Dear Mayor Williams & Councillors
Time to abandon the Olympic whitewater stadium at Birkdale
At the General Meeting on Wednesday 13 September, you will deal with Item 14.2 – 2032 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES – DELIVERY PARTNER ARRANGEMENTS.
What the Item 14.2 Report tells us
The report at Item 14.2 makes clear the following circumstances with respect to the proposed Redlands Olympic Whitewater Stadium at Birkdale:
- The Queensland Government’s Validation Report process is currently in train and includes:
- detail design and venue master planning
- independent financial and business case modelling
- construction and delivery process and program considerations.
- The Queensland Government’s Validation Report process has identified Redland City Council itself as a delivery risk:
- because delivery of the Whitewater venue relies on Redland City Council to deliver the “common infrastructure”that will service the Whitewater venue but “first and foremost service the parkland space” of the wider Birkdale Community Precinct.
- The State Government’s solution to Redland City Council being the identified risk is to require Council:
- to commit to allocating “sufficient funding, resources and commit to work with the State in good faith on the delivery of the elements of the precinct that are Council responsibility but have interdependence on the part of the Whitewater venue”
- to make this commitment urgently – by the 30 September 2023
- and to do so WITHOUT KNOWING what those costs will be, because –
the $6.78 million already allocated in the 2023-24 Council Budget “won’t be sufficient to facilitate the delivery of all interdependent infrastructure elements and that further capital funding in future years will be required to meet this obligation”.
- That should Council not honour its commitment and support to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games it would be in “direct violation of the Delivery Partner Agreement”
- which Council agreed to at a Special Meeting on 01 April 2021, well before receiving outcomes of the community consultation on the Birkdale Community Precinct at Council’s Special Meeting on 27 May 2021;
- outcomes which showed the highest ranked Value was Nature (waterways, flora, fauna).
- The consequences of the direct violation of the Delivery Partner Agreement as above could be “financial consequences should the State then seek to recoup their project expenses incurred in the progression of the Reference Design and Project Validation process”.
Is Council really prepared to sign a blank cheque?
Councillors, you are being asked to sign a BLANK CHEQUE.
No Council should be put in this position.
Clearly, it would be grossly irresponsible to commit this Council, and equally irresponsible to commit a future Council – just six months out from the March 2024 election – to undetermined expenditure, likely to be in the millions of dollars.
It is time to abandon the Whitewater Stadium.
To do so will cost far less.
It appears the cost of violating the Delivery Partner Agreement, should the State Government decide to impose a penalty, would be comparatively insignificant.
The Validation Reports
Paying 50% of the Project Validation costs (given that half of the costs attribute to the Wyaralong Flatwater Centre) would amount to some $379,538 as explained below:
The Queensland Government issued contracts for the delivery of Project Validation Reports for the ‘Brisbane 2032 Redlands Whitewater Centre & Wyaralong Flatwater Centre’:
| Contract | Awarded to | Estimated Value |
| EPW00200 – Principal Consultant | AECOM | $738,001.00 |
| EPW00187b – Programmer Services | Turner & Townsend Thinc | $21,076.00 |
| Total | $759,077.00 | |
| 50% of Total | $379,538.50 |
Penrith Whitewater Stadium Awaits
A decision to withdraw from the Delivery Partner Agreement will in no way impede preparations for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, and in fact will expedite them. The newly upgraded Penrith Whitewater Stadium, which will host the 2025 World Canoe Slalom Championships, is ready and waiting to host the 2032 Games, as initially identified by the International Olympic Committee itself.
Nothing Will Be Lost
The alleged community infrastructure benefit attributed to the construction of an Olympics 2032 Whitewater Stadium on the Birkdale Community Precinct, namely the duplication of the Cleveland Rail Line and the completion of the Eastern Busway to Capalaba, is apparently unsubstantiated.
- The Queensland State Government’s State Infrastructure Strategy 2022 which sets out a twenty (20) year vision makes no mention of either the Cleveland Rail Line or the Eastern Busway to Capalaba.
- There appears to be no written agreement to duplicate the Cleveland Rail Line if the Redlands Olympic Whitewater Stadium proceeds.
