Media Conference - Moreton Bay

SHANE KING: Welcome everyone to a lovely part of the electorate, Kurwongbah, this morning. We've got Minister Catherine King, Premier, and Minister Grace Grace here. We've got some very exciting announcements, and I'll hand over to the Premier.

STEVEN MILES: Thanks, Shane. Welcome, everyone, to Petrie. This particular Olympic and Paralympic site is incredibly special to me. I grew up just down the street here on Young Street, and I- if you'd tried to tell me then that there’d be a university at the end of our street, I would never have believed you. And I certainly wouldn't have believed you if you said it would be the location for a world class Olympic and Paralympic venue. But it will be. That's what we're going to build here in Petrie. It's very exciting, and I think it goes to our vision for how Brisbane 2032 will transform this whole region. And I've been reminded just watching our athletes compete in Paris, what a special opportunity the Olympics and Paralympics are. Right now, people right around the world are sitting together with their families watching events in Paris, and in 2032 they'll be doing the same, but they'll be watching events in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and here in Petrie. It's very, very exciting. The venue itself we expect to be completed by 2028, and to be available for community sport and para sport in the meantime, underlining again how these new venues will deliver an amazing sporting legacy – and, in this case, a pre-legacy: sporting facilities that will be available well before the games.

Of course, the venues program is a joint effort between our government and the Albanese Government, and it's fantastic to have Catherine King in town to talk about the Petrie venue.

CATHERINE KING: Terrific, thanks so much. Thanks so much, Premier. It's lovely to be here. And I didn't know you were born just up the road, so that's a really lovely story to hear about the importance of that. And really, that's what this is all about. It's about not just the Olympics, it's about the legacy that we leave behind for young people that we've just seen playing sport, but also places to gather and to be with family, and how important they are in a society where we know how important social inclusion and how important sport is for that.

Well, today, of course, we are saying the green light is ready to go for the Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre. It's been fantastic to work with Minister Grace on this project. The project valuation report is now being completed, and expressions of interest will be ready to go this month for this project, for the construction management group, and then also looking to work for construction. 

This is an expanded facility. We're now doing 12 courts. It will be able to have netball, basketball, pickleball for those of us who are a little bit older and not as fit as some of these young people that we've seen out there as well. A number of court sports here, but also making sure that the amenity is here – a cafe is part of the precinct as well. And again, this is part of what we're doing with the Olympics infrastructure, a partnership of 50-50 with the Queensland Labor Government here. We're making sure that we're not just building facilities for the Olympics, we are building facilities for the future of this region. We know how important sport is. We know how important the legacy is of the Olympics. It's been great to see overnight Jess Fox and, of course, two of our swimmers in the pool, gold and silver medals again. We feel very sad about the Tillies, but they've just done us proud, as they always do on the international stage.

Again, can I just say, this is a really terrific partnership that we have with the Queensland Labor Government. The Albanese Labor Government is delighted to be partnering here on these Olympic facilities, and it really very much is about the legacy we leave behind. The great thing about this facility is that it will be available for sports before the Olympics, and then obviously Olympics and then after the Olympics well and truly.

The other thing we're announcing today, which is also- is the first tranche of projects under the South East Queensland City Deal, some 11 councils, I think over $200 million worth of projects, large and small. And I'll let- once we've finished with this the Mayor of Moreton Bay will have a bit of a chat about some of the things that they're doing. But 11 councils, over $200 million worth of projects, active transport projects, projects that really are about improving the liveability of this region. And it's been great, again, to partner not just with the Queensland Government, but over 11 local government areas in South East Queensland on these important projects. And I'm going to hand over to Minister Grace.

