Queensland Government's new bill allows disregard of planning laws for 2032 Olympic venues

The Queensland Government has today introduced a bill to parliament giving the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) power to overrule 15 planning laws.

This will see all venues being built for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the Victoria Park stadium, exempt from major planning laws – including the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act, the Queensland Heritage Act, the Local Government Act, and the Nature Conservation Act.

The state government noted the new amendments are being introduced to streamline delivery of the 2032 Games to ensure projects are not held up by potential legal challenges - with the laws to cover all venues and the athletes' villages.

The proposed law changes will mean final planning sign-off for all Games venues will rest with the QLD Government, rather than councils.

QLD Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jarrod Bleijie said the amendments would ensure legislation was fit for purpose with a clear line of sight for project accountability adding “the 2032 Delivery Plan set a course of action, now we’re getting on with the job of delivering it.”

He also promised "appropriate checks and balances".

Games infrastructure will also be subject to building compliance laws.

Following completion of the 100 Day Review and the release of the 2032 Delivery Plan, the QLD Government’s focus is firmly on delivery. With venues being built for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games exempt from major planning rules, the QLD Government aims to ensure “GIICA and the State can successfully deliver the generational infrastructure for Queenslanders, on time and on budget.”

QLD Minister for Sport and Racing and Minister for Olympic and Paralympic Games Tim Mander said changes to the Act would create greater efficiency and agility for the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee to deliver an exceptional Games.

Minister Mander noted “Stakeholders and partners made it clear through the 100 Day Review that the current governance arrangements had added an additional level of complexity to the delivery and coordination of the Games. 

“Amendments to the Act will see the total number of directors on the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee Board reduce from 24 to 15 in line with the recommendations from the review.

“This will reduce bureaucracy and streamline processes allowing experts, like Andrew Liveris AO, President of the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee, and his team to get on with the job of delivering the best Games yet.”

Save Victoria Park spokeswoman Rosemary O'Hagan spoke to ABC "You have to actually question … what is so wrong with these developments that they're putting in for the Olympics that they have to remove so many legal safeguards to actually build them.

"What is the point of having heritage protection and environmental protection if you're just going to override it all?"

O'Hagan told ABC Save Victoria Park remained committed to safeguarding the 64 hectares of green space adding "this is too important to just roll over and let the bulldozers roll in.”

A controversial revisiting of plans to build a 63,000 capacity stadium as the main venue for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics was announced in March 2025 by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli.

He defended the development of a new stadium at the heritage listed Victoria Park adjacent to the Brisbane CBD despite having promised prior to being elected last year that he would not back the building of a new stadium for the Games, noting that there was "no longer time" to upgrade the Gabba.

When Brisbane was awarded the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it also came with a widely publicised landmark promise: the world’s first “climate-positive” games.

Both Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 made voluntary pledges. But Brisbane 2032 was the first contractually required to be climate-positive. This was enshrined in the original 2021 Olympic Host Contract, an agreement between the IOC, the State of Queensland, Brisbane City Council and the Australian Olympic Committee.

But the host contract quietly changed with all references to “climate-positive” having been replaced with weaker terminology. The move was not publicly announced.

Image. Concept for Brisbane Victoria Park stadium