Brisbane Wins Bid to Host 2032 Olympic Games

Proposed upgrade for Gabba stadium and pedestrian plaza. Queensland Government

Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympic Games, making it the third time Australia will be a host nation for the global sporting event following Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palazszczuk, leader of the host city’s state, made the announcement from Tokyo on Wednesday, after she travelled to Japan to present Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a move that attracted some controversy given Australia’s international borders are closed.

“BRISBANE 2032!!!” the premier declared on Twitter on Wednesday night.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks to the media upon arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan on July 19, 2021. Getty Images

“Nearly 100 International Olympic Committee members cast their votes at the 138th Olympic Committee Session in Tokyo, and they have chosen Queensland to host the world’s greatest sporting event,” she wrote.

“All Queenslanders can be proud of this historic moment.”

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said securing the Games was a coup for Australia.

“It’s a historic day not just for Brisbane and Queensland, but for the entire country,” Morrison said in a statement on Wednesday night.

“Only global cities can secure the Olympic Games—so this is fitting recognition for Brisbane’s standing across our region and the world.

“It also marks an important leap forward for Australia as we look toward major events that lock in economic growth and social benefits that will echo for years to come.

“We know the impact on Sydney more than two decades ago was transformative. We can now expect a repeat for Brisbane and communities across Queensland.

“It’s a proud day for Queenslanders and Australians everywhere,” the prime minister said.

The move by the IOC was foreshadowed as far back as February with the Committee naming Brisbane as the preferred candidate.

The Games will utilise the existing sporting infrastructure built for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, with Acting Premier Steven Miles spruiking a lower job creation figure than the 130,000 jobs declared in February.

“The 2032 Olympics will be one of our single biggest job-creating projects in living memory, creating 91,600 Queensland jobs,” he wrote on Facebook on July 21.

He also said the Games would inject more than $8.1 billion into the recovering Queensland economy.

“This includes $4.6 billion in additional trade and tourism, something our economic recovery sorely needs, and $3.5 billion in social benefits, with health, volunteering, and community benefits,” he wrote on Facebook.

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) Chief John Coates said in February the Games would cost about $4.5 billion to operate, with the IOC contributing about $2.5 billion, and about $1 billion from ticket sales and sponsorships covering other costs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed that the federal government would fund half of the costs for infrastructure development provided that a jointly owned, funded, and run Olympic infrastructure agency was set up to oversee all projects.

The cost of the games was challenged in the Queensland Parliament when Palaszczuk was asked by government MPs at an estimates hearing about budget spending, the COVID-19 response, and securing the Olympics.

Liberal National Party MP Jarrod Bleijie asked the premier whether she would go into 14-day hotel quarantine on her return from Tokyo next week.

The premier confirmed she would go into hotel quarantine, but Bleijie complained she wouldn’t say who would be paying for her stint.

“This is a cover-up ... it is disgraceful,” the LNP MP said before walking out of the chamber.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympics got underway after a one-year delay, with Japan beating Australia 8-1 on Wednesday in softball.

The game was played in a nearly empty stadium. Fans were barred from the Olympics because of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, which caused a one-year delay. The CCP virus is commonly known as the novel coronavirus.