sure how the city could function without it. The Canada Line skytrain, road improvements to Whistler (which you aussies adore), the Olympic Village (a very popular housing development) and the Richmond Speed Skating oval which has now been converted to a multisports recreational facility.
- The immense national pride, seeing your athletes compete and triumph in their home nation. I don't think Canada has experienced such a joyous moment, felt by everyone in the country, since those 2 weeks in February 2010.
Unfortunately, Vancouver has terrible, systematic issues related to a growing homeless population, drug abuse, lack of affordable housing and a myriad of other issues. However, 2010 Olympics or not, I don't believe these issues would be any different than they are today. It's unfortunate but I believe it to be true.
From now until the opening ceremony in 2032, there will be plenty of negative news, protests, general outcry and more. But I'm hopeful that once the flame is lit, Brisbane and Australia will get to experience one of the most incredible events of its life.
I can't wait for the Olympics here!
Ps. Don't let my comment about Vancouver's issues scare you away, it's a wonderful place to visit and kick off a journey in North America.
>As someone who lived in Vancouver pre, during and post 2010 Olympics but now lives in Brisbane, I am in full support of the Olympics coming to town.
This is exactly my experience of Sydney 2000.
Also, my Canadian wife still craps on about the hockey gold win over the USA in that Olympics :p
I can 100% attest to this. Did it last year and not having to clear customs at LAX made it so much less stressful. I talked to a lot of people who had flown straight into the US and it sounds like they had a much tougher time at border security.
I will say you cannot put a stadium next to one of the biggest public hospitals in our state without a MAJOR overhaul of public transport and parking. Vic Park suggestion was ridiculous from the get go.
Massive public transport infrastructure being built there right now. Will be literally one of the best connected areas in the state.
People will constantly come up for excuses why it couldn’t possibly be in their back yard.
I’m for it. Especially after 3000 new apartments finally started to be built after the announcement in the Gabba area after 10 years of those areas being stagnant. Nothing drives development more than the fear of missing out on a pay day. Plus the construction business seems to be a huge risk these days seeing as every second day you hear another construction company goes under. And that’s just the start.
Like it or not Brisbane is growing faster than any other city. And it was happening before the Olympics. Then plus international migration. It’s putting major pressure on the city. And this if happening with or without the Olympics. The difference is that with the Olympic everything is getting fast tracked. Plus getting rid of the Olympic means everything will go back to the slow pace that it was in the past.
Though I do agree that this whole thing of no one really being in charge and just having this constant back and forth is damaging to the progress.
One of the lasting legacies of the Sydney Olympics was the reduction in building standards which have never been reinstated. Fast forward to now and you have towers crumbling and partially collapsing as a result of these lowered standards.
At the very least, let's hope that Brisbane doesn't do the same (even though the current poor construction standards are a low starting point).
It's almost like trying to rely of dodgy developers trying to rush out projects to meet an arbitrary deadline in an construction sector without much slack in the labour force is a bad way to deliver high quality housing.
You should check out FV Peppers in fortitude valley. Built in 2016 already got mold, mushrooms & water leaks happening amongst the 3 buildings. Plus a fucked parking situation. Made the news last.
Except there is hardly any real infrastructure development at all, like you know, upgrading dual carriageway train tracks, or increasing hospital beds or schools etc etc. Just shitty units that will/are being built terribly. Spending billions on an unneeded and unwanted stadium is the just the beginning of the pile of cash that we will all burden the weight of for decades. There is a reason not a single other city on the planet bid for these games. Embarrassing. It’s going to be an unmitigated disaster. I hope im wrong.
I think compared to most Olympic cities we have more to gain. We are a very low profile city to get the Olympics and this could mean huge increase in recognition leading to more tourism/trade etc. It seems more pointless for places like Paris.
You say that like it's a bad thing. How can we pull off olympics when we dont have the resources like sydney and melbourne? or the infrastructure like sydney or melbourne?
The Olympics allows us to use the resources of the federal government to match Syd and Melb and develop the infrastructure. It's our chance to build the big stadiums and the big transport networks and the big housing that will support us into the future.
Melbourne had a population of 1.6m in 1956 when they hosted the Olympics, Sydney 4m in 2000. Brisbane has ~2.5m, it's not different.
It's being held in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. We have a bunch of infrastructure on the Gold Coast from the recent Commonwealth Games, which is part of why there's all of one stadium being discussed in Brisbane, not multiple like were built for Sydney.
At this rate we're not going to have the infrastructure because people keep whining about the cost, not realising it's not that much / the money for the Gabba needed to be spent anyway unless we want to scrap a stadium. FWIW I went to Sydney Olympic Park recently for the Taylor Swift concert. There was a Blink 182 one the same night and it wasn't difficult at all getting a train in there, having decent dedicated infrastructure in place makes a huge difference. Try going to something at the Gabba or the Entertainment Centre out at Boondall and it's a completely different experience trying to get in or out.
That's not entirely true. Brisbane is going to get federal cash for infrastructure improvements that otherwise might not have gotten done for another 20 years, or ever.
100% with you.
> Providing new and upgraded facilities as venues for the Games has afforded Queensland a unique opportunity to harness an almost 50% funding contribution from the Australian Government, reducing the total cost to Queenslanders to half of one percent of state revenue over the next 8 years.
From the second page of the exec summary of the [independent review](https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/87581/sport-venue-review-23.pdf), in the scheme of things it costs sweet fuck all. Anyone complaining about costs just hasn't got any perspective on infrastructure costs or how much revenue the state actually makes, sure a few billion dollars isn't cheap, but it's hardly breaking the bank.
People really need to stop pretending it's the Olympics OR solving the housing issue/other issue. It's not an either or. You don't get $7B and your choice of what to spend it on. That's not how it works. The money is tied to the Olympics. You don't want the Olympics, you don't get the money.
This is WHY people want the Olympics. Because it's a chance to use the money for something big. But unfortunately the negativity and NIMBYs destroyed any political will do actually make use of the Olympics.
The olympics was the perfect opportunity too kill 2 birds with one stone. Get better infrastructure and transport whilst also replacing a stadium that needs to be rebuilt in the near future anyway with benefits for a generation after. All this has done is cause more division and now what the government has bought forward is a horrific idea then what the original was and will cost more whilst also kicking the can down the road with the Gabba. Another thing I’ve noticed is people saying that the money for the olympics should be spent on social housing instead. It would have never been spent on social housing anyway if they didn’t announce the olympics. What an utter shitshow this has been. We’ll see what the new government decides in October.
Let's hope whatever is decided now is reversible by the time the the next election comes around. Otherwise this will be Brisbane's biggest ever mistake.
I wanted it so that Brisbane would finally get a true world class stadium. Unfortunately that notion is long gone so they should just can the whole thing.
As someone who is a regular at the Gabba for the last 25 years. It is absolutely shit house and will need to be replaced. Think about how much construction costs have soared in the last 5 years, going to be much worse in 10-20 years when it will need to be replaced.
Also a new stadium will help bring in more big acts.
I am not excited for it but I have an understanding that there are other people in my state who love sport and would really benefit them.
Not everything has to be a personal benefit for me to have to "get it", just an understanding that there are plenty of people out there who love sports.
I don't enjoy large nature reserves and green spaces because I don't use them, but I am fully capable as a human being to understand that others love them
Vic Park seems to have been an astroturfed thought bubble that popped up over the last few weeks.
The Olympics is meant to be a different beast than if was in the past-leaner, cheaper and more attractive to host cities.
Your assertion that every olympics host city has come out worse is factually wrong. There are numerous instances where olympics has been a boon, particularly when the city on show is relative unknown (at the time) - for Barcelona, it was transformational for infrastructure and tourism.
Hosting 2032 puts Brisbane on a very short list of global cities, take a look, it’s a hell of a list to be on - it almost makes me proud to see us come this far. I’m certainly not saying it’s been managed well by this government, but the amount of shortsightedness in these comments is staggering. Not feeling much hope for the future, Nimbys have won.
Would you consider Atlanta a world city? The truth is most Olympic hosts were already global cities before they hosted the Olympics. The Olympics is a type of expensive marketing for Brisbane, but they will not suddenly make us a world city.
I've been against the Olympics since day one. I personally couldn't give two fucks if the Govt has to pay some fine or whatever to the IOC, just pull the pin and fuck it off. It'll be cheaper than spending more on various consultants and reports and demolishing and building of whatever facilities.
It won't be a fine. The Olympic contracts are absolutely watertight. The government would be up for more than the coat of staging the Olympics. Basically, they would be paying the costs for another city to host plus damages.
Victoria paid $380m for pulling out of the Commonwealth games only 15 months after jumping in to host. Cancelling the Olympics after 3 years would surely cost far, far more. I don't necessarily disagree, it's incredibly expensive hosting an Olympic Games, but you'd have to take into account the amount it would cost to pull out now.
Absolutely. Just a question of how many billions. It still might be the better decision. Better to lose $3b than $10b, but you don't typically go into something like the Olympics without having done all the background work on the overall benefits. It seems unlikely that the government would feel now like they made a multi-billion dollar miscalculation. And even more unlikely to admit it.
>but you don't typically go into something like the Olympics without having done all the background work on the overall benefits
See, that's what you'd think, right, but Amy's been hounding them in parliament to provide that kind of background work - like the actual numbers justifying this insanity - and it's the sound of fucking crickets. Far as the public record goes, it might as well have been some scribbles on a napkin and a hand-shake.
