Victoria Park Stadium Masterplan: In Conversation
Campbell Newman, Ed Haysom and Sue Bremner take a closer look at what the draft masterplan shows, what it leaves out and why the glossy vision deserves much closer scrutiny.
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At first glance, the newly released draft masterplan for the proposed Victoria Park Barrambin stadium can look compelling. A stadium surrounded by parkland. New recreation areas, land bridges, trees, paths and open space. But look more closely and a very different picture begins to emerge.
In this informal conversation, engineer and former Brisbane Lord Mayor and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, architect Ed Haysom and Save Victoria Park Inc. President Sue Bremner work through the masterplan together, examining the practical realities behind the images.
They look at what is shown, what is missing and what may never be delivered. From essential stadium infrastructure that does not appear on the plans, to major construction and access challenges, deferred “legacy” elements and a landscape depicted as though mature greenery can simply remain or reappear around an enormous construction site, the conversation asks a simple question:
Is this really a masterplan or is it a marketing vision?
What follows is a practical, expert-led look at the details most people would never be expected to pick up from the glossy renders alone.
And why, beneath all that green, the fundamental problems with building a stadium at Victoria Park Barrambin have not gone away.
2.38 - 4.45 min: stadium infrastructure will destroy the park
4.52-5.46 min: the government has dug itself a big hole
5.50 - 8.00 min: short timelines = mistakes made, moving 120,000+ people for the Olympics, the masterplan is an aspirational diagram
7.09 - 11.08 min: each bridge over the ICB is likely to cost $200-250 million (approx. total half a billion), creative accounting
11.17 - 15.08 min: Inner City Bypass ramps
15.09 - 17.32 min: security concerns, lack of public transport
18.41 - 19.59 min: responsible governing, Victoria Park is an island, Exhibition station
19.59 - 22.47 min: National Aquatic Centre and influence of politics in NAC location, 33kV cables on Spring Hill side of the park, impact on Gregory Terrace schools
23.00 - 25.13 min: a political / sales document to relax the public, masterplan lacks infrastructure for a stadium, the park as a constrained site, road impacts
25.20 - 27.28 min: greenwashing, misleading greenspace, lack of transparency with concourses
28.15 - 31.54 min: lack of public transport, disability access, main access via Herston
31.54-33.30 min: original plan to use existing infrastructure, Crisafulli’s no new stadium promise, legacy of State debt and lack of fiscal responsibility
34.37 - 37.10 min: Kings Park in Perth, Adrian Schrinner’s comments on the park, original park masterplan
37.10 - 39.40 min: Impact on RBWH
43.09 - 46.19 min: Campbell Newman’s response to “no one uses the park”
