Regional health, road and bridge network crisis will suffer even more

Katter’s Australian Party MPs have described the $1 billion redevelopment of south-east Queensland’s Gabba stadium, announced today as part of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games bid, as “gluttony of the highest order” that will further entrench neglect of Queensland’s regions.

The terrible condition of the regional Queensland roads and bridges network will suffer even more when the ALP tries to fund a spurious Olympic Games bid. The Barron River bridge at internationally-acclaimed tourist destination Kuranda near Cairns, is under repair but engineers say it has passed its useful life like most other road bridges of similar vintage in the State . Another regional crisis thanks to the hopeless Labor Party.

Despite state debt levels rising to around $130 billion in the next four years, the Palaszczuk Labor Government is pushing on with pre-emptive and extravagant social infrastructure spending in preparation for glitzy event.

Brisbane has not yet been officially awarded the 2032 Olympic Games, however the International Olympics Committee (IOC) named the city its preferred host city in February.

It’s understood the plans for the Gabba are contrary to the IOC’s proposal to use existing facilities to reduce host city costs, and that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is still waiting for the Prime Minister to confirm what federal funding will be provided for the proposed event. [1]

The cost of hosting the Olympic Games is notoriously unpredictable, and budget blow-outs well into the billions are normal.

The upcoming Tokyo Olympics is expected to cost at least $15.4 billion. [2]

KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said while the Olympics were a wonderful event that most people loved to watch; Queensland’s already precarious economic position meant there was little joy to be had in taxpayers having to stump up the costs.

“I don’t want Queenslanders having to live through the next 12 years of deficits in hospital and road funding, education investment or any other services needed west of the Great Divide,” he said.

“There is actually a health crisis in rural and regional Queensland but that doesn’t seem to be a priority for the Government, their priority is hosting a big party in 10 years’ time that almost no one else in the world wants the responsibility of holding.

“This is not the panacea of prosperity for the people of Queensland, it is re-building from the ground up our core industries across the entire state and starting with the regions.”

[1] https://inqld.com.au/insights/2021/04/20/wheels-within-wheels-inside-the-delicate-balance-behind-our-olympic-venues/

2 https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-tokyo-olympics-japan-olympic-games-3c46bce81928865d9aae0832b5ddd9e3

[1] https://inqld.com.au/insights/2021/04/20/wheels-within-wheels-inside-the-delicate-balance-behind-our-olympic-venues/

[2] https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-tokyo-olympics-japan-olympic-games-3c46bce81928865d9aae0832b5ddd9e3