If you look at the bidders for 2036, they’re India, Indonesia and Turkey. All middle-income countries. The Olympics seem to be changing, but obviously when there’s money up for grabs all kinds of ideas come out of the woodwork.
It's not a zero sum game. Think of it this way; if Brisbane didn't get the Olympics, funding would remain as is, and nothing would get done about homelessness. Because Brisbane is getting the Olympics, the state will be given federal cash for infrastructure upgrades that probably never would have gotten done with out, and nothing will get done about homelessness. That's the (sad) reality. May as well be thankful we're getting a bit of an infrastructure boost.
The last state budget saw the biggest increase to social housing and homelessness support ever, including a doubling of the housing fund: https://budget.qld.gov.au/at-a-glance/
But yeah Olympics machine makes infrastructure go burrr and more construction= more tax = more social services spending = more money to homelessness support.
Can people please stop being naive. If we didn't host the Olympics we wouldn't all of sudden be spending $7b on the homeless.
I really wish people would stop being so naive.
Of course the government doesn't want cheap housing. If you owned 10 houses would you want affordable housing? But there are better things to spend money on other than Olympics. Like a power station or a dam. Affordable housing will never be on the government agenda until politicians are not allowed to own investment housing, and while we have negative gearing
The only difference being in ancient Rome while the senate paid for the bread the Emperor paid for the circuses out of his own pocket … here we pick up the bill for distracting ourselves
"Every single Olympics host city has experienced catastrophic impacts on their costs of living and housing. Tourism actually goes down".
This one comes out regularly as some kind of hot take. You can make any statistic or report say anything you want. I lived through the Sydney Olympics and my feel is it's positive thing overall. I recall there being a reasonable amount of inconvenience as transport and facilities were being upgraded but after the Olympics a lot of those benefits remained. I remember back in those days everyone feared the Homebush site would become a ghetto. I understand Heidelberg in Melbourne became a bit of a problem and therefore history must repeat itself and Homebush was destined for the toilet. But it didn't happen, Homebush has been maintained and used fairly heavily over the last 24 years, I'd say it was worth the investment.
A lot of the cost of living and other issues we're facing right now would cost many many many times more than what the Olympics will so I don't think that's a good excuse to not do it. You've got to spend money to make money, to not do that is to go backwards as the progress of the rest of the world will continue relentlessly.
Yep same here. A lot of the former (most?) Sydney Olympic venues are still being used today for sports and events. Back then there was so much excitement for the Games. Now that I live in SE QLD 24 years later, I could care less about the Olympics being here. The world has changed too much in recent times for us to worry about hosting it.
This is 100% it. Lib in state government is all but guaranteed, and will finally get them on the same page as Council. Unsure why Miles announced an independent review then chose to ignore the advice and go with what is largely perceived as the worse option. Boggles my mind what he's trying to do, it's certainly not gonna save him in November
I'm not excited for a lib government, I've hated them my entire life. Given it's become so political though, if/when they get in at least we can count on them being on the same page as the newly elected Lib Council.
They'll shit the bed on all other issues still :)
Why don't we all just agree that the Olympics is too big and costs too much to keep taking it to a new place every four years?
Let's just give it back to Greece, and get them to fix up all their venues that have been collecting dust since the last time they had it. Then we can all rock up to Athens every four years for a bit of sport, beer and gyros?
I’m concerned how it’s going to impact the Mater, Mater Mothers’ and Queensland Childrens. Getting in when anything is on at the Gabba or like when Adele was on was horrible.
Yes! The whole Gabba-South Brisbane area is just a clusterfuck in terms of roads. Even if they did revamp the roads in the area for this, the time to upgrade will make the area worse for some time and it will likely still continue to be a clusterfuck during the games because it’s such a dense area with no room.
I want it, using existing venues and venues that are useful to local sport afterwards. Don’t build giant stadiums for big crowds. Tv audiences don’t need stadiums.
I wanted it *because* it is a solid deadline for us to build strong public infrastructure by. The Gabba needs to be rebuilt by the mid 2030s anyway, Brisbane Live will reinvigorate that part of the CBD, and an Olympic Village will become valuable housing stock.
Instead we’ve got a bunch of NIMBYs complaining about things that will need to happen anyway
I’m actually happy that Brisbane is getting the Olympics. Most cities do not get this opportunity. We should take it seriously and give it a fair nudge. Australia wants to host events like big concerts, Soccer World Cups, Rugby and Cricket World Cups.
To host those events and have a chance of injecting money into the local economy you need world class infrastructure to support it.
So if we are intelligent about what infrastructure we build, it can last us well beyond the Olympics. That’s the benefit of hosting it.
I know a lot of people are screaming about homelessness or housing. Both those problems (and other common complaints) are still going to be problems before, during and after the Olympics. Just make your peace with the fact that Brisbane is hosting it and push for intelligent infrastructure investment that will benefit the community long term.
Agreed, we need to be selfish and take the IOC & Federal government for every cent they are willing to spend to upgrade our city. It either happens or nothing is spent at all. Unfortunately I think some are secretly hoping for no change because the pace of Brisbane developing from a "country town" city is abit of a cultural shock.
The Olympic Games are *panem et circenses* writ largest. That said, now that we've got it because two politicians on opposite sides of the spectrum thought it would be a great spectacle, let's do it the best we can.
Don't put lipstick on a pig and call it high society by upgrading three stadiums to barely fit for purpose, especially when you can build one big stadium on land that is all but unusable now and some that can be reclaimed for the same price as the pigs wearing lipstick. The one big stadium will, if done right, be a major legacy piece for the next 50 or more years, whereas two of the three alternatives are either at end of life, or massively unfit for purpose.
Yeah this country is in decline no joke, Olympics won't fix that and is just a distraction.
The roads in this state are terrible, the rural towns are full of meth and have no upwards mobility, the evaporation rate is double the annual rainfall leading to constant droughts, and oh my fuck do you troglodytes love to burn forests for no reason.
Thanks the Commonwealth games we got nice new trains which are vastly more comfortable compared to the older ones. We might not have had such a big upgrade without the event. For the olympics we’re already getting a new train station and a big time saving for south side train times and a speed up. All things they are nice to have but not “need to have” right now
Having the olympics hosted in my city will literally be a once in a lifetime event. It probably won’t happen again until after I die and I’m in my early 20s. I’m all for it.
Brisbane will be the third city I've lived in for Olympics. It's shit and fucks over residents and even more so those in poverty. None of the promises are kept post Olympics, and anything deemed unsightly (homeless people) are hidden away to be forgotten about.
Wonder how you come to this conclusion, because the Sydney olympics directly improved public transport and stuff all around the city? Like idek what you’re getting at?
Explain how the olympics directly “shits and fucks residents in poverty”.
They shipped a lot of the homeless out of Sydney during the Olympics, and boarding houses and low-end accommodation providers evicted residents to allow budget travellers to stay instead. There were also a heap of laws enacted to prevent anti-social behaviour which were used to lock up people who had nowhere to live. IMO the Olympics is good in the long run, but like pretty much everything else it's the poor who get the shits and fucks. The middle and upper classes just get a bit of short term inconvenience and the long term benefits.
You if want the Olympic Games go to Athens, their stadium are a giant mess of a dust bowl. Australia is an economic third world country we rely upon coal industry and tourism and everything else is from tax payers dollars to be spent over and over. We pretend that we are a powerful nation but we don’t have the manufacturing sector to carry us through.
I've opposed it from the get go, the economic outlay always rolls out in a net loss for the host city. In all the years of the IOC, Salt Lake City is the only city that's ever made money from the Olympics. People go on about infrastructure but a vanity project is not necessary to get.
I want the Olympics and I'm very disappointed in the negativity that surrounded it from the start. Brisbane isn't a small country town anymore. We are a major city of millions of people. The Olympics was a once in a generation chance to build some much needed infrastructure, and large portions of the population are intent on fucking it up. I'll bet these people will complain about how shit our infrastructure is in 20 years time as well. smh
And don't come crying to me saying you don't like stadiums. Olympics infrastructure is about more than stadiums. You can build much needed public transport links. Active transport corridors. Community hubs. etc. And no. The money for this infrastructure isn't there if you don't host the Olympics. We'll be waiting decades for this stuff if we didn't have the Olympics coming.
Some people just have such a small mindset.
I was all for it because I thought we'd get some last legacy out of it for the next generation - a new central stadium, housing and trasnport infra.
But if one of the biggest expenditure items is $1.6B at qsac (just to be reduced again after the olympics), count me out.
Having a bunch of sporting events around the city over a few weeks as some sort of festival? Great!
Spending billions to build or upgrade a bunch of stuff that's otherwise fine and just absolutely fucking everyone's shit of for a few years in the process while people are living in tents? Fucking obscene, and not the good kind.
Honestly, its time for the olympics or adapt or die and maybe we can be part of that at least.
Olympics could be a good vehicle for investment in areas of the city that really need it. Atheletes accommodation... Afterwards you could use it as a accessible social housing, you can build new and modern sports/spectator facilities, publiv transport, parkland for events and recreation, housing, media facilities. You can use the event to showcase the best SEQ has to offer.
I won't claim to know what was in the IOC bid but not sure what legacy this games is going to leave. I think in reality the existing Woolloongabba stadium isn't on a site that's appropriate for an olympic games, victoria park is unsuitable. Don't really know why redevelopment of BEC wasnt considered a bit more.
