Brisbane

“It may also be unwise and inappropriate for the government to insist that a redeveloped Gabba host the athletics for the Games,” the interim report released on Thursday found.

“State governments should not use major events as an excuse to fast-track already-planned urban development against the wishes of their citizens and local communities, and without due diligence,” the report found.

Personally, I don’t know how I feel about all this. I disagree that using major events to fast-track already-planned projects is a bad idea. In fact I’m all for it, when it’s something they already knew needed to happen. But the Gabba rebuild specifically being done at extra expense so that it can temporarily be an Olympic athletics venue and then converted back to its primary purpose, rather than just doing it once and doing it right, does bother me.