The Queensland Government has named the date it will unveil its plan for delivering the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games after years of indecision and infighting.
The new Liberal/National Party Government, which was elected in October 2024, said it would announce the plan on 25 March.
Although the state capital of Brisbane was awarded the Games in 2021, no decision has been made on the location of the main stadium and athletics venues and debate has raged about the cost at a time when the state government faces major fiscal challenges.
The Government has blamed the Labor Party, which had governed in the northern state for 30 of the previous 35 years, for what it called “more than 1200 days of Games chaos”.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Blaikie said the plan would be released with the final report of the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority, the body overseeing and coordinating the infrastructure development and planning for the 2032 Games.
He said more than 5,000 submissions were made to the Authority, which was due to hand the final to the Government on 8 March and, following consultation, Cabinet would sign off on the plan on 24 March.
Bleijie said the Government would deliver the plan to “finally put Queensland on the right track to make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity”.
“With a Delivery Plan guided by the experts, Queenslanders won’t be embarrassed on the world stage,” he said in a statement.
The organisers face constraints including International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) advice to use existing facilities, not build new venues, and ensure new infrastructure served the community beyond the event.
This reflects concerns about the costs of staging this once-every-four-year event, which was estimated to have cost US$15.4 billion in Tokyo in 2020, still a shadow of the $40 billion spent in Beijing in 2008, which included large infrastructure costs.
The 2032 Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August with the Paralympics to follow from 24 August to 5 September, making it the third time Australia has hosted the Games following Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
About 11,000 to 12,000 athletes from about 200 nations will contest about 30 sports at in Brisbane, which hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 2018.
The Paralympics will feature about 4,400 athletes from 160-170 nations playing 22-24 sports.