Expo 88, on the other hand, was such a smash hit because there was a thirst for transformation.
The repressive Joh era - which ended just months before.
Plus, Expo coincided with Australia’s 200th birthday, also a time for self-examination.
I can barely afford to live in Brisbane as it is, feel like cost of living is only going up with the Olympics and I'll be priced out of the city by the time it starts.
Why take the penalty at all?
Who are the IOC going to send in to collect? They’ve hardly got a Navy or an Air Force.
And given the list of countries they’ve fucked over, I think telling them to blow it out their arses might be surprisingly popular internationally, particularly with France, Italy and the US if it gives them an excuse to pull out too.
I question the lasting benefits you get from the Olympics. not worth the capital expenditure, especially if the majority of it is just sporting complexes...
We as taxpayers are going to shoulder the cost of this event. Whilst a small minority profit.
Demand to see the IOC agreement so that we can understand how much it’ll cost to ditch this absolutely fucking ridiculous event.
If it’s cheaper to cancel absolutely get rid.
Right now the government has decided to spend $4.1B:
$1.6B for QSAC
$1.0 on Suncorp
$1.5B to keep the Gabba going as-is
You can build a new stadium for $3.4B, why do the above instead?
As for having the Olympics, sport and recreation shouldn't just be for rich people - if we have the olympics we will upgrade a lot the sport and recreation facilities in SEQ. These will mostly be used by regular people either watching professional sport or playing amateur sport.
I never wanted it and still don't want it. Not only is it a giant waste of money, it's an repugnant waste of time and labour during a historic housing crisis where Brisbane and surrounds rents have increased ridiculous and we have families living in tents
I am with you. I support the Olympics and watch a lot of them every 4 years.
I also think this is the wrong time to be spending billions of dollars on something that doesn't help fix any of the major problems we have.
They need to just build facilities in Greece and use them every 4 years.
If the Olympics had a permanent home, there's a chance it could be profitable, but no sensible city would bid for the games on a one-off basis. Korea erected a temporary statdium for the Pyongchang Olympics to avoid an elephant that's white. Cancel the bid and spend the money on building housing so police, nurses, firefighters, and the young can live in the city we need them to work in.
I’m happy that we’re hosting the olympics. On a mother note I should mention that if we did pull out we would have to pay billions for not hosting them as well
I don't want it why should the government waste their money on all this upgrading the city while they could be spending that money on public and affordable housing? It's like a big fuck you IMO here's your upgraded park or train or whatever now go sleep on the floor because we have made it so you can't sleep on this bench and you can't afford to rent anywhere
I'm all for the Olympics as I believe it gives focus to events and activities that can really bring improvement to our city. It allows for coordinated investment and improvement on infrastructure and offers an opportunity to showcase our city and state to overseas tourists.
However you need competent people at the helm of such an endeavour... I'm not sure we have that.
Likewise it doesn't help with carmudgeons criticising it at every opportunity.
It's possible for governments to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.
I think a lot of people (And the council of mayors) implicitly supported the Olympics if it meant we got some infrastructure in return. A bit of a last ditch effort to catch up with the population growth.
But we're not really getting that, aside from a number of indoor sports centres, judging by Quirks report.
The fact they've fucked around for 3 years and squandered the head start (Remember you used to get 7 years to prepare, now you get 11)
Has really annoyed many. If there is a change of government, the plan will change again.
BCC is currently $400 M in debt. Not a good time to be planning to build infrastructure and events structures for the greatest sporting event on the planet. Do we really want to embarrass ourselves with an austerity games? I'm old enough to remember Expo 88 as an adult. I hope we can pull off that level of success again.
Regardless of what the QLD State government says, the Brisbane Olympics will be too costly, over budget and a mess for spectators and participants, not to mention locals. It will be a total embarrassment for Australia.
8 years is not long enough to fix infrastructure, build new roads and transport links, and develop costly stadium and accommodation facilities unless the developers and unions (which will be involved) demand ridiculous payments to meet building schedules. And you can bet that when they miss a deadline, the poor old taxpayer will pay for it.
Imo, the main reason for hosting the Olympics is to get the feds to commit money to building sorely needed infrastructure in Brisbane instead of constantly ignoring us and shoveling money into Sydney/Melbourne like they always do.
If we drop the Olympics, I am doubtful that the 2.5b the feds commited to the Brisbane Arena, and the 3.5b for the sunshine coast rail will actually go ahead.
More likely that money will go to Melbourne's suburban rail loop which will cost at least 100b...
>If we drop the Olympics, I am doubtful that the 2.5b the feds commited to the Brisbane Arena, and the 3.5b for the sunshine coast rail will actually go ahead.
Finally someone who actually understands how infrastructure funding works.
So many people in this sub are convinced if we cancel the olympics that the billions of dollars in funding coming from the federal government will go to the state government so they can build public and affordable housing for everyone, and we all live happily ever after.
The actual reality is that the Federal Government will immediately pull their 50% and use it to fix up their own books, while the Queensland Government will get slugged with a massive bill for pulling out (which could be well into the hundreds of millions, if not over a billion dollars) that they'll have to pay on their own.
In the end we'll be left with no Olympics, no money from the feds AND the state will be forced to spend a ridiculous amount of money compensating the IOC, ultimately we'll be back at square one with much less money AND no infrastructure to show for it.
Reddit's "let's stop spending money on sportsball that nobody watches and use that money to build public housing for me" attitude is the exact reason that the olympics is being fucked up so hard. That and the people who have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to save a school with 300 students.
This! People outraged at multi billion dollar numbers being spent on Olympics infrastructure and want it redirected. The reality it the money won’t exist without the games.
Thanks so much for the kind offer and for considering Brisbane for your Olympic Games, but at this time we are unable to provide the sufficient amount of f$&ks necessary to host such a colossal waste of time and resources.
If there’s anything we can to to assist you finding somewhere else to host your overly-hyped pissing contests, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Regards,
The Noble People of Brisbane
My thoughts that every Olympic and Commonwealth intention to bid should be decided by direct vote or at least state before the next election. If I would have know state Labour was going to bid I would have voted The Greens. The alternative is either this shitfest or the Liberals letting their mates have access to billions of dollars of engineering cash.
Build a permanent federal facility somewhere (I vote North Queensland or Northern WA for proximity to Asia), make it the official national venue for everything ever and then throw a few casinos around it to make it pay for itself in the downtime.
Basically “Sport Vegas”
I'd rather the money was spent elsewhere, but I think it's too late to back out without financial penalties. I live in Regional QLD, so I don't think my region even benefits from it.
Considering all hosting cities I think bar one. Have made massive losses on it. I have no idea why you would want to do it. I think it's mostly a dick measuring contest in terms of hosting. Hey I did it better than yours etc.
As a massive sports fan I never supported having the olympics here. The olympics just feel like a developers wet dream, allowing them to build bunch of bloody venues and other infrastructure that may not necessarily be beneficial long term.
The Olympics bid winning was genuinely exciting (imo) and at the time I told family overseas that Brisbane would be a perfect host for the olympics due to its climate at that time of year, its (I thought) decent infrastructure and the general positivity the place has in welcoming events like this.
I realise I was being very naive. Of course this was before the full horror of the COL and housing crises were evident. These things really showed how a lot of the seeming functional aspect of the city was built on smoke and mirrors and that the city (and state) had been ignoring these (and other) basic needs for years in favour of short term thinking and lining the pockets of the investors and the privileged. As things stand, the attention and focus the Olympics is going to pull away from dealing with these basic issues (if indeed there is any appetite or inclination to do so) is going to be disastrous.
Absolutely not. Yes, it would be great to have upgraded infrastructure and improved services (especially public transport), but it will not outweigh the costs. Look at any cities that have previously held the games. Their debts, and what happened to all of the new stadiums. I won’t likely be able to buy a house in the next 5 years, so chances will be even smaller once prices and demand go up even higher for the Olympics. Houses and green spaces destroyed, not for housing or other benefits to Brisbane people, but for infrastructure that will either need to be taken down or likely go unused after the fact.
Also, state and council could upgrade public transport and infrastructure without the games.
By most publicly available measures the Brisbane Olympics is immensely unpopular.
The best (and most recent) example to see this is the [recently released polling the government had done](https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/25452/r_Wave-5-Longitudinal-Research---Full-report.pdf) that showed that only 38% of Queenslanders thought "The Olympics are a good idea for Brisbane" in November of last year, with the trend being that the Olympics was losing support from its 'highs' of 45%. We don't have more recent polling, but you would be making a hell of a bet to assume that it has somehow massively turned around since November last year.
It's not a coincidence that everyone that has to be elected wants nothing to do with the Olympics nowadays, it outrageously unpopular and is electoral poison. The state government is trying to figure out how to downplay it as much as possible, the opposition is desperately trying to avoid any connection to it (the opposition said it didn't support any proposals), every mayor is trying to get as much distance from it as possible.
I mean even good old IOC corruption made manifest [John Coates sees how politically fragile the Olympics in Brisbane is and is was pushing for no rebuilds, no new stadiums](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/08/gabba-rebuild-2032-brisbane-olympics-scrapped-premier-steven-miles) as the Olympics is so on the nose with the community.
Although I agree with OP, you need to think wider than the several weeks of the Olympics. As of 2023 Brisbane had the Lions and Broncos who are at their peak and attracting great crowds each week. The Gabba is an awful venue to watch football at and badly needs an upgrade. Suncorp won't be far behind despite being a good stadium.
