Olympic 2032 chiefs throw open billions for business
Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games organisers want the state's firms to hit gold with business opportunities, urging small to medium-sized operators to get involved.
THE 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been declared open for business as the first of hundreds of procurement contracts worth billions of dollars are thrown open by organisers.
More than 50 opportunities were identified as Olympics boss Andrew Liveris launched the first tranche of a procurement program on Wednesday.
Games Minister Tim Mander called on small and medium-sized businesses to throw their hats in the ring.
“We’ve seen great sporting success in Brisbane and Queensland more generally over the last few weeks, and there has been a real buzz about that success,” he said.
“Now we want our small and medium-sized business to also experience that buzz.”
The contracts worth more than $2.5 billion are expected to be handed out in the lead-up to 2032.
Outside Wednesday’s media event, a small group of Save Victoria Park protesters waved placards after releasing a report that predicted the 2032 main stadium was unlikely to be completed in time.
Brisbane’s Victoria Park is earmarked to become the 2032 Games hub, hosting a $3.7 billion, 63,000-seat main stadium along with a nearby national aquatic centre.
“The state government wants us to believe the planned demolition of Victoria Park for two Olympic stadiums and a warm-up track is inevitable – it’s not,” Save Victoria Park’s Sue Bremner said.
“To those firms looking to get involved in this destructive project, we would say in the strongest possible terms: reconsider.
“It’s a high-risk proposition on so many levels. Not only is it fraught with practical and reputational risks, it drags our city backwards, both in terms of valuing our environment and reconciliation with First Nations peoples.”
Two legal applications relating to the proposed Victoria Park stadium were being considered by the federal environment and water minister, Ms Bremner said.
They were lodged under section 10 of the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act “in an effort to preserve what is one of Brisbane’s most important First Nations cultural sites”.