GRACE GRACE: Thank you, Minister King, and welcome to a beautiful day here in Brisbane, in Queensland and at Moreton Bay. And it's wonderful to be Minister today, and it's wonderful to have the Suns here, the basketballers that are representing a local club, because this is going to be an amazing facility. This is another milestone. We've already announced $560 million worth of projects going forward on the Sunshine Coast and at Chandler. And as has been said previously, this is combined funding between the Federal Government and the State Government to deliver the venues for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games that we'll be hosting here in Brisbane. The Moreton Bay- we will receive a fantastic new venue right here behind us on this wonderful site. Over $200 million will be invested. The review committee recommended that we increase the number of courts for a growing community at this end of Brisbane in Queensland, and we're now building 12 courts that will form part of this particular venue. We're at the stage now where tenders will be called to project manage. We hope to start and have that all in place by next year, and this venue should be completed by 2028, well in line and well before the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will give the community the benefit of using these wonderful facilities for years before we actually host the 2032 games.

The project validation report is in, it's very thorough, and this facility will have a capacity for 10,000 to be able to host a wide range of events. Boxing is one of them, and it's great to see Jeff Horn here, and it will be terrific to have a venue of this calibre hosting some of the boxing matches. And I hope that our Queenslander, Teremoana Teremoana, will do well soon. And congratulations to the athletes in Paris that have won silver, gold and bronze – I think a fantastic feat for Australia. So 10,000 spectators, a wide variety of sports, and it really is part of our minor venues that we need to build. As we know, when we watch the Paris Games, these venues form- all the different sports are played in all these different venues, and Moreton Bay will be a host to many of them, right in the seat of Shane King, the member for Kurwongbah, and I know that he's particularly proud of that. This is going to be a fantastic achievement. It will deliver some great facilities not only for the games, but the legacy that this will bring to this community. And I know Mayor Peter Flannery is very, very proud – we’ve partnered with him on getting access to this great piece of land here behind us, and we’ll be building a world class facility. And as Minister King said, we’ll be able to play volleyball, badminton, boxing of course, futsal, wheelchair rugby, pickleball – which I hear is becoming more and more popular. I haven’t had the opportunity to play pickleball, but I believe that it’s becoming very, very popular. So from nine to 12 courts, over $200 million investment on a facility that will be here for many years to come, and for the benefit of the community.

Can I also join with the Federal Minister King in announcing that 22 local infrastructure projects are now going to be funded under our Liveability Queensland Fund? This is a great investment on upgrading facilities and local governments, making sure that we've got the leisure and outdoor venues, making sure that we've got aquatic centres that meet our fantastic swimmers’ needs. And we know we're having a big increase in facilities at Chandler with an over $42 million investment, and obviously, making sure that we can make our cities more liveable than what they currently are. But why would you want to be anywhere else? Look at this. We're watching the Paris Olympics being beamed into our homes from Paris, and I can't wait for Brisbane to be beamed into the Paris homes in 2032.

Thank you. Mayor.

PETER FLANNERY: Thank you, Minister. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. An absolute pleasure to be here this morning. I'm very excited and I want to thank both the Federal Government and State Government for agreeing with our proposal that this was a fantastic location to have an Olympic venue at as part of the 2032 bid that the Council of Mayors initiated many, many years ago, and everyone's got on board since then. Today's announcement, I suppose, cements that this is the location that's going to have 12 indoor sporting courts, up to seating capacity of 10,000 people in the event mode. And the legacy for the city of Moreton Bay, there's going to be pre and post-Olympics that fills a huge demand in our community for indoor sports centres. This location here, this Land Council land, 35 hectares- precinct right here we're standing on, we put that forward in the opportunity to try and get this centre here. So we appreciate the support from the Federal Government and State Government and the investment in infrastructure, particularly on these kind of facilities for the city of Moreton Bay. We’re the third largest local government in Australia, one of the fastest growing in Australia, with 240 people a week moving here, so we need this kind of investment. And this kind of infrastructure is going to go a long way in supplying those kind of facilities that the community need and want. And also, to have the Olympics here is quite amazing, right across the road from the train station. People can walk to this facility from the train station. So it's ideal. It ticks all the boxes. So we appreciate the support and investment in the city of Moreton Bay.