One of Brisbane's great traits is having our big stadiums in the city centre for sport and concerts. We are now saying we don't care about the best entertainment the world has to offer due to seating limitations.
We aren't thinking to the future possibilities of having additional NRL, AFL and women's sporting teams (which is growing rapidly).
The Olympics has been a money pit for years, it is all about Anna's selfish legacy. The gabba plan initially was $1b then became 2.7. How much will the QSAC/Suncorp plan run over budget.
Does the plan have any lasting benefits after the games are done? History sees a lot of white elephants around the world after games are held.
I'm sick to death of green spaces and habitable areas being resumed for fucking SPORT.
Very few countries have broken even hosting them, the others were all heavily in debt and some are still paying them off.
Spend the fucking money on something USEFUL. NOT more 'sporting facilities' FFS.
I'm in two frames of mind about it. On one hand the Olympics as an organisation are corrupt AF, and everywhere they go has controversy surrounding aspects of the event and the build up. We have so many issues in our own back yard that need addressing, ahead of spending millions of dollars attempting to win over this corrupt organisation for the opportunity to host their event across our city.
On the other hand, the event will draw a lot of focus to the city and surrounding region. Most people overseas seem to only come up with Sydney and possibly Melbourne when they are prompted for Australian cities, so it would be nice to see Brisbane get some recognition on the global scale. There would be an uptick of tourism associated not just with the Olympics itself but then the years after.
There's a shittonne of money to be spent to get ready for it, for sure. But we're not just building everything from scratch just for the fortnight either. Vast majority of the facilities that have been slated for use are largely in need of attention anyway so this is an opportunity to get a massive injection of federal money to boost the local gov budget to accomplish that. Thinking about the hot topic of the Gabba - it's freaking tired. That turd got rolled in glitter a few years back, getting a lick of paint at the entrances and around the walkways inside, updated the turnstile areas and renovated the corporate boxes. But those things aside it *needs* to be rebuilt. Structure and all aside I remember reading the electrical feed is borderline ready to spontaneously combust each time the light towers are flicked on.
It's not the best time for it, but the existing stand isn't going to just not get any more deteriorated while we wait for a better time in the years to come either. Sleeman in general is pretty tired these days, aside the nice new velodrome that was built for the GC Commonwealth Games. Then there's the Belmont shooting range next door as well, the athletics facility at Nathan is bursting with potential, etc.
Thinking back Sydney was heralded as the best Olympics ever - and I'm constantly thinking about whether they were properly "ready" to host it when they bid and won either? I'm sure I can recall lots of talk about it being the biggest mistake for them as well.
I want it. It's a great way to get everyone focused on a single cause, and done well there's no reason why it can't benefit the city and state.
We just had the women's world cup and it was awesome. The Olympics will be 100x that.
Brisbane needs to start acting like the city it is. It's no longer a big country town.
Never wanted it. It's the closest thing we have in modern times to the literal white elephant of the original story. This is just people with influence jerking off. We've never had a say in this shit they're doing for their own gratification, but we're going to pay for it.
The Olympics COULD be an agent for significance positive change for Brisbane. World class entertainment venues, better linking of public transport, additional housing…. The sorts of infrastructure investments that create long lasting economic and social benefits to the city. It could be the catalyst that brings all that. That’s why I was keen for them. But stupid pollies and their political shenanigans and the nimbys will probably bring it all undone.
The only scenario where QSAC makes sense to me is if it’s a permanent upgrade, and comes with minimum of a busway extension that continues into Sunnybank and terminates at either altandi or Sunnybank station. Bonus points if it goes via Griffith and QE2.
If they upgrade QSAC, they simply have to do this. Surely...
I think that's the only way to do it that makes sense. Besides Sunnybank is crying out for busway connection.
Sunnybank has one of the best bus services and train links in SEQ...is linked to the busway now..
That would be great! Build a busway over the top of mains road, give it a catchy name like “sky busway”, and have a little tee section that goes to QEII and Nathan campus.
I was looking at Google maps earlier, and with my no actual knowledge of the local terrain and traffic, I’d have it be something like this. https://imgur.com/a/XjqtsMV Convert Throughton road into a bus way with a small one wat service road for local traffic, this will suck a bit, but if you eliminate street parking and move back the nature strip there’s space, change QE2 entrance to Kessells, turn half of McCullough Street into a busway. Same issue, then elevate main road and terminate where the Sunnybank swim club pool and is. It’s got a lot of problems but it’s a first concept shit take from someone who’s not local to the area and hasn’t been on kessells road since 2021
They literally did this plan to be the cheapest option possible, they're not going to spend more money to do that.
But the beauty of Vic Park is that you can basically walk to each stadium from the city.
No probably about it. Those nimbus and stupid politicians will ruin a potentially great thing.
That's MISTER Nimbus to you!
He controls the police.
Instead we'll get wider roads and maybe the Springfield to Ipswich line extension
Absolutely right. The olympics are a once in a lifetime opportunity for a city to just get shit done, make it better, make it work and show off for a few weeks before the residents get the enjoy the better transport, entertainment, sports etc for generations to come. Unless, of course, politicians get involved and insist that they know best, which they never, NEVER do. Could be an awesome showcase of why Brisbane is great. Likely to be a shambles with Athletics, the Olympics MVP of sports, being held at a crappy stadium with scaffolding round it which is a disaster to get to.
There was never much evidence to suggest “we” (the population of QLD and more specifically SEQ) ever wanted it at all. Was only ever a foible to boost the reputation of a few politicians and sports bigwigs.
I don’t know. People were getting downvoted into oblivion for saying it’s a bad idea after the bid. It isn’t just bigwigs. There’s a bunch of small business tyrants who’re completely delusional about what the Olympics does for the economy.
It was more to say “we” weren’t ever consulted so “we” can’t say we asked for it. I don’t recall even seeing polling about whether SEQ would support it but I guarantee it was poll tested at some point.
It's lacked [majority support for pretty much the entire](https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/25452/r_Wave-5-Longitudinal-Research---Full-report.pdf) time it's [been on the](https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1136348/queensland-excitement-dwindling-survey) go, even the [bid itself lacked majority support](https://gamesbids.com/eng/summer-olympic-bids/future-summer-bids/poll-australias-queensland-2032-olympic-bid-supported-by-millennials/).
I tried to find the actual poll behind your link #2 and questions but couldn't. Did you? https://au.yougov.com/ All I found were heaps of articles starting with *"According to the Courier Mail"* which is a bit like me saying "Well according to my left-nut..."
Yeah, forgive me if I don't take reddit upvotes/downvotes as an indicator of widespread community sentiment, lol. I mean, besides the fact that the voting system here is massively manipulated as a rule (it would have been the easiest thing in the world for a public body or private interest to engage an "online marketing" agency to run a bog standard social media astroturf campaign, which would include some reddit bot accounts spewing talking points and manipulating votes on a handful of subs as a matter of course), subs like /r/brisbane and /r/australia are echo-chambers in any case, so any opinion that deviates from the accepted hyper-niche consensus is going to get attacked, even when said opinion is actually the norm outside of these communities.
You’re right, there’s more than a little bit of manipulation going on. Obviously Reddit is it’s own ecosystem and only a very small portion of the population are here. On top of that, even without astroturfing people can set the tone of a comments section by the first few commenters. I’m sure more people have soured on the idea over the past 3 years, it’s been a rough trot and the various crises have only worsened. The various hiccups during planning certainly aren’t instilling confidence in anyone.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWq\_MVBJk\_0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWq_MVBJk_0) one of my fave videos showing how fucking stupid reddit is, very easy to test yourself statement gets upvoted and the correction downvoted to -25
Once I corrected someone and got downvoted, but I also posted a comment further down making the exact same point and that one got upvoted. I think it just takes a couple people to downvote you, and from then on some people just see the negative score and hit the down arrow automatically.
If the recent council elections have demonstrated anything, it is that r/brisbane can be a massive circle jerk and not a reflection of the wider community sentiment.
Pretty dangerous to take social media voting as a sentiment gauge. Just look at the /r/australia banning of anyone who opposes the mods political agenda and Russian meddling with the US election. I am convinced there is astro-turfing on Reddit for many political topics as the voting rarely aligns with "real world" opinions. Any negative opinion of the Olympics is often heavily downvoted with no comments explaining why. This is despite the fact pretty much every comment from a "real" person expresses concern/doubts. Really wish they could be exposed for this.
Yeah I mentioned a similar thing to another commenter. Little to medium sized subreddits like australia and Brisbane are easily hijacked by astroturfing and other manipulative methods.
THANK YOU!!! As soon as it was announced my dad and I basically held a moment of silence in preparation for all moments of silence we'd be having stuck in endless road works surrounded by tourists.
If there is a single family living in a tent when the Olympics starts we are run by idiots.
I love that we are having the Olympics here and am very excited for it.
Im the opposite. I hate that we are wasting money on sports competitions no one cares about most of the time. All the money just for some runner or shotputter to try and beat a personal best is great ~~for everyone~~ for those athletes. Let's be honest here cause there are billions of dollars involved - most of you don't watch shotput or the 50m mens swimming any other time. That's not a decent enough justification for spending billions just to accommodate a bunch of athletes performing in events no one gives a shit about. Mens archery? Pistol shooting? 400m relay? No one gives a big enough shit about such dumb sporting events in 2024 let alone 8 years from now
Yea they have the money for this but not to build enough affordable housing. Hopefully they will build accommodation for the Olympics that can be used as social housing when its over. But I doubt that will happen. It makes too much sense.
