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Queensland’s Olympics minister says private money will pay for any potential funding blowouts for the 2032 Games, sticking to the government line no taxpayer money will be used to run the event.
The pledge from Tim Mander – also the state minister of sport and racing – comes as the operational budget of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is being reviewed after organising committee boss Andrew Liveris said the $4.9 billion estimate bore “no resemblance to reality” earlier this year.
The state and federal governments have committed $7.1 billion to building or upgrading 17 venues across Queensland, and the state has pencilled in a further $3.5 billion for four athletes villages.
Mander said the exact cost of the Games was “a little bit flexible” while the official list of sports and their venues were being nutted out, and that the governments would stick to that expenditure.
He said he hoped the sports were locked in by the International Olympic Committee by the end of the year.
“As things become more concrete, we’ll know the actual cost, and we can adjust accordingly,” he said.
“Our aim is to make sure Queensland taxpayers aren’t left with the bill, and that’s one of my major objectives from an operational point of view.”
When questioned on the “flexible” costs, Mander said the government would find ways to generate money.
“What I mean by that is it means if we’ve got to raise more money, if we’ve got to generate more ticket sales, we [will] look at other revenue-raising opportunities to meet whatever cost it might be,” he said.
The minister pointed to a Commonwealth Bank sponsorship already inked for the Olympics, which the Australian Financial Review reported to be worth $200 million, as an example of where money could come from, adding the government was on the hunt to lock in more deals.
He said the government would not can regional events despite the potential savings of a more centralised event.
“The state is quite electric in the regional towns about the events that are coming to them,” Mander said.
“We’re going to make it work. There is a lot to work to be done, but we’re going to make it work.”
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