Also, I want to comment, on behalf of the Council of Mayors as the Deputy Chair of the Council of Mayors, the Liveability Fund, the first part of the city deal, very excited that councils in Queensland, 11 councils, all get to share in this fund – a three-way agreement with three levels of government investing in critical infrastructure, as we've heard. This makes the investment live. It makes it liveable. It makes it real that people are now going to see the investment, whether it's for recreation facilities, whether it's for sporting events- whether it's for sporting facilities, sorry. This investment makes a huge difference to the local governments in Queensland and the communities in South East Queensland. So we do appreciate the commencing of the Liveability Fund. It’s a huge city deal project. This is the first part of it, and we're very excited on behalf of the councils in South East Queensland to share that with the Minister today and hear that announcement. So thank you very much for being part of that.

I'll hand over to Jeff.

JEFF HORN: Sure. Look, I'm very excited that there's a venue like this – 10,000 people, spectators can be here. This is definitely an event I would be looking at if I was still fighting or boxing, I should say, but that's not happening anymore. So I'm super excited for all these events to be able to be here for the Olympics. And it's just great for our city to be able to just keep growing. And everyone's going to want to be here because I don't want to leave, that's for sure. So, I just keep seeing things like this turning up and making our city bigger and better.

CATHERINE KING: Thank you. All right, I think we're happy to take questions. Who do you want to start with? Premier?

JOURNALIST: Yeah. Yeah, maybe, actually, either- maybe either one of you. [Indistinct] …

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Pick a favourite.

JOURNALIST: It's on the south east- it’s on the city deal. So the city deal includes a $450 million Olympics-driven commitment for a new Woolloongabba-Brisbane metro station, which I believe is underground. I guess, considering we're not overhauling or demolishing and rebuilding the Gabba, is that money or that project- does it need to be renegotiated? Is it still on the table? What's the status of that?

CATHERINE KING: I [indistinct] …

JOURNALIST: You see what I mean?

CATHERINE KING: Absolutely. So the money's still there. Project is still there. There are ongoing discussions between the City of Brisbane and the Queensland Government and ourselves about that. I think there’s- we haven't made any decisions about that at this stage, but there is some ongoing discussions with that $400 million from the three-way partnership [indistinct] the South East Queensland City Deal is still there. Minister Mellish raised this issue with me yesterday, as did Adrian Schrinner when I saw him, and we'll just continue to have discussions, but no decisions are made yet.

JOURNALIST: So when you talk about I guess raising the issue, is there- I guess, is it definitely going to happen, or …?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I haven't got anything more to say, just that that's been raised as an issue and there's just ongoing discussions about that.

JOURNALIST: The Queensland and the Federal Government I guess struck the deal on the Olympics funding a couple of years ago now, from memory. Obviously, costs have escalated since then. Is the Federal Government open to putting in more money, especially for these smaller venues?

CATHERINE KING: Well, of course, our contribution of $3.5 billion on a 50-50 basis is a capped contribution. And so we've said that very clearly from the start, and the intergovernmental agreement is that the really terrific thing that we are seeing with the project evaluation report on this project and as well as the contingencies that we've put in place, particularly on those smaller venues, is that projects are coming in within the envelope of funding that is available. And that's really important, because we know that there are big asks in terms of infrastructure. 

People want more hospitals, more schools. They want more sporting facilities at the community level and more heavy rail, more light rail. All of those things are really important. And we recognise that, with the Olympics, what we are building is really we're building cities. We're making sure that we have this unbelievable opportunity to showcase Brisbane, Queensland, and Australia to the world through this Olympics. And you can see that's what's happening with Paris, and what I- you know, you couldn't think of any more beautiful backdrop than Brisbane. It's just incredible, and all of the surrounding areas.

But what we're also doing is building that legacy and building those structures, and we're really conscious that within the new norms of the Olympics, that that's what they want to do. They don't want to see venues that are never used again post-Olympics. They want to actually change and transform our cities and suburbs. And that's really what this partnership is about, is making sure that, and then alongside with the South East Queensland City Deal, that we're also improving amenity for people who live in these communities for years to come.

JOURNALIST: Premier?

STEVEN MILES: Yeah, what she said.

JOURNALIST: Premier, do you think that you're too soft on the CFMEU?