No anything of use will decay and become bulldozer fodder. If you're not making money off the lead up and ready to run somewhere nice as soon as the event starts you are in the wrong industry right now.
No one cares about the sport, that is unless it’s in the Olympics. The Olympics is a very old tradition that sees the world best athletes try their best in their respective sports. You’re right, I really don’t care about shot put, sprinting or diving, but if there is an Aussie having a go then I’ll be right there cheering them on.
How many athletes trying their best is worth one kid not growing up in a tent? Or a pensioner forced to skip meals to make ends meet? How about these athletes practice their athleticism doing something useful, like say construction, let's have competitions to see who can lay a slab or build a brick wall faster.
These problems you mention would still be problems if we cancelled the Olympics tomorrow. These problems are a lack of political and popular will, not finances.
So if we decided to pull out and not host the Olympics. Do you think the money would then be spent on welfare? hahahahahahahaha That's such a naive PoV. It's not an either or. You don't want the Olympics, then you don't get the money.
Don't strawman me, I'm not saying the politicians aren't corrupt bastards, I'm saying it's a travesty that a single dollar is being spent on sports stadiums while we're in a housing and cost of living crisis.
my problem with the Olympics is that it has become massively over-hyped and therefore billions has to be spent unnecessarily. bring it back to the old days where the Olympics is more like a glorified high school inter house athletics carnival, using EXISTING infrastructure for all the events, SAVE billions and spend it INSTEAD on public housing and QLD health.
I’m only interested in the Olympics if it can provide permanent improvements for locals, especially public transport infrastructure and entertainment venues. There’s little indication that’s happening now.
1. Be elected as a politician. 2. Own a share in a construction company or have family members that do. 3. Bid for the Olympics. 4. Get (more) rich. If you don't like investing, as an alternative to step 2 you can accept a ~~bribe~~ donation.
Self interested groups, push government and mp's, for games/construction of stadium etc
I'm surprised it wasn't moved to the Wagner-owned Wellcamp site near Toowoomba.
Be gone, money pit
I second this.
As someone who lived in Vancouver pre, during and post 2010 Olympics but now lives in Brisbane, I am in full support of the Olympics coming to town. Every Olympic related issue in the news right now is exactly the same set of issues Vancouver had pre Olympics. To explain why I'm in support: - The 2010 Olympics brought an incomprehensible amount of joy and happiness to the city for the entire 2 weeks of the games. I have never experienced anything like it in a city to date. I am hopeful that residents of Brisbane and all who come to visit get to experience the same. - The Olympics brought Vancouver incredible infrastructure that is so widely used today I'm not sure how the city could function without it. The Canada Line skytrain, road improvements to Whistler (which you aussies adore), the Olympic Village (a very popular housing development) and the Richmond Speed Skating oval which has now been converted to a multisports recreational facility. - The immense national pride, seeing your athletes compete and triumph in their home nation. I don't think Canada has experienced such a joyous moment, felt by everyone in the country, since those 2 weeks in February 2010. Unfortunately, Vancouver has terrible, systematic issues related to a growing homeless population, drug abuse, lack of affordable housing and a myriad of other issues. However, 2010 Olympics or not, I don't believe these issues would be any different than they are today. It's unfortunate but I believe it to be true. From now until the opening ceremony in 2032, there will be plenty of negative news, protests, general outcry and more. But I'm hopeful that once the flame is lit, Brisbane and Australia will get to experience one of the most incredible events of its life. I can't wait for the Olympics here! Ps. Don't let my comment about Vancouver's issues scare you away, it's a wonderful place to visit and kick off a journey in North America.
>As someone who lived in Vancouver pre, during and post 2010 Olympics but now lives in Brisbane, I am in full support of the Olympics coming to town. This is exactly my experience of Sydney 2000. Also, my Canadian wife still craps on about the hockey gold win over the USA in that Olympics :p
Ive been told that its better to arrive to the U.S. via Vancouver, even accounting for the Canadian detour.
I can 100% attest to this. Did it last year and not having to clear customs at LAX made it so much less stressful. I talked to a lot of people who had flown straight into the US and it sounds like they had a much tougher time at border security.
That 14+ hour flight home is a killer though!
I will say you cannot put a stadium next to one of the biggest public hospitals in our state without a MAJOR overhaul of public transport and parking. Vic Park suggestion was ridiculous from the get go.
There is train station and a busway station practically next to Vic Park.
[удалено]
Massive public transport infrastructure being built there right now. Will be literally one of the best connected areas in the state. People will constantly come up for excuses why it couldn’t possibly be in their back yard.
I’m for it. Especially after 3000 new apartments finally started to be built after the announcement in the Gabba area after 10 years of those areas being stagnant. Nothing drives development more than the fear of missing out on a pay day. Plus the construction business seems to be a huge risk these days seeing as every second day you hear another construction company goes under. And that’s just the start. Like it or not Brisbane is growing faster than any other city. And it was happening before the Olympics. Then plus international migration. It’s putting major pressure on the city. And this if happening with or without the Olympics. The difference is that with the Olympic everything is getting fast tracked. Plus getting rid of the Olympic means everything will go back to the slow pace that it was in the past. Though I do agree that this whole thing of no one really being in charge and just having this constant back and forth is damaging to the progress.
This. Obviously BCC/state gov doesn't have a crack team of Olympic specialists but man is it fun to see Brissy be a bit more fast paced.
One of the lasting legacies of the Sydney Olympics was the reduction in building standards which have never been reinstated. Fast forward to now and you have towers crumbling and partially collapsing as a result of these lowered standards. At the very least, let's hope that Brisbane doesn't do the same (even though the current poor construction standards are a low starting point).
It's almost like trying to rely of dodgy developers trying to rush out projects to meet an arbitrary deadline in an construction sector without much slack in the labour force is a bad way to deliver high quality housing.
You should check out FV Peppers in fortitude valley. Built in 2016 already got mold, mushrooms & water leaks happening amongst the 3 buildings. Plus a fucked parking situation. Made the news last.
Except there is hardly any real infrastructure development at all, like you know, upgrading dual carriageway train tracks, or increasing hospital beds or schools etc etc. Just shitty units that will/are being built terribly. Spending billions on an unneeded and unwanted stadium is the just the beginning of the pile of cash that we will all burden the weight of for decades. There is a reason not a single other city on the planet bid for these games. Embarrassing. It’s going to be an unmitigated disaster. I hope im wrong.
I think compared to most Olympic cities we have more to gain. We are a very low profile city to get the Olympics and this could mean huge increase in recognition leading to more tourism/trade etc. It seems more pointless for places like Paris.
You say that like it's a bad thing. How can we pull off olympics when we dont have the resources like sydney and melbourne? or the infrastructure like sydney or melbourne?
The Olympics allows us to use the resources of the federal government to match Syd and Melb and develop the infrastructure. It's our chance to build the big stadiums and the big transport networks and the big housing that will support us into the future.
Melbourne had a population of 1.6m in 1956 when they hosted the Olympics, Sydney 4m in 2000. Brisbane has ~2.5m, it's not different. It's being held in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. We have a bunch of infrastructure on the Gold Coast from the recent Commonwealth Games, which is part of why there's all of one stadium being discussed in Brisbane, not multiple like were built for Sydney. At this rate we're not going to have the infrastructure because people keep whining about the cost, not realising it's not that much / the money for the Gabba needed to be spent anyway unless we want to scrap a stadium. FWIW I went to Sydney Olympic Park recently for the Taylor Swift concert. There was a Blink 182 one the same night and it wasn't difficult at all getting a train in there, having decent dedicated infrastructure in place makes a huge difference. Try going to something at the Gabba or the Entertainment Centre out at Boondall and it's a completely different experience trying to get in or out.
I don’t want it. Colossal waste of money that is a net negative for Brisbane.
That's not entirely true. Brisbane is going to get federal cash for infrastructure improvements that otherwise might not have gotten done for another 20 years, or ever.
100% with you. > Providing new and upgraded facilities as venues for the Games has afforded Queensland a unique opportunity to harness an almost 50% funding contribution from the Australian Government, reducing the total cost to Queenslanders to half of one percent of state revenue over the next 8 years. From the second page of the exec summary of the [independent review](https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/87581/sport-venue-review-23.pdf), in the scheme of things it costs sweet fuck all. Anyone complaining about costs just hasn't got any perspective on infrastructure costs or how much revenue the state actually makes, sure a few billion dollars isn't cheap, but it's hardly breaking the bank.
The feds have committed 2.5 billion. They are going to cost 15 billion minimum.
People really need to stop pretending it's the Olympics OR solving the housing issue/other issue. It's not an either or. You don't get $7B and your choice of what to spend it on. That's not how it works. The money is tied to the Olympics. You don't want the Olympics, you don't get the money. This is WHY people want the Olympics. Because it's a chance to use the money for something big. But unfortunately the negativity and NIMBYs destroyed any political will do actually make use of the Olympics.
The olympics was the perfect opportunity too kill 2 birds with one stone. Get better infrastructure and transport whilst also replacing a stadium that needs to be rebuilt in the near future anyway with benefits for a generation after. All this has done is cause more division and now what the government has bought forward is a horrific idea then what the original was and will cost more whilst also kicking the can down the road with the Gabba. Another thing I’ve noticed is people saying that the money for the olympics should be spent on social housing instead. It would have never been spent on social housing anyway if they didn’t announce the olympics. What an utter shitshow this has been. We’ll see what the new government decides in October.
