SYDNEY (Reuters) – Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said on Sunday he would resign from an infrastructure delivery body for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, as he criticized plans to rebuild the city’s Gabba cricket ground for the games.
“I will be resigning immediately from the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Intergovernmental Leaders’ Forum,” Schrinner said in a statement regarding the forum, which also includes the Queensland and federal governments, local mayors, and the head of the games’ organising committee.
“Also, I will no longer fall into line and support the State Government’s current Gabba plan,” Schrinner said.
The forum was a “dysfunctional farce” set up “to placate key stakeholders while all the real decisions are made by the state government”, he said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office has been contacted for comment.
Brisbane will become the third Australian city to host the Summer Olympics, after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
Ahead of the games, the Queensland government has pledged a A$2.7 billion rebuild of the Gabba. Queensland already has 80% of the venues needed for the games with the infrastructure expected to stay useful long after the event.
Schrinner’s resignation comes after International Olympic Committee Vice President John Coates said this week that athlete numbers at the games must be reduced to help ensure they are cost effective.
With cricket, flag football, squash, baseball and softball being added in Los Angeles in 2028, participation numbers will climb beyond 11,000 for those games, but Coates wants that figure reduced when Brisbane host the event four years later.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