STEVEN MILES: Not at all. In fact, the violence that we have seen in our construction industry is completely unacceptable, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to stamp out that kind of violence and bullying and intimidation. It is not acceptable in any workplace. It is not acceptable in our construction industry. I became aware yesterday of allegations of a violent assault upon a construction worker. That allegation has now been referred to police. I've spoken to the Police Commissioner, who has assured me that it is being investigated and is being taken incredibly seriously. I also spoke yesterday with the Australian Government Minister, Murray Watt, and again underlined how important it was that the administration application that they are making for the CFMEU applies here in Queensland.

I also met yesterday with Minister Grace, who is here with us today, and we are working on what steps are necessary to apply that administration to the Queensland branch of the CFMEU. We are determined to take what steps are necessary at a state level to stamp out this violence and intimidation, because it is not acceptable.

JOURNALIST: From a preliminary view, what steps would that be?

STEPHEN MILES: It will most likely involve urgent legislation to appoint an administrator to the Queensland registered entity, the Queensland branch of the CFMEU.

JOURNALIST: And do you think that you could get that done in the next sitting of Parliament?

STEPHEN MILES: We will do whatever is necessary to get that in place and to have it in place as quickly as possible after the Australian Parliament passes their legislation.

JOURNALIST: Haven’t we – I guess, when the allegations against CFMEU in New South Wales and Victoria came out you were criticised for not going hard enough, I guess, on [indistinct] branch. That happened again yesterday and now you’re swinging against the CFMEU. Why does it take you like over 48 hours, 24 hours to get here?

STEPHEN MILES: What changed yesterday is, this clear allegation of violent behaviour by the CFMEU in retaliation against another worker. I am a proud trade unionist and Queensland has a strong and mighty union movement and that is important. But there is no place for violence or bullying or intimidation, and I have said that every single time I have spoken about the CFMEU.

JOURNALIST: Can I get Minister King again?

CATHERINE KING: Yes, you can.

STEPHEN MILES: You can do them all.

[Laughter]

JOURNALIST: Just on Rex.

CATHERINE KING: Yes. Yup.

JOURNALIST: I guess we saw Bonza collapse, now Rex. Does Australia have a duopoly problem when it comes to domestic flight carriers?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think that, you know, aviation is challenging. It has a lot of costs in it. It's got a lot of capital costs in it. It's got a lot of workforce costs in it as well. It is a challenging environment. And it's not just here in Australia that we see aviation struggle, that happens right the way around the world, it is a difficult industry to be in. And obviously, what we've seen with Rex going now into voluntary administration, we know just how important it is to make sure that we continue to have those regional services. We will work with the administrators to ensure that regional services are continuing. We know that that is part of the administration, that they've said they will continue those. But what comes next and how Rex emerges from this is important and important to Government and important to the regions.

JOURNALIST: Minister, Senator Bridget McKenzie has criticised the government for failing to take actions to keep the aviation industry competitive. What do you make of that?

CATHERINE KING: I'm not going to cop that, frankly, from Senator McKenzie. Senator McKenzie politicises every single opportunity in anything that occurs. Frankly, we have done more to reform slots at Sydney Airport, to reform the aviation industry than they did in their decade in office. Remember, they presided over, frankly, Virgin going to the brink, didn't support Dnata workers during COVID, we saw thousands of jobs. It was me who was standing beside Qantas workers and Virgin workers during COVID trying to get the government to save their jobs. So I'm not going to cop that, frankly, from a Senator who has done very, very little and a previous government who did absolutely nothing to reform aviation slots reforms, which we've announced. And the response to the Harris Review, which the Government has announced back in February, are underway. The work to get that done is important. There have been no reform reforms to slots at Sydney Airport for over 27 years. The Albanese-Labor Government is doing that.

JOURNALIST: There are reports that [indistinct] with plans to work with regional routes that Rex has been operating. Would you welcome that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, look, again, I think it's too early for us to speculate that. Of course we are interested. You know, the administrator will be interested to from hearing from any party who wants to work with them to make sure that regional aviation continues and we’ll make our way through that with the administrator. And, you know, obviously, if there's interest in the business, that is a good thing.

