The Greens candidate for Brisbane lord mayor, Jonathan Sriranganathan, says the party will go to next year’s election opposing the city’s 2032 Olympic Games unless organisers abandon plans for a $2.7bn redevelopment of the Gabba stadium.
Sriranganathan’s high-profile campaign seeks to build upon the Greens’ recent success in Brisbane, including capturing three inner-city seats at the last federal election.
He said the Greens “don’t want to be blockers” but would refuse to support the Olympics unless the plan for the Gabba, including the relocation of a primary school and the resumption of homes, was changed.
“The state government doesn’t have the operational capacity to deliver an Olympics without the support of the council,” Sriranganathan said.
“The Brisbane City Council does have a lot of leverage on this issue. The mayor of Brisbane is a signatory to the Olympics contracts and agreements. They’re not contingent on using the Gabba … [it] was not part of the Olympics bid.”
The Greens now represent the local, state and federal electorates covering Woolloongabba, which is home to the Gabba.
Sriranganathan said the Gabba redevelopment proposal was unpopular “right across” the city, including in the outer suburbs.
“We’ve been hearing from people who say it’s not a good use of money or construction resources,” he said.
“The further out you go, the more frustration there is that the investment from the Olympics isn’t flowing evenly across south-east Queensland.
“It’s hard to gauge how much support there is for the Olympics but … a lot of people draw a clear line between whether they support the Olympics and the Gabba proposal.”
The issue also helps the Greens establish clear battle lines against both Labor and the Liberal National party, in a campaign that will focus heavily on concerns about housing and the delivery of basic services. Last week the LNP-led council announced a 10% budget cut, scrapping promised city projects and sparking concern about job cuts.
“Both the major parties are continually telling us they don’t have the money and resources to do everything, and hard choices need to be made,” Sriranganathan said.
“They’re simultaneously saying we have money for this stadium, but we don’t have money for public housing or schools, and that is losing them votes across the city.”
The Gabba redevelopment has already been controversial, with the federal government rejecting Queensland’s request for commonwealth funding. In August, Australian Olympic Committee officials told a Senate hearing that the deal to stage the games in Brisbane was not contingent on the use of the Gabba.
The redevelopment plan would require the relocation of the East Brisbane state school, which neighbours the existing Brisbane Cricket Ground. Kath Angus, the Greens’ mayoral candidate in 2020 and a parent of children at the school, is running for the party in the neighbouring ward of Coorparoo. It is one of about a dozen council wards where the Greens believe they will be competitive.
Angus said the major parties were “more interested in a vanity project than caring for our school kids”.
“Residents deserve so much more from the council than they are getting right now – budget cuts, services being slashed, congested streets and handouts to wealthy property developers.”
