A indigenous group has initiated legal action to prevent stadiums with 63,000 seats for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics being built on culturally important land.
The Government of Queensland announced in March that a new $ 3.8bn ($ 2.5bn; £ 1.8bn) stadium would be built – with federal funding – 60 -hectare site in Victoria Park.
Yagra Magandjin Tribal Corporation (YMAC) and Save Victoria Park Group are requesting the Federal Environment Minister to determine the park as a culturally important site, which can protect the land from development.
Victoria Park is “a lot of importance and history” for indigenous and non-foreigners, YMAC spokesperson Gaja Kerry Charlton explained.
“We are very concerned that there are ancient trees, artifacts and very important ecosystems that are present there. Can be ancestral remains.”
A federal government spokesperson confirmed that he was requested to nominate the site under the tribal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
He said, “The department is currently reviewing this application and will take all standard steps to take it forward, including being engaged with the applicant, proposer and the Government of Queensland.”
If the stadium is constructed, it will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032.
After the Olympics, the stadium will become the home of AFL and cricket in Queensland.
The Infrastructure Plan for the 2032 Olympics has become a warm political issue in Queensland in recent years.
Labor’s Anastasia Palaszkzuk led the successful Olympic dialect, and announced a plan to redevelop an aging Gabba Stadium for the Games at a cost of approximately $ 3BN. But the plan was unpopular with the local people, who feared to be displaced, and the taxpayer was disappointed on the price tag.
Another more expensive plan was recommended after leaving as a premiere in 2023, a new stadium at Victoria Park. However, amidst a cost-living crisis, the new state leader Steven Miles chose instead of upgrading existing places to host sports events, a decision criticized some people as an embarrassment for Australia on the world stage.
Months later, he lost an election for the Liberal National Party, which campaigned on the promise of any new stadiums.
But after its review of the new government, the new premiere David Crisfulli adopted a plan to build a site in Victoria Park, and since then new Olympic places have been asked to plan new Olympic places in a dialect to plan in a bid, which to track development rapidly.
Although the schemes have been completed with protests in Queensland, some locals are concerned about losing a large internal green space, and others are concerned about potential losses to cultural heritage.
State and federal governments have indicated that they will engage with indigenous groups on development plans at Victoria Park.
Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Shrinner told Brisbane Times that there was strong support for the stadium.
“Finally, it’s going to happen,” he said. “There is no doubt that efforts will be made to fail the project and slow down it.”
