This week,the federal government and Queenslandannounced a joint $7 billion funding agreement to overhaul Brisbane’s sporting and event venues,including the Gabba,before the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Commonwealth will contributeabout $3.5 billion to the deal.
I repeat:$3.5 billion! For the Sydney 2000 Games,the federal government paid - according to a NSW government report referenced in the federal parliament’s 2021-22 budget review - $150 million,which is equivalent to $244 million today. This was just 8.2 per cent of the total construction cost of $1.84 billion,which is equivalent to about $3 billion today.
All the more surprising is that in the original bid,a key feature was that south-east Queensland would be able to leverage existing infrastructure to hold the Olympics for a total cost of ...$4.45 billion.