Olympics infrastructure build under fire as construction kicks off
As 2032 Olympic Games construction begins, community organisations are calling for one project to be halted and for the Games’ infrastructure boss to resign.
Advocacy group GamesWatchDog2032 Committee is calling for the immediate resignation of the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) Chair Stephen Cnroy AM.
The Committee claims GIICA was operating outside the bounds of its own legislation, overriding safety standards and executing unlawful evictions before holding legal title to the Victoria Park land it is developing.
A community spokesperson for the Committee claimed GIICA was disregarding the law, human safety and basic governance.
“You cannot use PR spin to supervise heavy construction; you cannot evict people from a site on the pretence of it being a construction site when your enabling law does not allow this and you cannot bulldoze a heritage site when your own enabling Act explicitly forbids it,” the spokesperson said.
“Mr. Conry must resign immediately.
“The people of Queensland, and the Olympic movement itself, cannot afford to have a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure program overseen by an administration that treats the law as an optional inconvenience.
GIICA was approached for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
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Advocacy group Save Victoria Park (SVP), which has been campaigning against the building of a stadium in the park since 2020, has proposed an alternative site for a Brisbane stadium.
SVP President Sue Bremner says the Hamilton North Shore precinct was one possible alternative site.
“Unlike Victoria Park, North Shore is largely a flat brownfield site that is far more suited to major construction,” Bremner said.
“It is not located beside Queensland’s largest hospital or surrounded by already congested roads.”
She added that recent transport planning, the proposed extension of the Doomben rail line and the site’s nearby ferry connections gave the site advantages over Victoria Park.
Meanwhile, the Community Alliance for Responsible Planning (CARP) Redlands Inc is requesting Minister for Environment Murray Watt to halt construction on the Olympic 2032 Redland Whitewater Centre.
The site, which is already under construction, is located within the conservation lands of Birkdale Community Precinct, where CARP Redlands Inc has been advocating for a stop to the build for the last five years.
The organisation included experts in the field of catchment hydrology and environmental compliance, a groundwater scientist with over 20 years’ experience in the field of hydrogeology, and experts in environmental science, engineering, conservation biology and marine science.
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President of CARP Redlands Inc and Spokesperson for the alliance, Lavinia Wood, said “The new evidence comprised identification of tree species comprising the Core Habitat on the site, with scientific confirmation of their periodic groundwater dependence.”
The Core Koala Habitat surrounding the proposed Whitewater Centre site is largely a Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem that may be harmed by the development, CARP Redlands Inc claimed.
On May 28, the Minister decided that Redland City Council’s EPBC Referral, which proposes a master planned community precinct comprising the Whitewater Centre and a mixed-use public precinct, is not a Controlled Action.
The Minister is currently assessing CARP Redlands Inc Request for Reconsideration to reverse his decision and to make the proposal a Controlled Action.
“A Controlled Action would respond to the critical need for closer assessment and evaluation of the risks posed by the proposed construction of a Whitewater Centre, by applying the highest level of governmental and public scrutiny possible.”
She added that a Controlled Action would require an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) to address knowledge gaps in the Conservation Sone groundwater context.
It would also require continuously monitoring groundwater levels and sampling groundwater at multiple monitoring bores over a period of three years.
“We are concerned that Redland City Council is continuing with Olympic Whitewater Centre work on the site, and this must stop while the Minister considers the new information,” Wood said.
“Clearly, endangered species protection must take precedence over the short-term expediency apparently driving this Olympic agenda.”
The recent news that Canoe Slalom (Whitewater) would likely be removed as an Olympic Sport in the 2032 Games and beyond only minimises the use for a Whitewater Centre, Wood added.
“Previously, the proposed Whitewater Centre meant the tragic legacy of the 2032 Olympic Games for the people of the Redlands would be the ongoing financial burden of an Olympic venue we did not want, on special conservation lands where it should never have been,” Wood said.
“Now it is clear that if this thing is built, we’ll not only have a Whitewater Elephant on our hands, but a Dead Duck Olympic venue.”
Minister Murray Watt was approached for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
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