Protests Erupt as Brisbane Begins Construction on 2032 Olympic Stadium

Work has begun on the main stadium for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics after protestors were moved away and excavation equipment entered the Victoria Park site on Monday, news agency Associated Press reported.

The development starts nearly five years after Brisbane was awarded the Summer Games.

The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority took control of the inner-city site from Brisbane City Council at midnight.

Temporary fencing was put up before construction began on the Australian dollar 3.6 billion ($2.6 billion) stadium.

Security was present in large numbers, following arrests of five people by Queensland police in recent days and the removal of protest camps by council staff.

A small group of activists was shifted from inside the fenced area to outside just after midnight as preparations for construction continued.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli marked the start of work by turning the first sod.

He said people had been asking the government to “get on with it.”

“It's game on — we have a plan to deliver for the 2032 Games and beyond, and today, we get cracking on delivering it,” he told a news conference, as quoted by AP.

“Victoria Park will be the beating sport, cultural and green heart of Brisbane, and a place all Queenslanders can be proud of.”

Crisafulli said he respected the right to protest, but not in areas where “excavators and bulldozers” were operating.

Indigenous and environmental groups have opposed the stadium project at the heritage-listed park near central Brisbane, saying the development would remove green space and culturally important areas.

The Premier said that after construction, more than two-thirds of Victoria Park would remain as green public space.

On Sunday, hundreds of protestors gathered at the site.

By Monday morning, with police present at entrances and patrolling the area, the situation remained calm on a cool winter morning.

Andrea Lunt, organiser of Save Victoria Park, said protestors were discussing their next steps.

“This space with its heritage and its history is such a special asset for Brisbane,” she said.

“We're not an anti-Olympics group, but we don't support the Olympics in its current form."

The International Olympic Committee had last year approved Queensland’s venue plan for the 2032 Games, saying the project was “on the right path.”

Queensland won the bid to host the 2032 Olympics, with support from the Australian federal government for venue construction.

Last year, the state government removed Victoria Park from heritage, environmental and planning protections and converted it into freehold land.

These decisions have been challenged by Indigenous, heritage and environmental groups.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said he had received 10 applications seeking protection for a significant Aboriginal site at the park, described as being “under threat of injury or desecration.”

He said some applications had been rejected and others were still under review.

Watt said cultural heritage laws were not meant to stop projects, but to ensure steps were taken “to preserve or protect an area from being injured in some way or desecrated in some way."