A collection of 32 prominent business and sports personalities have urged premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to commit to south-east Queensland's bid for the 2032 Olympics, which is due by the end of the month.
The state government previously unveiled soft infrastructure plans and confirmed the bid would go beyond just Brisbane to involve other parts of the state.
In an attempt to fast track the process, Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner has written an open letter to the premier encouraging the bid in order to bring the “world’s most spectacular event” to the region.
The open letter is signed by business leaders such as Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graff, Aria Property Group founder Tim Forrester, Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson as well as sporting figures Darren Lockyer, Ian Healy and Duncan Armstrong.
Schrinner explained that nearly 85 per cent of the proposed venues for Queensland's bid currently exist, pointing at the outlay of 2020's hosts, Tokyo, which is spending upwards of $37 billion on its own Olympic preparations.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and prime minister Scott Morrison are both on the Olympics taskforce that is putting together the potential bid, alongside Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner and Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates.
“We are not talking flow on benefits for years—it will be decades—you only need to look south to Sydney to see the lasting positive legacies of hosting an Olympics Games,” Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner said.
“We are not talking about millions of dollars in investment—it’s billions.”
The government’s own research estimates more than $22 billion in flow-on benefits for Brisbane and the regions from staging the Olympics, while there will also be a direct cash injection of $2.7 billion by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) once selected as the host city.
Earlier this year, a new 80,000 seater stadium was proposed in alignment with the potential bid, sounding out Victoria Park golf course as the potential location.
Parkland alongside Ballymore along with the Roma Street railyards, could also see $2 billion worth of redevelopment plans fast-tracked in order to create new sporting arenas, while Suncorp Stadium and the Gabba would be used for secondary sporting events.
“We believe that our state and region have more than adequately shown an ability to host major events and deliver results that far exceed the expectations of organisers and participants,” Schrinner said.
“We get to build and keep lasting infrastructure, gain world-wide attention and reap the economic benefits through tourism and investment for decades to come.”
The final assessment on whether the bid would be viable, and whether it would potentially include any events held across the ditch, is set to be made to state cabinet before the end of the year.
The decision by the International Olympic Committee would not need to be made public until 2025 with the bidding process normally placed by 2023, with China and Russia looming as the main rivals.
The initial bid will be assessed by the IOC executive committee, before finally being signed off by the more than one hundred IOC delegates.
