Contrary to the initial promise to establish an Olympic Coordination Authority (ACO) in the event of the 2032 Summer Games being awarded to Brisbane, the government of Queensland (Australia) has decided to draw a line under this body. A way to keep control of the preparations as much as possible in the face of local and federal authorities.
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Dn the context of its candidacy to organize the 2032 Summer Games, Brisbane had announced the provisional establishment of an Olympic Coordination Authority responsible – alongside the Organizing Committee – for overseeing the preparation and the management of the planetary event, also with the concern of guaranteeing the legacy of the Games.
In fact, in the “Answers to the questionnaire from the Commission for Future Hosts of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”the sponsors of the candidacy had explained in particular in the chapter devoted to governance:
It is intended that the ACO will be established as a government entity made up of representatives from the Federal, Queensland and Local Governments.
It will have the ability to coordinate the activities of all Australian and Queensland government departments and agencies with Games-related responsibilities.
This shared governance model will allow public authorities to fully oversee all Games projects, from the planning, scoping and design phase through to contracting, construction and delivery..
This promise of cooperation between the various institutional levels had, moreover, contributed to the commitment of the Federal State to support the candidacy of Brisbane and its regionalso foreshadowing the prospect of a distribution of responsibilities and investments to be made before the Games.
However, the model developed at the time no longer seems to be valid.
The Queensland government has in fact decided not to rely on such an Authority, preferring to bet more on the forthcoming establishment of a government agency whose prerogatives should be more limited and whose operation should be less onerous.
For the regional public authorities, the absence of an Olympic Coordination Authority would be justified by the desire not to burden the preparations administratively with a form of cumbersome bureaucracy. Above all, the level of cooperation between the various levels would not call for the establishment of such a structure at this stage, any more than the IOC, which would Queensland government spokeswomansatisfied with the progress of preparations in the light of the intergovernmental agreement.
For the leader of the opposition to Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk, on the other hand, this renunciation would be the illustration of an asserted stranglehold on the preparations, even of a certain opacity.
As Jarrod Bleijie put it:
The Prime Minister and her Cabinet now wield unchecked authority over the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This will send shivers down the spine of all Queenslanders paying for the Games.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, and Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland, Friday February 17, 2023 in Brisbane (Credits – Prime Minister of Australia)While Canberra and Brisbane negotiated at length before reaching a financial framework agreement relating to the distribution of expenses for the venues in view of the 2032 Olympicsthis new episode could revive tensions between the two institutional levels, even if the contribution of each has been delimited.
As a reminder, the State of Queensland will contribute 3.63 billion Australian dollars (2.27 billion euros) to finance the development or modernization of sports facilities linked to the Games, while the Federal State will participate to the effort for 3.44 billion Australian dollars (2.19 billion euros).
Out of this overall envelope of slightly more than 7 billion Australian dollars (4.46 billion euros), two items of expenditure will be particularly targeted, namely on the one hand the demolition / reconstruction of the Gabba Stadium and its surroundings for 2.7 billion at the exclusive expense of Queensland (1.72 billion euros)and on the other hand the building of the Brisbane Arena in the neighborhood of Roma Street for 2.5 billion fully financed by the Federal State led by Anthony Albanese (1.59 billion euros).
