But upon receiving the draft report,three days before the final document was handed to his government,Miles held a phone call with the Olympics powerbroker whose idea had laid out a different path.
We now have a clearer picture of the timeline behind his move to reject the – a new $3.4 billion stadium at Victoria Park.
Much has been made of Miles’ 100-day milestone. The reason? He’s hoping that helps him stay in the job past the election in October.
Dropping in for a half-hour session on ABC Radio Brisbane on Monday,complete with questions from listeners,Miles made it explicit.
“For me,it’s ‘would you like a new stadium,or would you like more housing? Or would you like more invested in hospitals? Or would you like more cost-of-living[relief]?’,” he said.
“And I made the call to spend that extra almost $2 billion on those things.”
The decision took shape a few weeks ago,Miles has said,once it became clear that Graham Quirk,the former lord mayor leading the review,was leaning towards recommending a new stadium at Victoria Park.
Miles instead tasked public servants with looking into an alternative.
Having essentially to help fend off criticism of – or dump – the $2.7 billion Gabba rebuild (which was likely closer to $3.3 billion), and another option had been ready-made.
“GABBA GAMES OVER” declared a News Corp headline on February 8,weeks into Quirk’s work and two days after Olympic supremo John Coates pitched to the review team – a move.
Coates’ plan was a coat of paint for the Gabba,renos to Lang Park for opening and closing ceremony duties,and a (mostly temporary) upgrade to the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan.
This was what Miles chose. Fast-forward to a fortnight ago,and Miles was saying the government to consider the Quirk review before releasing it.
The following day,Wednesday,March 13,Coates was telling journalists in Sydney that while he would not pre-empt the review,there were two existing athletics venues (at QSAC and the Gold Coast) and he wasn’t expecting.
By the Friday,Miles had been handed a draft of the review and spoke to Coates by phone “just to get into a bit more detail”,he told the ABC listeners.
“John was on his way to IOC[International Olympic Committee] meetings. He was leaving Saturday night,so I knew I needed to talk to him before cabinet discussed it.”
This was also because,Miles said,any changes needed to be negotiated with the IOC under the 2032 contract and adopting Coates’ proposal “effectively jumped us ahead on the process”.
By Sunday,as Labor’s byelection bruising became clear,detail of the review’s major recommendation in time to be rejected by Miles after cabinet.
“I cannot support building a brand-new stadium when Queenslanders are doing it tough,” Miles said. It’s a line he’s relished repeating since – and been joined by LNP leader David Crisafulli,but.
Quirk’s review put the price of 14,000-seat permanent QSAC work at about $1.6 billion. Work on the ageing Gabba was suggested to be $1 billion to push its life beyond 2032,or about half that to do the bare-minimum work needed on it until then.
Then there’s the up-to $500 million price-tag Schrinner put on transport investment needed to make the QSAC option viable and deliver to key sites in nearby southern suburbs,along with. Call it $2.6 billion to $3.1 billion.
Regardless,Quirk’s review put the current $3.5 billion state share of 2032 venue funding in another light:$456 million a year across the eight-ish years left until the Games.
Crisafulli has pledged should he become premier after the election.
And Miles has said he’d consider delaying tenders for QSAC work until the poll,if asked.
A final picture of where things might yet land could still be some time away.