Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) that the Government has committed to funding $3.4 billion of the $7 billion Olympics infrastructure, in the middle of a cost living crisis, when it refuses to invest more than $500 million a year in social and affordable housing;

(b) that the average cost blow-out of an Olympics since 1960 is 2.5 times the original cost, which would see the cost of the Brisbane Olympics blow-out to $17.5 billion; and

(c) the recent decision by the Victorian Government to cancel the Commonwealth Games so as to save money for schools and hospitals; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) drop its support for the disastrous Gabba demolition and rebuild that will see the bulldozing of a local public school, East Brisbane State School, and Raymond Park, a much loved public park;

(b) re-negotiate a new Olympics infrastructure agreement that actually prioritises using existing infrastructure, like Carrara Stadium, and instead invests in new public transport and other long term community infrastructure; and

(c) commit that any infrastructure built for the Olympics remains in public hands, including retaining the athletes' village as publicly-owned housing.

In light of the recent decision to cancel the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, it is abundantly clear now that the federal government must renegotiate the Olympics infrastructure deal with Queensland. That's because right now they're supporting an Olympics infrastructure plan that will see the destruction of a local public school, with hundreds of schoolkids displaced, and a much-loved public park that is one of the only bits of community infrastructure in one of the fastest-growing areas in Brisbane.

We know that the total cost of the Gabba demolition is apparently $2.7 billion, but Labor is keeping Queenslanders in the dark about what that actually covers. Does it cover the $100 million to move the school? Does it cover the warm-up track? Does it cover converting the stadium back into a cricket and AFL stadium after 2032? Does it cover the construction impacts on four major arterial roads that surround the stadium? We know, based on the average cost blowout of Olympics infrastructure, that the real cost could be as much as $6.7 billion—13 times what the federal government proposed to spend on social and affordable housing every year.

It's very hard to overstate just how destructive this decision will be.

And we hear jokes from the member from Moreton over there! The member for Moreton, by the way, whose federal electorate is just over the side from that—that's what he thinks of the local schoolkids in that area!

This is the decision that Labor are making. We had schoolkids get in touch with us, asking us basic questions like: 'Why is the government closing our school? Why do we have a government if they don't listen?' Here's the deal: the education department's own consultation report said, 'Across all of the engagement activities, the feedback received was consistent. It is clear that the EBSS community, families and local residents prefer that the school remain within the existing catchment area.' A massive 93 per cent of respondents want their school to stay where it is, and we can hardly blame them.

This is a government now, the Labor government, which is becoming the government of destroying public schools and local public parks—

And interjecting again, by the way, is the Labor member for Moreton. He is interjecting and making light of the destruction of a public school—

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