Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid – June 2021
On Friday June 11 the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympic Games 2032 “IOC Future Host Commission Questionnaire Response” was released publicly for the first time by the Australian Olympics Committee.
The document details the bid proposal of the Australian, Queensland and local Governments for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. The IOC Executive Board has endorsed this bid proposal. It will now go to IOC members for their determination on July 20 and 21 before the commencement of the Tokyo Olympics.
The proposed dates for the 2032 Olympic Games are Friday 23 July to Sunday 8 August 2032. The Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games will be staged from Tuesday 24 August to Sunday 5 September 2032.
This Hawker Britton brief summaries the key aspects of the Bid Documents, outlining the Government’s plan for hosting the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic games.
The Bid papers detail the proposal from the Governments across four key areas:
- Venues
- Governance
- Experience and Transport
- Economic Benefits and Sustainability
Venues
The Games will utilise 31 existing or temporary venues with some upgrades including:
- A major upgrade to The Gabba to host track and field events and the Opening and Closing ceremonies – a maximum capacity of 50,000, new field of play footprint and direct connection to Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro
- Upgrade to the Wyaralong Flatwater Centre for water sports
Six planned new venues for regional growth, including:
- An indoor arena to replace the Brisbane Entertainment Centre – “Brisbane Arena” which is also proposed to be the swimming venue, with the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre identified as an alternative location should Brisbane Arena not be delivered
- Four venues will be developed as ‘community centres’ in the model of the successful Coomera Indoor Sport Centre built for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, including a venue on the Sunshine Coast
- A Redlands Whitewater Centre as the venue for swift water sports
Highlighted venues and centres:
- The International Broadcast Centre is proposed to be hosted on the banks of the Brisbane River in a CBD location
- The Main Press Centre is proposed to be located at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, 800 metres from the IBC. Further space is expected on the Gold Coast
- Beach Volleyball will be held on Broadbeach on the Gold Coast
- The Triathlon will be staged on the Gold Coast
- Road cycling, race walks and kiteboarding will be held at the Alexandra Headland on the Sunshine Coast
- Equestrian will be staged in the Brisbane CBD
- Archery and Basketball will be held along the Brisbane River
The documents make clear that the delivery of the community centres and the Whitewater venue will be undertaken by the Queensland Government Department of Energy and Public Works. The delivery of the Brisbane Arena will be done by the Queensland Government, with potential for involvement of the private sector through a PPP arrangement.
Land is required to be acquired for the Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Centre and the International Broadcast Centre at South Brisbane. This land will be acquired through the State Coordinator-General’s compulsory acquisition powers.
The Olympic Villages:
- The Brisbane Olympic Village will be hosted at the Northshore Hamilton Priority Development Area, landed owned by Economic Development Queensland, it will be developed as a public-private partnership
- In legacy mode the Village will deliver housing supply across a number of key markets including social and affordable housing, aged care, retirement living, key worker and build-to-rent accommodation, hotel stock and market housing.
- The Gold Coast Olympic Village is proposed to be hosted in Robina at a site owned by the Queensland Investment Corporation, developed as a PPP with the Queensland Government and QIC
- Satellite Villages will be established at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, and Kooralbyn
Governance
The proposal details Brisbane’s plan for the governance structure to be created for the Games. It is proposed these be established within five months of the IOC Members vote on the hosting rights to the 2032 Games.
The two key bodies are the OCOG and the OCA.
Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OCOG):
- Statutory body established by state legislation with a defined function to deliver the Games, a similar structure to the Sydney 2000 Games (SOCOG)
- A OCOG Board will include all the IOC required appointments, appointments from the three Australian Governments, independent directors (including First Nations person) and an independent President of the OCOG as Chair.
Olympic Coordination Authority (OCA):
- A Government entity established with Australian, Queensland and local Government representatives to coordinate the activities of all Australia and Queensland government departments and agencies
- Established at the same time as the OCOG
Experience and Transport
Virtual experiences will be core to the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games to bring the excitement of the games and Brisbane to as large an audience as is possible. Some of the innovative proposals included in the Bid documents include:
- Leveraging Queensland digital / film production capability, to enable each eligible athlete to produce a compelling, quality short digital story
- AR integrated into the Brisbane 2032 mobile application
- Virtual seating solutions
- Social gamification features
- Driven-by-data content strategy to amplify Live Sites around the world
Further, the documents reveal that Brisbane 2032 is in the early stages of working with the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) to deliver a virtual twin Olympic Games that would take place at the same time at Brisbane 2032, with the same sports and scenery.
The Bid Documents also discuss the required transport solutions required to move athletes, officials and spectators between venues along the South East corner of Queensland.
It is stated that all Brisbane venues will have major road and public transport linkages – particularly through Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro. Active transport will also be encouraged and supported.
Further, it is forecast that the transport corridors between Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast will have increased road and rail capacity by 2032 through the regular upgrades and improvements to the network.
The transport network for the Games:
Governance for the Games transport solutions:
Economic Benefits and Sustainability
The Proposal from the Australian, Queensland and local Governments details the expected revenue and expenditure of the games and the projected economic uplifts and benefits.
The Games is forecast to be budget neutral at a little over $4 billion.
It is estimated the Games will create 91 600 full time equivalent jobs in Queensland and over 122 000 across Australia.
The State Government commissioned analysis from KPMG predicted benefits for Queensland of up to $USD6.1 billion from tourism, trade, resident, health and volunteering benefits. The report captures the full economic and social benefits of hosting the Games.
In tourism benefits, the Queensland agency Tourism Events Queensland, forecasts uplift of $USD15.3 Billion in tourism over 2021-2036. Trade and Investment Queensland sees a Games-induced uplift of an additional $USD6.56 Billion over twenty years from 2022 in trade opportunities.
The Bid documents outlines the Games commit to meaningful action on climate change and sustainability. The Bid for Brisbane 2032 says the Games will be delivered “in accordance with best practice international standards for sustainable event management”.
Specifically, the Games are committed to achieve “carbon neutral” certified in accordance with the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Events.
Overnight, monitoring, reporting and accountability for this will be hard wired into the governance framework for the event. With a joint OCOG-OCA Legacy & Sustainability Advisory Group reporting directly to the Board of the OCOG and to the Games Minister.
Technology and infrastructure for the Games will incorporate low carbon operations, for example, electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Further Information
For more information, please contact your Hawker Britton Director, Elliot Stein on 0431 744 115 or [email protected] or Policy and Business Analyst, Jill Molloy at [email protected].