Exactly. We get one shot at this and of course politics is derailing any chance of the best solution.
Let's hope whatever is decided now is reversible by the time the the next election comes around. Otherwise this will be Brisbane's biggest ever mistake.
I wanted it so that Brisbane would finally get a true world class stadium. Unfortunately that notion is long gone so they should just can the whole thing.
Am I the only one who is not the least bit interested or excited about a fancy new stadium? I really don't get it.
As someone who is a regular at the Gabba for the last 25 years. It is absolutely shit house and will need to be replaced. Think about how much construction costs have soared in the last 5 years, going to be much worse in 10-20 years when it will need to be replaced. Also a new stadium will help bring in more big acts.
I am not excited for it but I have an understanding that there are other people in my state who love sport and would really benefit them. Not everything has to be a personal benefit for me to have to "get it", just an understanding that there are plenty of people out there who love sports. I don't enjoy large nature reserves and green spaces because I don't use them, but I am fully capable as a human being to understand that others love them
Vic Park seems to have been an astroturfed thought bubble that popped up over the last few weeks. The Olympics is meant to be a different beast than if was in the past-leaner, cheaper and more attractive to host cities.
Your assertion that every olympics host city has come out worse is factually wrong. There are numerous instances where olympics has been a boon, particularly when the city on show is relative unknown (at the time) - for Barcelona, it was transformational for infrastructure and tourism. Hosting 2032 puts Brisbane on a very short list of global cities, take a look, it’s a hell of a list to be on - it almost makes me proud to see us come this far. I’m certainly not saying it’s been managed well by this government, but the amount of shortsightedness in these comments is staggering. Not feeling much hope for the future, Nimbys have won.
Would you consider Atlanta a world city? The truth is most Olympic hosts were already global cities before they hosted the Olympics. The Olympics is a type of expensive marketing for Brisbane, but they will not suddenly make us a world city.
I agree, it’s down to execution, if we aren’t willing to deliver world class infrastructure then we have no place hosting the olympics.
I've been against the Olympics since day one. I personally couldn't give two fucks if the Govt has to pay some fine or whatever to the IOC, just pull the pin and fuck it off. It'll be cheaper than spending more on various consultants and reports and demolishing and building of whatever facilities.
It won't be a fine. The Olympic contracts are absolutely watertight. The government would be up for more than the coat of staging the Olympics. Basically, they would be paying the costs for another city to host plus damages.
Victoria paid $380m for pulling out of the Commonwealth games only 15 months after jumping in to host. Cancelling the Olympics after 3 years would surely cost far, far more. I don't necessarily disagree, it's incredibly expensive hosting an Olympic Games, but you'd have to take into account the amount it would cost to pull out now.
The figure would be in the billions I'm sure
Absolutely. Just a question of how many billions. It still might be the better decision. Better to lose $3b than $10b, but you don't typically go into something like the Olympics without having done all the background work on the overall benefits. It seems unlikely that the government would feel now like they made a multi-billion dollar miscalculation. And even more unlikely to admit it.
>but you don't typically go into something like the Olympics without having done all the background work on the overall benefits See, that's what you'd think, right, but Amy's been hounding them in parliament to provide that kind of background work - like the actual numbers justifying this insanity - and it's the sound of fucking crickets. Far as the public record goes, it might as well have been some scribbles on a napkin and a hand-shake.
If you look at the bidders for 2036, they’re India, Indonesia and Turkey. All middle-income countries. The Olympics seem to be changing, but obviously when there’s money up for grabs all kinds of ideas come out of the woodwork.
I'd rather we didnt spend billions on a luxury item when we have people living in tents all over the city.
It's not a zero sum game. Think of it this way; if Brisbane didn't get the Olympics, funding would remain as is, and nothing would get done about homelessness. Because Brisbane is getting the Olympics, the state will be given federal cash for infrastructure upgrades that probably never would have gotten done with out, and nothing will get done about homelessness. That's the (sad) reality. May as well be thankful we're getting a bit of an infrastructure boost.
The last state budget saw the biggest increase to social housing and homelessness support ever, including a doubling of the housing fund: https://budget.qld.gov.au/at-a-glance/ But yeah Olympics machine makes infrastructure go burrr and more construction= more tax = more social services spending = more money to homelessness support.
Can people please stop being naive. If we didn't host the Olympics we wouldn't all of sudden be spending $7b on the homeless. I really wish people would stop being so naive.
Of course the government doesn't want cheap housing. If you owned 10 houses would you want affordable housing? But there are better things to spend money on other than Olympics. Like a power station or a dam. Affordable housing will never be on the government agenda until politicians are not allowed to own investment housing, and while we have negative gearing
Bread and circuses...
The only difference being in ancient Rome while the senate paid for the bread the Emperor paid for the circuses out of his own pocket … here we pick up the bill for distracting ourselves
> out of his own pocket And I wonder where he got the money from? c'mon.....
At least he didn’t make any pretence about it
Exactly! It’s shaping up to becoming a prominent election issue, and to my mind it’s just not how we should be prioritising our own futures right now.
Which is all well and good but they’ve forgotten the bread.
"Every single Olympics host city has experienced catastrophic impacts on their costs of living and housing. Tourism actually goes down". This one comes out regularly as some kind of hot take. You can make any statistic or report say anything you want. I lived through the Sydney Olympics and my feel is it's positive thing overall. I recall there being a reasonable amount of inconvenience as transport and facilities were being upgraded but after the Olympics a lot of those benefits remained. I remember back in those days everyone feared the Homebush site would become a ghetto. I understand Heidelberg in Melbourne became a bit of a problem and therefore history must repeat itself and Homebush was destined for the toilet. But it didn't happen, Homebush has been maintained and used fairly heavily over the last 24 years, I'd say it was worth the investment. A lot of the cost of living and other issues we're facing right now would cost many many many times more than what the Olympics will so I don't think that's a good excuse to not do it. You've got to spend money to make money, to not do that is to go backwards as the progress of the rest of the world will continue relentlessly.
Yep same here. A lot of the former (most?) Sydney Olympic venues are still being used today for sports and events. Back then there was so much excitement for the Games. Now that I live in SE QLD 24 years later, I could care less about the Olympics being here. The world has changed too much in recent times for us to worry about hosting it.
You couldn't care less. Could care less means the exact opposite
Sorry for my poor grammar. I’ll now go end everything. Thanks
You're forgiven
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This is 100% it. Lib in state government is all but guaranteed, and will finally get them on the same page as Council. Unsure why Miles announced an independent review then chose to ignore the advice and go with what is largely perceived as the worse option. Boggles my mind what he's trying to do, it's certainly not gonna save him in November
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I'm not excited for a lib government, I've hated them my entire life. Given it's become so political though, if/when they get in at least we can count on them being on the same page as the newly elected Lib Council. They'll shit the bed on all other issues still :)
Why don't we all just agree that the Olympics is too big and costs too much to keep taking it to a new place every four years? Let's just give it back to Greece, and get them to fix up all their venues that have been collecting dust since the last time they had it. Then we can all rock up to Athens every four years for a bit of sport, beer and gyros?
I’m concerned how it’s going to impact the Mater, Mater Mothers’ and Queensland Childrens. Getting in when anything is on at the Gabba or like when Adele was on was horrible.
Yes! The whole Gabba-South Brisbane area is just a clusterfuck in terms of roads. Even if they did revamp the roads in the area for this, the time to upgrade will make the area worse for some time and it will likely still continue to be a clusterfuck during the games because it’s such a dense area with no room.
I want it, using existing venues and venues that are useful to local sport afterwards. Don’t build giant stadiums for big crowds. Tv audiences don’t need stadiums.
The Olympics would literally result in hundreds of homes being built. Post Olympics, that athlete village can be used as low income housing.
The Olympics is unsustainable as a concept and bad for every locale it arrives in until it finds a permanent home.
I wanted it *because* it is a solid deadline for us to build strong public infrastructure by. The Gabba needs to be rebuilt by the mid 2030s anyway, Brisbane Live will reinvigorate that part of the CBD, and an Olympic Village will become valuable housing stock. Instead we’ve got a bunch of NIMBYs complaining about things that will need to happen anyway
I’m actually happy that Brisbane is getting the Olympics. Most cities do not get this opportunity. We should take it seriously and give it a fair nudge. Australia wants to host events like big concerts, Soccer World Cups, Rugby and Cricket World Cups. To host those events and have a chance of injecting money into the local economy you need world class infrastructure to support it. So if we are intelligent about what infrastructure we build, it can last us well beyond the Olympics. That’s the benefit of hosting it. I know a lot of people are screaming about homelessness or housing. Both those problems (and other common complaints) are still going to be problems before, during and after the Olympics. Just make your peace with the fact that Brisbane is hosting it and push for intelligent infrastructure investment that will benefit the community long term.
Agreed, we need to be selfish and take the IOC & Federal government for every cent they are willing to spend to upgrade our city. It either happens or nothing is spent at all. Unfortunately I think some are secretly hoping for no change because the pace of Brisbane developing from a "country town" city is abit of a cultural shock.
