b1_

From the image in this link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-17/gabba-stadium-redevelopment-funding-2032-olympics-infrastructure/101988206
…looks to me like they will be linking the river by sinking the roads surrounding and capping them with pedestrian walking areas, or some of them anyway . $2.7 billion price tag. The walkway links look like they are trying to give access to southbank/ the rocks but also river frontage at Mowbrow Park on other side of Kangaroo point.

With the Gabba I think it’s all about increasing the oval size and stand capacity so they can complete with other large stadiums in Australia for events.

Here’s another article: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/feb/17/brisbane-2032-olympics-live-arena-gabba-rebuild-redevelopment-queensland
…which says the proposed new stadium will only add another 8000 seats. There’s also pics of an alternate and cheaper proposal to have demountable stadium then reuse the materials from that after games for other infrastructure. Insteresting.

The Olympic Committee specifically asked for bids that emphasized no-budget-blowouts due to many previous Olympics essentially bankrupting cities and the bad rep that was causing to the Olympics brand, and Brisbane’s bid was the only one that stacked up to scrutiny, is what I understand. So at least it wasn’t just politicians by themselves blowing smoke up are collective arses for a change - there was some kind of scrutiny.

I think the Gabba is a special case. They have been wanting to expand/fix the Gabba district for ages - the two 4-lane roads on either side that the back of the stands over-hang has been a problem forever. Olympics has given them a chance to fix the whole thing, link it up with the river better. They put in the bus tunnels to fix access fairly recently. Adelaide Oval had similar growing pains - that stadium put in large sail structures back in the 2000’s that were completely redone only 5 or 10 years later. The Gabba is a signature bit of infrastructure in the inner city worth doing - they will probably use it for big concerts and so on. The whole of the inner Brisbane city is coming along nicely, Southbank and bikeway upgrades and bridges, docks - it’s getting there.

The Olympics aren’t the Commonwealth games, it’s a global audience - think commonwealth games + china, north and south america, the rest of Europe. And Brisbane is an obscure city on the world stage, but has amazing weather and natural tourists attraction, theme parks - I think Brisbane will get value for money, put it on the map.

Brisbane won the Olympics on an everything-is-already-built-so-no-blow-out-in-cost-likely campaign, and they were basically the only credible bid so got it with no contest. I think the Gabba is being upgraded because it was due for a face-lift anyway. Something like that - bris olympics is different situation.

And I think Bris Olympics only lacks accommodation facilities which will be built, then those apartments will very much help with the housing crisis after Olympics, so it all works and helps the city in the long run.

And pretty large satellite cities share the load, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, is a point of difference also.

Thats’s my vague understanding, but don’t quote me.

Just give him the legal aid then when his case is done start calling him constantly asking him to repay it because he wasn’t actually eligible, sorry.

If they don’t provide a deterrent then it will just be worse next time. It’s up to the commissioners or judges. One wonders if we are now at the point where they have to make an example because people have died.

Same problem with police corruption - keep giving them slaps on the wrist, it will just be worse the next time, then the time after that it will be worse again. You make your bed, you lie in it.

Just ignore him - he’s a troll. The idea of Dutton overseeing the construction of a nuclear power plant in Australia is a horrifying thought.

We need a plan not just one fix. Governments are supposed to look at the whole picture and make changes so that the economy and society as a whole ‘sings’. They are supposed to make plans for the near, medium and far future. All we’ve had for the past decade is right-wing governments getting into power and then everything they did from then on was about winning the next election at any cost - they were parasites that did nothing to improve pretty much anything, and now we are suffering because of that.

We need a plan like Germany and Japan had after WWII to transition their destroyed countries into economic powerhouses 30 years later. We need long term planning like Norway has done with their resources and their sovereign fund. Yes we need big-australia immigration but combine it with education improvements and so on - do this and this other thing, and combine it with that because of this reason, and the result of all these things combined will be greater than the sum of their parts.

If we don’t start planning we will continue to suffer and living standards will continue to nose-dive.