JOURNALIST: I just want to confirm, has the Government ruled out any action or is like something like a bail out still an option?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, it's a little early to say, but we have said very clearly, for regional consumers, regional communities, Rex is often the only airline that is flying in and it is vitally important. Many state governments, I think here as well, also provide subsidies or subsidise intrastate travel, particularly for medical appointments. And Rex has been very much a part of that, and its subsidiaries very much a part of that. We are very determined to keep regional aviation up in the air and we want to make sure that we have a strong regional aviation sector following this administration.

It's early days yet. If you remember, it took the previous government several months to make a decision about what it was planning to do in relation to Virgin's requests. We have yet to receive requests from the administrator, but I am sure that we will do and we will work our way through those in a systematic way. We'll do that expeditiously, but we will also do that in the best interests of the travelling public and the taxpayer.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just on the Olympics again, just on Brisbane loans (*) - the Brisbane Arena.

CATHERINE KING: Yes.

JOURNALIST: What's the - what's happening there?

CATHERINE KING: So the business case is underway. Obviously we've now, after the review, we've accepted all of the recommendations of the review that came to us from the Queensland Government and the relocation of that now to the Roma Street Parklands. There's obviously geotechnical work in the business case being undertaken for that. We'll receive that. I think our Minister Grace will be able to tell you where that's up to in terms of the time frame, but we will do that. And again, it needs to go through the same process that the minor projects are going through. There's business cases, project validation reports, so we're still waiting on that.

JOURNALIST: So for clarity, we're not building over a rail line anymore?

CATHERINE KING: That's correct. That was obviously ruled out as part of the review, just in terms of costs and the logistics of doing that. Much as we would have liked to have seen that happened that just, logistically, was going to be too difficult to do.

JOURNALIST: Does the success of the swimming, I guess, stadium in Paris give you confidence that a drop in pool is a good idea?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, that's happened all over the world, though. These are facilities that have been used and you've seen those in the Olympics. You know, my concentration is obviously, as the Infrastructure Minister, in ensuring that we've got these infrastructure projects and the funding right and that partnership right. And we're working, you know, really hand in glove with the Queensland Government on this. These are going to be a great and successful games and an incredible opportunity to showcase Brisbane, Queensland and Australia to the world. And we're really looking forward to, you know, the announcements we're making today. We've already made previous announcements about the minor venues and that work is continuing forward.

JOURNALIST: Can I just get Minister Grace [indistinct]?

GRACE GRACE: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. Do you know where it's up to?

GRACE GRACE: Yes, yes. Look, already there's been discussions happening. The independent authority obviously now has the running of that and the independent authority is now talking already with residents who live on the Roma Street Parklands. They are preparing the project validation report for us to have a look at - probably ready by next year sometime, I would say. It takes a while. It's this is a new venue. We haven't looked at that venue since the review recommended it. We've taken the recommendation together with the Federal Government, the Albanese Government. It's going to be a significant project and already work is being done so we can get the project validation report done, which is a very thorough analysis of delivering of that venue.

JOURNALIST: Minister Grace, you're also the Industrial Relations Minister. Can you shed light, I guess, on the conversations you've had with the Premier about moving forward on the CFMEU?

GRACE GRACE: Yes, we met yesterday and we are absolutely determined that whatever action is taken federally - because these are all governed under the Fair Work Act - that we will have complementary legislation in this state to ensure that should the General Manager of the Fair Work Commission take action with regards to administration, and that it also refers to the CFMEU here in Queensland, we will have complementary legislation to ensure that that administrator is able to operate on the state registered branch as well. Those discussions not only have been had between myself and the Premier but also with the Minister, Federal Minister, newly appointed Minister, Murray Watt. And I know that my department is liaising with the Federal Government on what that legislation looks like, should they have to legislate going forward. We will know that by the time our Parliament resumes and we will have the necessary amendments that we need to do to complement any action taken at a federal level.

Remember, most of all of this is under the Fair Work Commission, not under the state registered organisation. But we do need to ensure that the state registered organisation is also complimentary on what’s happening federally.

PETER FLANNERY: Thank you.

GRACE GRACE: Thanks everyone.