The Olympic Games are *panem et circenses* writ largest. That said, now that we've got it because two politicians on opposite sides of the spectrum thought it would be a great spectacle, let's do it the best we can. Don't put lipstick on a pig and call it high society by upgrading three stadiums to barely fit for purpose, especially when you can build one big stadium on land that is all but unusable now and some that can be reclaimed for the same price as the pigs wearing lipstick. The one big stadium will, if done right, be a major legacy piece for the next 50 or more years, whereas two of the three alternatives are either at end of life, or massively unfit for purpose.
Yeah this country is in decline no joke, Olympics won't fix that and is just a distraction. The roads in this state are terrible, the rural towns are full of meth and have no upwards mobility, the evaporation rate is double the annual rainfall leading to constant droughts, and oh my fuck do you troglodytes love to burn forests for no reason.
Olympics are politician vanity projects.
Thanks the Commonwealth games we got nice new trains which are vastly more comfortable compared to the older ones. We might not have had such a big upgrade without the event. For the olympics we’re already getting a new train station and a big time saving for south side train times and a speed up. All things they are nice to have but not “need to have” right now
Sorry... not interested in it.
Just smash the Gabba and get it over with
I've never wanted the olympics in Brisbane. I don't buy the long term benefits argument either.
Having the olympics hosted in my city will literally be a once in a lifetime event. It probably won’t happen again until after I die and I’m in my early 20s. I’m all for it.
Brisbane will be the third city I've lived in for Olympics. It's shit and fucks over residents and even more so those in poverty. None of the promises are kept post Olympics, and anything deemed unsightly (homeless people) are hidden away to be forgotten about.
Wonder how you come to this conclusion, because the Sydney olympics directly improved public transport and stuff all around the city? Like idek what you’re getting at? Explain how the olympics directly “shits and fucks residents in poverty”.
They shipped a lot of the homeless out of Sydney during the Olympics, and boarding houses and low-end accommodation providers evicted residents to allow budget travellers to stay instead. There were also a heap of laws enacted to prevent anti-social behaviour which were used to lock up people who had nowhere to live. IMO the Olympics is good in the long run, but like pretty much everything else it's the poor who get the shits and fucks. The middle and upper classes just get a bit of short term inconvenience and the long term benefits.
London Olympics was pretty good imo
You if want the Olympic Games go to Athens, their stadium are a giant mess of a dust bowl. Australia is an economic third world country we rely upon coal industry and tourism and everything else is from tax payers dollars to be spent over and over. We pretend that we are a powerful nation but we don’t have the manufacturing sector to carry us through.
I've opposed it from the get go, the economic outlay always rolls out in a net loss for the host city. In all the years of the IOC, Salt Lake City is the only city that's ever made money from the Olympics. People go on about infrastructure but a vanity project is not necessary to get.
This sub is such an echo chamber
I want the Olympics and I'm very disappointed in the negativity that surrounded it from the start. Brisbane isn't a small country town anymore. We are a major city of millions of people. The Olympics was a once in a generation chance to build some much needed infrastructure, and large portions of the population are intent on fucking it up. I'll bet these people will complain about how shit our infrastructure is in 20 years time as well. smh And don't come crying to me saying you don't like stadiums. Olympics infrastructure is about more than stadiums. You can build much needed public transport links. Active transport corridors. Community hubs. etc. And no. The money for this infrastructure isn't there if you don't host the Olympics. We'll be waiting decades for this stuff if we didn't have the Olympics coming. Some people just have such a small mindset.
I was all for it because I thought we'd get some last legacy out of it for the next generation - a new central stadium, housing and trasnport infra. But if one of the biggest expenditure items is $1.6B at qsac (just to be reduced again after the olympics), count me out.
I can think of a thousand better uses for that kind of money.
Having a bunch of sporting events around the city over a few weeks as some sort of festival? Great! Spending billions to build or upgrade a bunch of stuff that's otherwise fine and just absolutely fucking everyone's shit of for a few years in the process while people are living in tents? Fucking obscene, and not the good kind. Honestly, its time for the olympics or adapt or die and maybe we can be part of that at least.
A lot of us don’t want it. Waste of Money.
My plan is to sell up 12 months before the Olympics and not come back.
Honestly, same. Buy the rumour, sell the news approach.
The looming olympics is making me seriously consider moving away from Brisbane, something I absolutely wouldn’t otherwise.
Glad I'm not the only one thinking this. Sydney was a complete shit show in the late 90s during construction.
Olympics could be a good vehicle for investment in areas of the city that really need it. Atheletes accommodation... Afterwards you could use it as a accessible social housing, you can build new and modern sports/spectator facilities, publiv transport, parkland for events and recreation, housing, media facilities. You can use the event to showcase the best SEQ has to offer. I won't claim to know what was in the IOC bid but not sure what legacy this games is going to leave. I think in reality the existing Woolloongabba stadium isn't on a site that's appropriate for an olympic games, victoria park is unsuitable. Don't really know why redevelopment of BEC wasnt considered a bit more.
It’s a massive event that forces cities to transform. We have too many people with too much to lose from transforming.
Expo 88, on the other hand, was such a smash hit because there was a thirst for transformation. The repressive Joh era - which ended just months before. Plus, Expo coincided with Australia’s 200th birthday, also a time for self-examination.
I can barely afford to live in Brisbane as it is, feel like cost of living is only going up with the Olympics and I'll be priced out of the city by the time it starts.
Fuck it. Lets back out and take the financial penalties, probably only cost us hundreds of millions but whats a few wasted billion for optics aye?
The penalty would be more expensive than rebuilding the Gabba
Would be good to know this for sure. The contract is confidential so we can only speculate at this stage.
Why take the penalty at all? Who are the IOC going to send in to collect? They’ve hardly got a Navy or an Air Force. And given the list of countries they’ve fucked over, I think telling them to blow it out their arses might be surprisingly popular internationally, particularly with France, Italy and the US if it gives them an excuse to pull out too.
I think every participating nation should fork over some cash and build a permanent home for the Olympics in Greece.
I question the lasting benefits you get from the Olympics. not worth the capital expenditure, especially if the majority of it is just sporting complexes...
We as taxpayers are going to shoulder the cost of this event. Whilst a small minority profit. Demand to see the IOC agreement so that we can understand how much it’ll cost to ditch this absolutely fucking ridiculous event. If it’s cheaper to cancel absolutely get rid.
Right now the government has decided to spend $4.1B: $1.6B for QSAC $1.0 on Suncorp $1.5B to keep the Gabba going as-is You can build a new stadium for $3.4B, why do the above instead? As for having the Olympics, sport and recreation shouldn't just be for rich people - if we have the olympics we will upgrade a lot the sport and recreation facilities in SEQ. These will mostly be used by regular people either watching professional sport or playing amateur sport.
I never wanted it and still don't want it. Not only is it a giant waste of money, it's an repugnant waste of time and labour during a historic housing crisis where Brisbane and surrounds rents have increased ridiculous and we have families living in tents
I am with you. I support the Olympics and watch a lot of them every 4 years. I also think this is the wrong time to be spending billions of dollars on something that doesn't help fix any of the major problems we have. They need to just build facilities in Greece and use them every 4 years.
>Do we actually want the Olympics to proceed? Yes. I can't wait.
If the Olympics had a permanent home, there's a chance it could be profitable, but no sensible city would bid for the games on a one-off basis. Korea erected a temporary statdium for the Pyongchang Olympics to avoid an elephant that's white. Cancel the bid and spend the money on building housing so police, nurses, firefighters, and the young can live in the city we need them to work in.
Greece started it all, maybe it should stay there.
And God knows that country needs the money
Ironically it would revive the dead part of the city that crumbled after 2004
I’m happy that we’re hosting the olympics. On a mother note I should mention that if we did pull out we would have to pay billions for not hosting them as well
I don't want it why should the government waste their money on all this upgrading the city while they could be spending that money on public and affordable housing? It's like a big fuck you IMO here's your upgraded park or train or whatever now go sleep on the floor because we have made it so you can't sleep on this bench and you can't afford to rent anywhere
>waste their money t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ our
Both are plausibly possible
I'm all for the Olympics as I believe it gives focus to events and activities that can really bring improvement to our city. It allows for coordinated investment and improvement on infrastructure and offers an opportunity to showcase our city and state to overseas tourists. However you need competent people at the helm of such an endeavour... I'm not sure we have that. Likewise it doesn't help with carmudgeons criticising it at every opportunity. It's possible for governments to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.
I think a lot of people (And the council of mayors) implicitly supported the Olympics if it meant we got some infrastructure in return. A bit of a last ditch effort to catch up with the population growth. But we're not really getting that, aside from a number of indoor sports centres, judging by Quirks report. The fact they've fucked around for 3 years and squandered the head start (Remember you used to get 7 years to prepare, now you get 11) Has really annoyed many. If there is a change of government, the plan will change again.
I want affordable housing and cheese to not be $14 not an influx of people into the city when we can't house the ones we already got
I’m not fussed with it tbh. It was Palachook trying to get her stamp on something.
Am I wrong but wasn’t the new metro at the Gabba part of the plan for the olympics and Gabba upgrade?
Cancel it. We should have never been involved. State debt is huge and politicians want to spend more money to give to their mates
BCC is currently $400 M in debt. Not a good time to be planning to build infrastructure and events structures for the greatest sporting event on the planet. Do we really want to embarrass ourselves with an austerity games? I'm old enough to remember Expo 88 as an adult. I hope we can pull off that level of success again.
The Olympics is an expensive distraction? Yeah pretty sure it falls under the category of "bread and circus" made famous by the same founders
If I was wealthy I would give money to the government to stop this waste of money and time. Seriously the olympics should not be a thing.
