We are winning our fight against the Gabba Olympics proposal!
In the last few days, it feels like we’ve passed another political tipping point in our long-running campaign to stop the demolition and reconstruction of the Gabba (and prevent all the negative impacts the project would cause). The struggle isn’t over yet, and it’s often hard to know exactly when it’s ok to start celebrating, but I really do feel like we’re winning now. Labor Premier Steven Miles has acknowledged the huge strength of community opposition, and said that he would ‘prefer’ to find another option for the Olympics athletics venue - presumably one that doesn’t involve shutting down a private school and building over public parkland.
Unfortunately, Labor still hasn’t definitively confirmed that they won’t knock down the Gabba, build over Raymond Park and shut down East Brisbane State School. Frustratingly, the Premier’s ‘review’ isn’t scheduled to finish until 2 days after voting closes in the Brisbane City Council election. This seems like a deliberate move to avoid telling people exactly where they stand prior to voters going to the polls.
If you see any Labor candidates campaigning out in public or online, please ask them if they are firmly opposed to a Gabba Olympics, and if not, why not?
My main lingering concerns with the so-called ‘independent’ review of Olympics venues is that it’s being led by former LNP mayor Graham Quirk, who is a major cheerleader for the Olympics and has an appalling track record when it comes to long-term planning and listening to the community’s needs. It’s hard for me to think of someone I would trust less to lead an ‘independent’ review.
Let us know what you think about the Olympics
The Greens have been pretty clear that we don’t support hosting the Olympics at the Gabba, but so far, we haven’t been as explicit about where we do think the main athletics stadium should be, or if we even support the Olympics going ahead at all.
Over the next 8 weeks, I expect I’ll be asked more specifically what I do and don’t support, so to help inform my position, I want to know what you think.
We’re running a very short survey that basically focuses on two questions: Where should the main athletics venue go? And should the Greens call for Brisbane to back out of hosting altogether?
With eight years to go until 2032, there’s still time for Brisbane to pull out of hosting altogether, but ending the hosting contract with the International Olympic Committee would likely involve having to pay a significant amount of compensation.
Please take thirty seconds to fill out this survey and help shape our policy positions.