News release: New stadium imagery reveals Brisbane shaping up to be history’s most environmentally destructive Games
05 January 2026
THE new stadium propaganda released by the Queensland Government today hides the ugly reality facing Victoria Park Barrambin this year, with advocates preparing for fresh protests to push back against the destruction.
“This latest tranche of greenwashed computer imagery is not real,” said Save Victoria Park spokesperson Rosemary O’Hagan. “What’s real are the ancient trees, rolling hills, and native wildlife the government intends to obliterate for what could become one of history’s most environmentally disastrous Olympic Games.”
Save Victoria Park has recently been advised the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) intends to send in excavators sooner rather than later, perhaps in the coming months, and well before they are reasonably required. Up to 66% of the park is expected to be impacted by construction.
“We would remind the Crisafulli government there are legal applications requesting permanent protection of the park, currently being evaluated under the federal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act,” said Ms O’Hagan.
“Why would they start bulldozing trees, prior to these critical legal issues being resolved? They don’t even have a final location for the stadiums yet, let alone a very basic concept Master Plan.
“It’s hard to see this as anything other than a political stunt to interfere with due process and force the decision of the Minister.”
While the project remains in the very early stages, new data shows the main stadium alone will already carry a starting price tag of about $4.4 billion*, due to soaring inflation forecasts for southeast Queensland.
“All we have so far to justify this massive outlay of taxpayer funds and catastrophic loss of heritage parkland are tables of subjective dot points in highly contestable “reviews” led by property industry lobbyists,” said Ms O’Hagan.
“Where are the project validation reports required by the Commonwealth as part of its intergovernmental Olympic funding agreement?
“Having broken election promises and tossed aside 15 acts of parliament, the Crisafulli government is now acting as if its contractual agreements also don’t apply.”
Upcoming protest – Saturday 31 January
As part of its ongoing opposition to the proposed destruction, Save Victoria Park is teaming with Patches of Hope to host a “Creatives in the Park” event on Saturday 31 January.
Organisers expect a strong turnout, with sustained community opposition to the stadium plans.
“More and more people are reaching out to us to express their utter dismay at what is planned for this historic park,” said Ms O’Hagan.
“We would say to the Premier: there is still time to go back to the original Olympic brief.
“Adapt the Games to Brisbane, and not the other way around. Let Victoria Park become the truly amazing green destination that was long promised to the people of this city.
“We can have both stadiums and a heritage park – just not in the same place.”
ENDS
*According to the Australian Construction Market Conditions Report, by WT Australia, November 2025
Brief history of Olympic stadium "greenwashing" Brisbane’s promise of a shimmery new Olympic stadium is part of a long bedazzling legacy of promises gone wrong