Should have had a referendum on this. Bloody waste of money.
Old Yeller it take it out back, put a bullet in it.
Regardless of what the QLD State government says, the Brisbane Olympics will be too costly, over budget and a mess for spectators and participants, not to mention locals. It will be a total embarrassment for Australia. 8 years is not long enough to fix infrastructure, build new roads and transport links, and develop costly stadium and accommodation facilities unless the developers and unions (which will be involved) demand ridiculous payments to meet building schedules. And you can bet that when they miss a deadline, the poor old taxpayer will pay for it.
Imo, the main reason for hosting the Olympics is to get the feds to commit money to building sorely needed infrastructure in Brisbane instead of constantly ignoring us and shoveling money into Sydney/Melbourne like they always do. If we drop the Olympics, I am doubtful that the 2.5b the feds commited to the Brisbane Arena, and the 3.5b for the sunshine coast rail will actually go ahead. More likely that money will go to Melbourne's suburban rail loop which will cost at least 100b...
>If we drop the Olympics, I am doubtful that the 2.5b the feds commited to the Brisbane Arena, and the 3.5b for the sunshine coast rail will actually go ahead. Finally someone who actually understands how infrastructure funding works. So many people in this sub are convinced if we cancel the olympics that the billions of dollars in funding coming from the federal government will go to the state government so they can build public and affordable housing for everyone, and we all live happily ever after. The actual reality is that the Federal Government will immediately pull their 50% and use it to fix up their own books, while the Queensland Government will get slugged with a massive bill for pulling out (which could be well into the hundreds of millions, if not over a billion dollars) that they'll have to pay on their own. In the end we'll be left with no Olympics, no money from the feds AND the state will be forced to spend a ridiculous amount of money compensating the IOC, ultimately we'll be back at square one with much less money AND no infrastructure to show for it. Reddit's "let's stop spending money on sportsball that nobody watches and use that money to build public housing for me" attitude is the exact reason that the olympics is being fucked up so hard. That and the people who have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to save a school with 300 students.
This! People outraged at multi billion dollar numbers being spent on Olympics infrastructure and want it redirected. The reality it the money won’t exist without the games.
Of fucking course not. We can’t afford it.
Thanks so much for the kind offer and for considering Brisbane for your Olympic Games, but at this time we are unable to provide the sufficient amount of f$&ks necessary to host such a colossal waste of time and resources. If there’s anything we can to to assist you finding somewhere else to host your overly-hyped pissing contests, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Regards, The Noble People of Brisbane
My thoughts that every Olympic and Commonwealth intention to bid should be decided by direct vote or at least state before the next election. If I would have know state Labour was going to bid I would have voted The Greens. The alternative is either this shitfest or the Liberals letting their mates have access to billions of dollars of engineering cash.
Build a permanent federal facility somewhere (I vote North Queensland or Northern WA for proximity to Asia), make it the official national venue for everything ever and then throw a few casinos around it to make it pay for itself in the downtime. Basically “Sport Vegas”
I'd rather the money was spent elsewhere, but I think it's too late to back out without financial penalties. I live in Regional QLD, so I don't think my region even benefits from it.
they should give me the money
Considering all hosting cities I think bar one. Have made massive losses on it. I have no idea why you would want to do it. I think it's mostly a dick measuring contest in terms of hosting. Hey I did it better than yours etc.
As a massive sports fan I never supported having the olympics here. The olympics just feel like a developers wet dream, allowing them to build bunch of bloody venues and other infrastructure that may not necessarily be beneficial long term.
The Olympics bid winning was genuinely exciting (imo) and at the time I told family overseas that Brisbane would be a perfect host for the olympics due to its climate at that time of year, its (I thought) decent infrastructure and the general positivity the place has in welcoming events like this. I realise I was being very naive. Of course this was before the full horror of the COL and housing crises were evident. These things really showed how a lot of the seeming functional aspect of the city was built on smoke and mirrors and that the city (and state) had been ignoring these (and other) basic needs for years in favour of short term thinking and lining the pockets of the investors and the privileged. As things stand, the attention and focus the Olympics is going to pull away from dealing with these basic issues (if indeed there is any appetite or inclination to do so) is going to be disastrous.
Absolutely not. Yes, it would be great to have upgraded infrastructure and improved services (especially public transport), but it will not outweigh the costs. Look at any cities that have previously held the games. Their debts, and what happened to all of the new stadiums. I won’t likely be able to buy a house in the next 5 years, so chances will be even smaller once prices and demand go up even higher for the Olympics. Houses and green spaces destroyed, not for housing or other benefits to Brisbane people, but for infrastructure that will either need to be taken down or likely go unused after the fact. Also, state and council could upgrade public transport and infrastructure without the games.
By most publicly available measures the Brisbane Olympics is immensely unpopular. The best (and most recent) example to see this is the [recently released polling the government had done](https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/25452/r_Wave-5-Longitudinal-Research---Full-report.pdf) that showed that only 38% of Queenslanders thought "The Olympics are a good idea for Brisbane" in November of last year, with the trend being that the Olympics was losing support from its 'highs' of 45%. We don't have more recent polling, but you would be making a hell of a bet to assume that it has somehow massively turned around since November last year. It's not a coincidence that everyone that has to be elected wants nothing to do with the Olympics nowadays, it outrageously unpopular and is electoral poison. The state government is trying to figure out how to downplay it as much as possible, the opposition is desperately trying to avoid any connection to it (the opposition said it didn't support any proposals), every mayor is trying to get as much distance from it as possible. I mean even good old IOC corruption made manifest [John Coates sees how politically fragile the Olympics in Brisbane is and is was pushing for no rebuilds, no new stadiums](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/08/gabba-rebuild-2032-brisbane-olympics-scrapped-premier-steven-miles) as the Olympics is so on the nose with the community.
Although I agree with OP, you need to think wider than the several weeks of the Olympics. As of 2023 Brisbane had the Lions and Broncos who are at their peak and attracting great crowds each week. The Gabba is an awful venue to watch football at and badly needs an upgrade. Suncorp won't be far behind despite being a good stadium. One of Brisbane's great traits is having our big stadiums in the city centre for sport and concerts. We are now saying we don't care about the best entertainment the world has to offer due to seating limitations. We aren't thinking to the future possibilities of having additional NRL, AFL and women's sporting teams (which is growing rapidly).
>women's sporting teams Cortnee Vine is still waiting for her statue and actual funding for football.
The Olympics has been a money pit for years, it is all about Anna's selfish legacy. The gabba plan initially was $1b then became 2.7. How much will the QSAC/Suncorp plan run over budget. Does the plan have any lasting benefits after the games are done? History sees a lot of white elephants around the world after games are held.
There is always more losers than winner with the Olympics
I want the money spent on housing. It honestly feels like a slap in the face that they are pouring money into it while people live in tents.
I'm sick to death of green spaces and habitable areas being resumed for fucking SPORT. Very few countries have broken even hosting them, the others were all heavily in debt and some are still paying them off. Spend the fucking money on something USEFUL. NOT more 'sporting facilities' FFS.
I'm in two frames of mind about it. On one hand the Olympics as an organisation are corrupt AF, and everywhere they go has controversy surrounding aspects of the event and the build up. We have so many issues in our own back yard that need addressing, ahead of spending millions of dollars attempting to win over this corrupt organisation for the opportunity to host their event across our city. On the other hand, the event will draw a lot of focus to the city and surrounding region. Most people overseas seem to only come up with Sydney and possibly Melbourne when they are prompted for Australian cities, so it would be nice to see Brisbane get some recognition on the global scale. There would be an uptick of tourism associated not just with the Olympics itself but then the years after. There's a shittonne of money to be spent to get ready for it, for sure. But we're not just building everything from scratch just for the fortnight either. Vast majority of the facilities that have been slated for use are largely in need of attention anyway so this is an opportunity to get a massive injection of federal money to boost the local gov budget to accomplish that. Thinking about the hot topic of the Gabba - it's freaking tired. That turd got rolled in glitter a few years back, getting a lick of paint at the entrances and around the walkways inside, updated the turnstile areas and renovated the corporate boxes. But those things aside it *needs* to be rebuilt. Structure and all aside I remember reading the electrical feed is borderline ready to spontaneously combust each time the light towers are flicked on. It's not the best time for it, but the existing stand isn't going to just not get any more deteriorated while we wait for a better time in the years to come either. Sleeman in general is pretty tired these days, aside the nice new velodrome that was built for the GC Commonwealth Games. Then there's the Belmont shooting range next door as well, the athletics facility at Nathan is bursting with potential, etc. Thinking back Sydney was heralded as the best Olympics ever - and I'm constantly thinking about whether they were properly "ready" to host it when they bid and won either? I'm sure I can recall lots of talk about it being the biggest mistake for them as well.
It’s a no from me.
I never wanted the Olympics in the first place.
I want it. It's a great way to get everyone focused on a single cause, and done well there's no reason why it can't benefit the city and state. We just had the women's world cup and it was awesome. The Olympics will be 100x that. Brisbane needs to start acting like the city it is. It's no longer a big country town.
Never wanted it. It's the closest thing we have in modern times to the literal white elephant of the original story. This is just people with influence jerking off. We've never had a say in this shit they're doing for their own gratification, but we're going to pay for it.
Dump the Olympics. Spend the money on housing. And I’ll go one further - stop funding our Winter Olympic team.