The Queensland state government has proposed the construction of a 63,000-seat stadium in Barrambin, Brisbane’s Victoria Park, ahead of the 2032 Olympics. Victoria Park is one of the largest inner-city green spaces in a capital city known for having relatively little green space. An internal Council review, seen by the ABC, revealed Brisbane’s tree cover has dropped from 35 percent to 32 percent dropped from 35 percent to 32 percent in the past decade, despite the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) goal to “achieve carbon neutrality” and assurance that the Olympic games will be “at the forefront in the field of sustainability”. Building on this land will destroy important ecosystems and trees, and multiple heritage-listed sites significant to the Turrbal and Jagera peoples. The Yagara Magandjin Aboriginal Corporation has lodged an application for the protection of the park under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protection Act, considering it “one of the city’s most important First Nations sites”. This claim is currently under consideration by Senator Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water.

The scale of the governments’ investment into the 2032 Olympics is staggering, expected to exceed $7 billion. This amount of money is about half of the cost of cutting existing HECS debts by 20 percent. Imagine the legacy of doubling that HECS relief as opposed to this sports infrastructure spend. It begs a fundamental question: do we really need another new sports stadium in a major city? 

According to the Federal Minister for the seat of Brisbane, “The Federal Government’s funding will be the single biggest investment any government has delivered towards sporting infrastructure in Australian history.” 

But the major beneficiaries appear to be corporate giants like the IOC and AFL — and at what cost to our students and communities? The  Gabba is an existing major sports stadium in Brisbane, and based on its usage in 2024, post-Olympics, the proposed stadium will likely host events on less than 30 days per year. The community pays for the build and loses open space currently accessible to everyone. 

The construction will disproportionately affect vulnerable people, including students, who rent much of the housing surrounding Victoria Park. Researchers from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), supported by the Geneva International Academic Network, have shown that people face evictions and housing displacement during mega-events and related construction. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on mega-events and the right to adequate housing (2010) writes that venues must be planned “with the post-event period in view, while taking into account the needs of socially disadvantaged persons for affordable housing.”

The plans for Brisbane in 2032 are reminiscent of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which promised lasting jobs and tourism opportunities and instead left higher rental prices and environmental damage, and criminalised homelessness throughout the “games” period.  

Students will be in the firing line for housing insecurity if this new build goes ahead. Griffith University SRC have called this spend an “attack on people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis”, arguing funds should instead be focused on public housing, student support or debt relief. 

Will Australian students gain anything from this development? Shouldn’t we insist on the carbon-neutral games they promised us? 

Without the consideration of support, debt relief and community benefit, students and vulnerable people are left with the circus — and not so much the bread.  

A federal petition is open for all Australians who would like to make change. The petition closes 22 October 2025.