Brisbane 2032 Clears Funding Hurdle - On the Scene

(ATR) The Brisbane bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games has cleared its most significant hurdle in the ‘targeted dialogue’ phase with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Future Host Commission.

Australian politicians have announced that the Federal government and the Queensland government will jointly fund the critical infrastructure projects contained within their Olympic proposals to the IOC.

When announcing the milestone, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made clear that the new joint funding agreement was subject to a 50-50 shared governance model, which allows both governments oversight of all projects from the planning, scoping and design phase through to contracting, construction and delivery.

"We have always believed in the potential of the 2032 Olympic Games for Queensland and Australia and it’s important we maintain momentum to win this bid," Prime Minster Morrison said.

"Backing the Queensland bid means more jobs, better infrastructure and more tourism dollars.

"Just like the Sydney 2000 Games, the Queensland bid has the opportunity to reshape our country, but all levels of government must work together and take the politics out of each decision.

"This needs to be the people’s Games," he added.

Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, whose guiding hand has allowed Brisbane to expertly navigate both the domestic and international aspects of the new process, said he was pleased this important element of the Bid proposal had been finalized and announced.

"This is great news for Brisbane’s desire to host these Games. It’s pleasing to see this news has been welcomed by the Queensland Premier.

"The AOC looks forward to continuing to work with all the stakeholders in presenting our proposal in the very best light to the IOC."

Meanwhile, officials in Queensland told Around the Rings they were delighted that their collaborative funding vision for the delivery of the Games had been adopted by all major stakeholders.

Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said: "This is great news for Queensland. This is what I asked the Prime Minster for.

"I always say ‘we work best when we work together’. This proves it," she said.

IOC Officials will be pleased that the announcement has been made ahead of an informal deadline that had been set by Lausanne to provide the Olympic family with reassurance that Brisbane and Australia are on track.

If one compares Brisbane’s progress against the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Bid, it’s worth remembering that at the same stage of the process (11 years out from the Opening Ceremony), London’s Bid team at the British Olympic Association was still trying to gain an initial audience with the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone – and a joint governmental funding agreement would only be reached over two years later.

In that respect, the Brisbane Bid team is well ahead of history.

Equally, it will not have gone unnoticed in IOC corridors that the Queensland government continues to handle the pandemic as well as any region on the planet.

For example, this past weekend children across the ‘Sunshine State’ competed in grass-roots sports competitions with parents able to support kids pitch side throughout Brisbane – and no masks required.

There is no IOC timeline for a decision for 2032 with the Future Host Commission due to report back to the IOC EB on the outcome of the targeted dialogue.

But If all the requirements are met, the host of the Games of XXXV Olympiad could be named as soon as the next IOC Session ahead of the Tokyo Games in July.

Written and reported by Philip Pope in Brisbane

About the author: Philip Pope was the Head of Communications at the British Olympic Association from 2001-2005 during London’s 2012 bidding phase - and the Chief Press Attaché to the Great Britain Olympic Team at the Athens Olympic Games and the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. He is the former Public Affairs Manager of Cricket Australia and the former General Manager Communications, Queensland Rugby Union. Philip is the Director of Media Services for the Curious Minds Media Agency in Brisbane.

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