Games get the tick, renewables the stick under new laws
Faster construction of Olympic venues, but slower renewable projects, are on the horizon for one state after controversial laws were passed.
The construction of 2032 Olympic venues will be fast-tracked, and renewable energy projects will face greater scrutiny, after a state parliament passed a controversial bill.
Queensland’s Liberal National government rammed through laws late on Thursday that will see Brisbane 2032 venues exempt from local planning laws.
Victoria Park in Brisbane’s inner-city is expected to become the Games hub, with a 63,000-seat main stadium and a nearby national aquatic centre set to be built.
The Games infrastructure authority, tasked with orchestrating the construction of venues, will not be subject to 15 planning laws, including the Environmental Protection, Queensland Heritage and Nature Conservation Acts.
Final planning sign-off will fall to the state government for all venues and athletes’ villages, not local councils.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the bill is about getting on with the job and delivering the 2032 Games.
“Queenslanders have put trust in the Crisafulli government and we will get on with the job,” he told parliament.
You might like
“We are ending the inertia plaguing the Olympic and Paralympic Games and getting the games back on track after 1200 days of chaos and crisis from those opposite.”
The bill was subject to committee scrutiny, where stakeholders claimed it would set a dangerous precedent for future planning and energy infrastructure projects across Queensland.
Renewables
Renewable energy developers will need to undertake community consultation prior to project approvals under the legislation.
Opposition leader Steven Miles labelled the bill a disaster soaked in ideology.
“It’s a smoke screen. It is ideological zealotry from a party that has always hated renewables,” he told parliament.
“Under the premier’s leadership, the LNP has no energy road-map, no modelling and no plan, just roadblocks, confusion and chaos.
“Queenslanders are getting an LNP ideology masquerading as policy.”
Stay informed, daily
Greens MP Michael Berkman inferred the bill is taking Queensland back to the era under former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, beginning his submission on the laws with “Here we Joh again”.
“There’s one promise that the LNP is clearly determined to keep, and that’s taking us backwards on renewable energy,” he said.
“This bill rule results in stricter regulatory requirements for a two-hectare solar farm than for a coal mine that extracts any less than two million tons per annum of coal.”
But government MPs rejected any criticism of the bill.
“We’re not afraid to say coal on this side of the chamber,” Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last said.
Hervey Bay MP David Lee queried how “Labor members would think about wind or solar farms in their city electorates.”
Budget papers on Tuesday locked in the LNP’s pre-election promise to scrap targets from the former Labor government’s renewable energy goals in the energy power grid.
Those were 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035.
The state will no longer track how much renewable energy is contributing to the grid, calling it a “discontinued measure”.
Wind, solar and hydro projects accounted for more than a quarter of the state’s power in 2024/25 while coal contributed nearly 65 per cent, with the remainder supplied from gas.
After the government budget was delivered earlier this week with a record $205 billion debt weighing down the bottom line, the state opposition will deliver its response on Thursday.
