Federal government throws support behind LNP’s controversial new Olympic Games venue at Brisbane’s Victoria Park

The federal government has thrown its support behind a controversial new Olympic Games venue at Victoria Park in Brisbane planned by the Queensland government.

The 63,000-seat venue – to be the city’s largest stadium – will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2032 Olympics and cost $3.8bn.

The federal infrastructure minister, Catherine King, appeared at a Queensland Media Club event with the deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, on Thursday to announce the commonwealth would commit $3.4bn in funding for Games infrastructure.

The commonwealth will reallocate funding away from the planned Brisbane Live Arena to the new stadium.

“For us, this is about ensuring that when we hand the keys back after the closing ceremony, Queensland has the infrastructure it needs to build on its incredible legacy for decades to come,” King said.

The Queensland government and Brisbane city council will develop a new precinct plan for the area with a focus on access to green space, she said. It will serve as the home of AFL and cricket once the Games are over.

King said appropriate consultation would also be undertaken with stakeholders, including affected communities and First Nations groups.

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Victoria Park holds historical significance, particularly for Brisbane’s Indigenous community. The area was used as a town camp for decades and is a massacre site.

Bleijie said he was confident of reaching an agreement with local Indigenous groups over use of the site. Parliament passed legislation last month to permit the government to override the cultural heritage act if a deal cannot be reached.

“Part of the deal that we’ve struck with the federal government is … that that consultation does take place,” Bleijie said.

“I’m confident we’ll secure support, and we’ll just go through the motions.”

Neither state nor federal governments announced their position on the Victoria Park stadium before going to the polls in recent months. The premier, David Crisafulli, ruled out building a new stadium and ruled out building one at Victoria Park before last October’s state election. He apologised in March.

Asked on Thursday, Bleijie said there was no alternative to the change, because no other site was suitable.

The new deal meant the planned 17,000-seat Brisbane Live Arena, near the city’s Roma Street Parkland, had now lost all public financial support. It was initially planned to host swimming, which would now be held in a new facility at Centenary Pool in Spring Hill, within walking distance of Victoria Park.

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King said the federal government had decided to shift funding away from the venue after the state government had excluded it.

But Bleijie said the arena would still be delivered in time for the Olympics, on a new site next to the old Gabba stadium in Brisbane’s south.

He said the department would go to formal procurement by the end of the year, with construction under way by the end of 2026 “and into 2027”.

“We absolutely will partner with the private sector. We will go to procurement on the Brisbane arena by the end of this year,” he said.

It would be funded by a deal for development of the site of the Gabba cricket ground, which would be torn down.

Bleijie said works on Victoria Park were also imminent, with geotechnical and other preparatory work on the site already under way, as of Thursday.

The estimated cost of $3.785bn for Victoria Park did not include “associated precinct and transport infrastructure costs”.

The Games venues would cost $7.1bn overall, split evenly between the two levels of government. They would construct 17 new or upgraded venues, including the new National Aquatic Centre at Spring Hill.

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