- There appears to be no written agreement to complete the Eastern Busway to Capalaba if the Redlands Olympic Whitewater Stadium proceeds.
The most recent idea of a Resilience Training Centre being the business of a local Council is unjustifiable and rash, given this is clearly a State Government responsibility.
And the people of the Redlands have not been asked if we want a Resilience Training Centre.
The wishes of the community will be honoured
Abandoning the Whitewater Stadium will leave the door open for Council to honour and uphold the express wishes of the people of the Redlandswith respect to the special lands of the Birkdale Community Precinct, ie – to protect the Natural, Indigenous Cultural and European Heritage values of the land – and to do so at a pace and cost we can afford.
The most useful contribution that Redland City Council can make to the 2032 Olympics and the Redlands community is to create a place where people can see koalas in the wild.
International visitors arriving in South East Queensland before, during and long after the Olympic Games 2032 would likely arrive in significant numbers to see koalas, particularly if the Birkdale lands were named and developed as the ‘Redlands Wild Koala Refuge & Cultural Heritage Precinct’.
Over to you
There are now well over 2000 signatures on the current Petition to State Parliament which asks that Parliament do all it can to stop the Whitewater Stadium. This number greatly exceeds the number of people responding to any of Council’s consultation processes on the Birkdale Community Precinct.
And with the opposing Mayoral Candidate currently campaigning on a platform of No Whitewater Stadium based on her own community consultation, it is clear that your decision on Wednesday will be important at the March 2024 election.
Councillors, how Redland City came to be in these circumstances is academic now. It is what you decide next that matters.
Council is confronted with a stark choice:
- agree to the blank cheque with its unknown costs and consequences, or –
- abandon the Whitewater Stadium and return to delivering what the people of the Redlands actually want.
We look forward to your decision.
Kind regards –
Lavinia
Lavinia Wood
President
Community Alliance for Responsible Planning (CARP) Redlands Inc
on behalf of the alliance of concerned community organisations:
- Birkdale Progress Association Inc
- Redlands2030 Inc
- Community Alliance for Responsible Planning (CARP) Redlands Inc
- Koala Action Group Queensland Inc
- ACF Community Bayside
- Wildlife Preservation Society Queensland Inc (Bayside Branch)
Published by Redlands2030 – 11 September 2023
Please note: Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted. If offended by any published comment please email thereporter@redlands2030.net
4 Comments
Re Birkdale Community Precinct on which we, the people, were asked by RCC to ‘have our say’, I had a dream. Having lived and been aware of deaths from car crashes in & around the Capalaba CBD, in particular, Finucane Rd, generated by polluting traffic congestion increasing by filling every open space with units/houses, here I thought, was a place to escape for peace and quiet, walking on natural pathways, listening to chirping birds, & watching koalas in trees.
My dream was shattered. Council & State govt bodies agreed, against will of the people, to mine & fill most of the land for a select few thrill seeking canoe racing enthusiasts by building a whitewater complex for 2032 Olympic Games for but a brief moment in time.
My thoughts went back to life in New York City, walking through Central Park on a ‘natural’ pathway to and from work, hearing no traffic sounds or smells of a congested city. Available to visitors were horse & buggy rides around the park.
Neighbor and I agreed it would be good, in memory of ‘the goat lady’ having lived and cared for the Birkdale land to likewise, when Willard Homestead restoration complete, along with rebuilt ‘hut’ (recently demolished) of historical value, surrounded by gardens, for children to enjoy… ‘billy goat’ rides around the precinct. They could also be shown how to milk a goat in the newly restored sheds.
Lavinia Wood, Community Alliance for Responsible Planning, renamed the Birkdale land as: “Redlands Wild Koala Refuse & Cultural Heritage Precinct”. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you all think?”
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This is yet another reprehensible proposal by the Redland Shire Council.
Why don’t you try listening to what the residents who pay your salaries, actually want!
Does Australia need more than one whitewater complex?
or less wildlife habitat.
THE PEOPLE OF REDLANDS SHOULD OPPOSE THIS WASTEFUL AND UNPOPULAR COUCIL IDEA OR WE – THE RATEPAYERS – WILL VOTE THEM ALL OUT AT THE NEXT ELECTION!