Olympic canoe slalom plan slammed in submissions to Senate inquiry

The notion of building a whitewater stadium in Redlands to host canoe slalom events at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics has attracted more criticism in several submissions published by a Senate Committee inquiring into Australia’s preparedness to host Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Here is what one member of the Redlands community said about the proposed Birkdale whitewater facility, in their submission to the Senate inquiry.

Canoe Slalom Venue, Redland

I am very concerned that the proposed whitewater centre to be used as an Olympic canoe slalom venue would be constructed in the middle of the Birkdale Community Precinct (BCP), an environmentally sensitive area with koala habitat with resident koalas and two State Heritage-listed properties, Willard’s Farm (former) and US Army Radio Receiving Station (former).

The 2032 Olympic bid began as a vanity project for certain South-east Queensland mayors, members of Council of Mayors (SEQ), hoping to get infrastructure provided by State and Federal governments at little cost to the councils. The State Government was not supportive of this bid until caving under sustained pressure from The Courier-Mail.

I first became aware of the Mayor’s plans for the Birkdale land to be the home of a white-water centre during the consultation process for the Council’s Corporate Plan in 2020, although that phrase was never seen in the documentation. Community consultations in 2020/21 about the use of the recently purchased Commonwealth lands did not highlight this Council-preferred usage. Less than 9% of those surveyed supported the inclusion of a whitewater centre; most respondents wanted nature trails (78%) and a variety of conservation, heritage and educational activities. Nevertheless the Mayor and the majority of Council have pushed ahead with the whitewater centre.

Even during the consultation process on the Draft master plan for the BCP when supposedly nothing had been finalised, I was informed by one of the officers at an information stand that the whitewater centre was definitely going ahead and was non-negotiable. This unwanted whitewater centre was presumably the Mayor’s attempt to contribute to the Olympic bid process begun by the Council of Mayors (SEQ) in 2015; so how long was this in the planning before Redland ratepayers were officially informed in August 2021? A Redland City Bulletin article in July 2019 reported that “Cr Williams said that consultants engaged to investigate a possible south-east Queensland Olympics had visited the Redlands to investigate its potential for a whitewater rafting and kayaking facility. Cr Williams had also met with the International Canoe Federation and visited the Sydney Olympics whitewater rafting facility at Penrith.” Reading between the lines of the rest of the article, in hindsight, the Birkdale land was always in the Mayor’s sights.

My understanding is that the Conservation Area Agreement with the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has not actually been finalised and signed, despite the Council CEO advising a council meeting that it had. That was certainly not the understanding of the Commonwealth department at the time.

Recent advice received by the President of the Koala Action Group from a Council officer stated that “Based on Council’s environmental approach to planning the precinct, assessment under the EPBC Act is not required”. I find this incredible. Construction work, noise during construction and operation and lighting for proposed 24/7 hours of construction and operation would have a devastating effect on wildlife. And the traffic generated on the adjoining road and the on-site ring road would also cause wildlife injuries and death. I believe that any works on this land should be subject to an EPBC referral. Council recently referred its new sporting precinct proposal at Heinemann Road in the south of the City but only after pressure from Koala Action Group and Birdlife Australia, the upshot being that the development proposal was declared a “controlled action”.

The Council in their myopic vision for the Precinct are even appealing part of the State Heritage listing for Willard’s Farm because it interferes with their plans for ring-road access to the whitewater centre.

International visitors would rather visit historic places with stories to tell and see koalas and other animals in the wild than go whitewater rafting in an artificial environment.

There has been no publicly released business case for a whitewater centre in the Redlands. Canoe slalom is a niche sport with few Olympic events and few competitors. There is already an acceptable venue for the sport at Penrith which will soon be transferred from Penrith City Council to the New South Wales government because of the exorbitant costs in operating and maintaining such a facility.

Logan City Council (abutting Redland) wanted to build a whitewater centre and had been open about this with their ratepayers since 2016 but Redland City was given the nod for some unfathomable reason. In order to sell it to Redlands ratepayers, Council has now re-branded its white-water proposal as the Redlands Resilience Training Centre to upskill the state’s and the nation’s emergency workers in swift water rescue. Why should (and how could) a small Council with a population of 163,000 possibly take financial responsibility for the operation and maintenance of such a facility when much larger cities have failed? Why should a council operate and maintain something that should be a state responsibility?

In the words of Bob Hawke about the Franklin Dam, “It is at one and the same time an environmental obscenity and an economic absurdity”.

Submission number 66 – 29 May 2023

More Olympic canoe slalom submissions

Of the 80 submissions now published by the Senate inquiry, nine deal mainly or solely with opposition to building a new canoe slalom facility at Birkdale in Redland City.

These submissions are:

Submission number	Submitter
10	Peter Wear
14	Maria Paola Torti
16	Jeanette and Brian Douglass
18	Stephen Sharry
55	Name withheld
61	CARP Redlands
66	Name withheld
69	Redlands2030
76	Name withheld

Submissions can be downloaded from the Senate Inquiry’s submission page.

Here is submission number 69 made by Redlands2030.

Petition to Queensland Parliament

A petition to Queensland Parliament calling for the Olympic canoe slalom events in 2032 to be held at the existing facility in Penrith NSW is attracting strong support.

More stories about whitewater plans

Oklahoma firming as Olympics canoe slalom venue is good news for Penrith

Proposed Olympic Canoe Slalom venue at Birkdale – by Peter Wear

A Redlands whitewater facility would conflict with Olympic Games principles

Birkdale Community Precinct Vision ignores community feedback

Redlands2030 – 22 June 2023