Queensland unveils concept plans for Brisbane 2032 Olympic stadium precinct; critics call them 'fantasy vision'

The Queensland government has unveiled concept images for the green precinct planned around the main stadium for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, in an effort to ease public concerns over the loss of the city’s largest inner-city park. The designs show how Victoria Park could look with the new sports complex, but community groups have dismissed them as a "fantasy vision" that fails to address practical needs.

Under the government’s draft plan, an oval-shaped 63,000-seat stadium and a national aquatic centre would be built at Victoria Park, while two-thirds of the parkland would remain green. The concept images include two pedestrian bridges across the inner-city bypass road that currently separates the site from Spring Hill and Brisbane’s central business district. The plan also proposes expanding the York’s Hollow wetland into areas now used for football fields and adding a public amphitheatre near the stadium.

Premier David Crisafulli described the project as a legacy for Queensland. He said the precinct would be a world-class free space for residents long after the Olympics end, comparing it to the transformation of South Bank after Expo 88.

Victoria Park is a heritage-listed site known as Barrambin to traditional owners. It has been a contentious location for the Olympic stadium because it is underutilised and was previously home to a golf course. Critics have also raised concerns about the loss of parkland, potential damage to a culturally significant area for First Nations people, and the site’s difficult geography and transport links.

Sue Bremner, spokesperson for Save Victoria Park, said the images were misleading and designed to distract from rising Olympic costs. Bremner argued that the site is one of Brisbane’s most complex, expensive and poorly connected places for sports venues. "What we saw today was not a plan. It was another insulting fantasy vision with no details," she said. She added that the proposals did not explain where car parks, roads, connections to train stations or crowd-holding plazas would be located, nor how access would be provided from the bypass. "The time for empty slogans, greenwashed architect impressions and budget lowballing is over," she said.