A new Olympic stadium and a crocodile-inhabited rowing course unveiled in Brisbane 2032 overhaul

Major overhaul of Brisbane Games planning includes new venues, Olympic stadium, and controversial stadium construction in parkland.

Sailing the Whitsunday islands. Surfing an iconic Gold Coast break. Rowing in a crocodile-inhabited river in Rockhampton.

Extra tourism-focused venues and a new 60,000-seat Olympic stadium to be built in inner-city parkland have been unveiled as part of a major overhaul of planning for the 2032 Brisbane Games.

David Crisafulli, the third premier of Queensland state in the almost four years since the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2032 Games to the capital of Queensland state, announced the latest plans on a rainy Tuesday.

He said it’s not going to be like last year’s Paris Olympics or the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, promising instead it'll be uniquely-Queensland.

It’s been more than 1,340 days since that IOC decision in 2021, and local organizers still haven’t started the Olympic venue construction program.

“The time has come to just get on with it — get on with it, and build,” Crisafulli said, marking his 150th day in office. “We are going to start immediately. We’ve got seven years to make it work — and make it work we will.”

A 25,000-seat aquatics center has also been proposed in an Olympic precinct that includes the new main stadium at Victoria Park, a former golf course near downtown Brisbane.