Funding fires starter’s gun for Brisbane 2032 Games
The countdown to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics has begun with the state government allocating almost $150 million to Games infrastructure in a milestone budget.
The government on Tuesday provided a first look at how it would help deliver the 2032 Games as it unveiled a milestone budget.
In the first LNP budget since 2014, $145.5 million has been allocated to Brisbane Olympic infrastructure in the forthcoming financial year.
That will blow out to $1.7 billion over the next four years, with $950 million allocated to the construction of the athletes’ villages and $832 million for procurement and delivery of venues.
The clock is ticking for the Games after the Queensland government finally confirmed its venue blueprint in March, more than 1300 days after Brisbane was named host city.
Victoria Park in Brisbane’s inner city is expected to become the Brisbane Games hub, with a 63,000-seat main stadium and a nearby national aquatic centre to be built.
Premier David Crisafulli said he would work with the Commonwealth to determine how $7.1 billion in state-federal joint Games funding will be used.
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He said costs associated with each venue would be released in time, with delivery of 2032 Olympic venues to be undertaken by the Games Independent Infrastructure Authority.
“We remain very optimistic and the negotiations have been very good with the federal government,” Crisafulli said on Tuesday.
“We put forward what is not only a sensible case, but a very credible case, where they pay the same quantum that they’re always going to pay.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has backed the LNP government’s 2032 venue plan after several false starts, saying the Brisbane Games are “on the right path”.
Brisbane 2032 boss Andrew Liveris believes shovels will be in the ground for major venues by the end of 2026 and wants projects to be completed by 2031.
The Queensland government has vowed to meet the looming deadline despite resource shortages and escalating prices in Australia.
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To help ensure infrastructure was built on time, the government passed a bill to guarantee 2032 Olympic sites are exempt from 15 planning laws.
The laws include the Environmental Protection, Queensland Heritage and Nature Conservation Acts, sparking outrage from advocacy groups.
The venue plan’s delay forced the IOC to push back confirmation of Brisbane’s 2032 sports program by 12 months until 2026.
Crime, health focus
The first Liberal National budget since 2014 forecasts deficits but looks to drive down debt and crime ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Games.
Queensland Budget 2025/26:
- Deficit: $8.6 billion
- Revenue: $91 billion
- Expenditure: $116.8 billion capital and infrastructure budget over four years to 2028/29
- Debt: $147 billion
- GST Revenue: 1.9 per cent lower in 2024/25 than 2023/24; reduction of $2.3 billion and strips $5 billion from revenue over the next three years
- Employment Growth: 1.5 per cent
- Economic Growth: 2.5 per cent
- Gross State Product: 2.75 per cent
Budget Spending:
- $33.1 billion in health funding that includes more than 2600 extra beds, three new hospitals, 10 hospital expansions and more regional health services
- $8.6 billion in cost-of-living concessions in 2025/26 through restoring indexation to the Electricity Rebate Scheme for vulnerable households, free health checks for kindy kids, sport vouchers and 50-cent fares locked in over five years at $1.522 billion
- $950 million over four years for 2032 Brisbane Olympics Athletes’ Villages, $832 million to begin procurement and delivery of Games venues
- $145.5 million in 2025/26 for the delivery of 2032 Games venues by independent infrastructure authority
- $5.2 billion for law and order, including nine regional reset programs, four crime prevention schools, two court-sentenced circuit breaker sentencing youth intensive rehabilitation programs and two crime diversion schools
- $275 million in financial assistance for victims of crime payments, $11.6 million for victim liaison service, and $10 million per year for the new victim advocate service
- $2.4 billion to deliver new facilities for additional prisoner capacity across Townsville and Brisbane
- $8.1 billion in housing funding, with $5.6 billion in new social and community housing initiatives, and $2 billion to activate more land for housing supply
- $21.9 billion for education, including $9.4 billion for the public school system, $222 million to help provide 550 teacher aides and $100 million for primary students to cover excursions, books
- $5.5 billion for “The Wave” Brisbane-Sunshine Coast airport public transport
- $5.75 billion to deliver faster rail between Logan and the Gold Coast
- $9 billion in Bruce Highway upgrades
