The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has welcomed comments from the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, supporting a potential bid for the 2032 Olympic Games in Queensland.
The Prime Minister’s comments follow a meeting in Osaka with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and AOC President and IOC Member John Coates.
Mr Coates says the Prime Minister’s commitment to a united approach across all levels of government was a substantial boost to Brisbane’s prospects of mounting a compelling case to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"The Prime Minister made it very clear that he was enthused by what he heard at the meeting and that the Federal Government was ready to move forward."
"Thomas Bach conveyed the new flexible approach the IOC has adopted to create a dialogue with potential Games’ hosts and for Games to be hosted in several cities or regions.
"There’s no question a Games could be held in Queensland that suits this model.
"We have significant existing sports infrastructure across multiple locations in South East Queensland - and preliminary group events for football, men and women, could be held in Townsville at the new football stadium being constructed there, with the agreement of the North Queensland Cowboys, for these Games in August.
"Cairns is the other large regional city which should be investigated to host preliminary group events, in either basketball or volleyball, which require six-thousand seat capacities for preliminaries.
"However, President Bach warned against spreading events too far, being mindful of comments from the athlete Members of the IOC, who are concerned about the loss of the magic for athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees, coming together," Mr Coates said.
There needs to be sufficient accommodation for not only the teams but also technical officials, media and spectators, as well as additional broadcasting costs having to be considered.
"That said, the Prime Minister made it clear that a Queensland Games would fit well into the Federal Government’s ten-year infrastructure planning. I have consistently maintained that we need to fix the transport infrastructure or connectivity, linking the venues from Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast for the Games to work for the athletes.
"The additional changes to the IOC Charter also allow for the Games’ host to be determined sooner than the previous requirement of seven years prior to the Games.
Mr Coates said next steps would be the formation of the Leadership Group, the completion of an economic feasibility study by the Queensland Government and finalisation of the competition venue masterplan.
"This very positive meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison follows Mr Bach’s meetings with Queensland Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk and the Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner in May.
"There is no doubt they’ve all understood President Bach’s message that the Games will pay for themselves, based on the IOC’s contribution of at least $AUD2.5 billion, ticket sales revenue and national sponsorships and licensing.
ENDS:
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