Gold Quarry: Rowers back $150m plan to keep Olympic rowing in SEQ

Queensland rowers have backed a proposed new flatwater course, which they say will be fairer to competitors than Rockhampton’s Fitzroy River, to host 2032 Olympic and Paralympic events in south-east Queensland.

The City of Moreton Bay Flatwater Precinct would hold about 20,000 spectators in Games mode, be serviced by two train stations and would be within easy walking distance of a confirmed Olympic venue – the under-construction Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre.

The site is currently a Boral quarry, in the process of decommissioning, which would eventually be repurposed for housing and lakeside recreation. The regatta course could easily be added, Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said, should rowing authorities deem the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton unsuitable for Olympic rowing.

The fairness of the Fitzroy River course has come into question from rowing authorities, with reviews still ongoing into its suitability as a competition venue – in a flowing river, water speed is not always consistent between lanes.

Queensland rower Eliza Bridgefoot, who was aiming to be a part of the Brisbane 2032 rowing team, said fairness of competition was essential, particularly at an Olympic level.

“It’s so important to have a fair course in rowing, because that’s what wins the 1 per cent medals, especially at an event like the Olympics,” she said. “A consistent course would be just absolutely amazing.”

Bridgefoot, who had competed on the Fitzroy River, said while the Rockhampton course was beautiful, its rowability was limited.

Launching Moreton Bay’s plan on Thursday, Flannery brushed off Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie’s insistence the previous day that, when it came to Olympic rowing, it was Rockhampton or nothing.

“The deputy premier is a character,” Flannery said.

“I understand their commitment to their plan into regional Queensland, to get them involved in the Olympics. It was a wise move, because we saw that big ‘them and us’ approach during the former government.

“But this is about getting the best bang for the buck ... It’s about if that technical assessment of the Rockhampton facility doesn’t stack up, they have a fallback plan.”

Flannery said the full cost of the facility would be about $250 million, but with Boral’s contribution – recouped through the development of about 750 homes – the cost to taxpayers would be about $150 million.

About half the cost, Flannery said, than the planned upgrades along the Fitzroy River.

“[Boral] get some benefits out of that, with a great housing establishment through there – probably enhanced if you have an international rowing facility there, as the value of those properties will go up,” he said.

“It’s a win for them, and it’s a win for us, because we’re getting private partnership involved with delivering infrastructure for the Olympics.”

Another saving would come from having the course so close to the Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre, which would allow them to share a media centre. That alone would save between $20 million and $30 million, Flannery said.

Boral was involved in the transformation of an old Penrith quarry into the Sydney International Regatta Centre for the Sydney 2000 Olympics – the venue the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority’s 100-day review recommended as rowing’s 2032 host venue.

The Crisafulli government ignored that recommendation in favour of the Fitzroy River, prompting widespread criticism from the rowing community and from within the International Olympic Committee.

Boral head of rehabilitation and remediation Andrew Bondini said their plans for Lawnton would surpass the quality of Penrith.

“It shows that these types of partnerships can be successful and can deliver world-class facilities, like a world-class rowing Regatta, and that’s what we did,” he said.

“The big thing here [at Lawnton] is the earthworks and the extraction process is largely done, so the land is ahead of what Sydney was originally.

“There’s still the shaping and profiling that still needs to occur across the site, but it just helps with the four-year timeline to deliver the the the outcome.”

That shaping and profiling would require about one million cubic metres to be moved, Bondini said, much of which would remain on site to reclaim some land and construct an island for the course’s finishing line.

The Lawnton proposal had the support of Queensland’s rowing community.

Bridgefoot said competitors would prefer to get the full Olympic social experience in the middle of the action, rather than be with other rowers only in Rockhampton.

“The atmosphere, the adrenaline you get from being surrounded by other athletes, is a key factor to Olympic performance and also the whole legacy and the meaning of the Olympics,” she said.

Rowing Queensland chief executive Anthea O’Loughlin said the organisation was agnostic when it came to where Olympic competition would be held in 2032, but it was focused on securing a home for rowing in south-east Queensland.

O’Loughlin said a facility such as Lawnton, with passenger rail and major road links, accommodation infrastructure and no need for regattas to fit in with operational requirements at dams, would transform the sport.

“We’re looking at rowing’s needs for the next 50 years, and 80 per cent of our participants are in south-east Queensland,” she said.

O’Loughlin said the proposed Lawnton facility should go ahead, regardless of whether it would be used as an Olympic venue.

Flannery said the council planned to submit its proposal to the International Olympic Committee and international federations directly.

Asked whether the state government would even consider the proposal, Bleijie’s office directed this masthead to a morning interview the deputy premier had with the ABC.

“We don’t have an option B. We don’t have option two. That is the delivery plan,” he said in that interview.

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