Brisbane mayor quits organizing committee, condemns stadium costs

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has quit the inter-governmental committee charged with organizing the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, calling it a “pointless talkfest” and “dysfunctional farce.”

It’s the first significant split for the organizers of the bid which was selected in 2021 by the International Olympic Committee to host the 2032 Games.

The so-called Leaders’ Forum comprises representatives from all three levels of government and other agencies and is designed to deliver the Olympics and create a legacy for Queensland. Its brief is to work with the Queensland state government of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to “progress the significant venues, villages and transport infrastructure” for the Games.

But Schrinner said the group was only being used to “placate key stakeholders while all the real decisions were made by the state government behind closed doors.

“The reality is we always wanted to be team players. The state government wanted to play politics,” Schrinner said this week.

He called for the establishment of an independent authority, similar to the one which oversaw preparations for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2012 London Olympics, to get planning “back on track.”

“We don’t need overpriced stadiums, we need better transport,” Schrinner said. “This week it became very apparent that the Intergovernmental Leaders’ Forum is a dysfunctional farce.” MDT/AP