Australian sporting bodies welcome $250m govt funding boost

Australia's sporting bodies have welcomed A$385 million ($250.98 million) in federal government funding over the next 18 months announced on Friday by the Australian Sports Commission.

The Win Well and Play Well schemes will offer funding for 70 sports with 95% of Olympic and Paralympic sports receiving increases as they prepare for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter and 2028 Summer Games.

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President Ian Chesterman said the investment was particularly welcome with the home 2032 Brisbane Olympics on the horizon.

"It is critical to have this investment now, not only to ensure our athletes can prepare for Milano-Cortina 2026, and Los Angeles 2028 but also to ensure our team can put its best foot forward at Brisbane 2032," he said in a news release.

"For a home Games to be successful, we need a successful Australian team and now is the time to lay the groundwork for that."

Australia won a record 18 gold medals at this year's Paris Olympics under the leadership of Anna Meares, who was re-appointed as Chef de Mission for the 2028 Games this week.

"This is a record funding package for Australian sport, so they can take full advantage of the generational opportunity between now and Brisbane 2032," said Australia's Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells.

"Our record $385 million investment in high performance sport over the next 18 months, which includes a doubling of investment in Para sport, will enable our athletes to win well on the road to Los Angeles while also encouraging more Australians to play sport."

Swimming Australia, Football Australia and Commonwealth Games Australia were among the other bodies to welcome the funding.

Second review of Brisbane 2032 stadiums and venues launched

Meanwhile, the newly-elected premier of the Australian state of Queensland launched a second review of the main stadium options for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics on Friday, tasking an independent board with resolving the thorny issue.

David Crisafulli, whose Liberal National Party won the state election in late October and promised a solution within 100 days of taking power, made the announcement at the Future Brisbane event in the city.

The seven-person Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority, chaired by property expert Stephen Conry and established by legislation on Thursday, will have a wide remit for their review and produce a "bold plan" for the Games.

They will take a broad look at every planned venue, the Athletes' Villages and the transport infrastructure linking it all, as well as the potential legacy of the Olympics.

"Today we fire the starter's gun on Brisbane 2032 after 1,200 lost days," Crisafulli later posted on social media.

"Seven experts in their fields will help guide planning for a world class Games we can be proud of and a legacy future generations will rely on.

"We will put Queensland back on the path to victory for 2032."

The debate over a main Olympic stadium has been the very definition of a political football in the northeastern Australian state since Brisbane was awarded the Games in 2021.

The original plan was a A$2.7 billion ($1.76 billion) revamp of Brisbane's Gabba cricket stadium but Crisafulli's predecessor as premier, Steven Miles, blanched at the cost and ordered a review of plans last December.

The review, led by former city mayor Graham Quirk, reported in March and proposed a new purpose-built 55,000-seat Olympic stadium be constructed in an inner city park at a cost of A$3.4 billion.

Miles rejected the recommendation, again on the grounds of cost, and instead decided rugby stadium Lang Park would host the ceremonies with the track and field shunted out to the QSAC athletics ground in southern suburbs of the city.

Australian athletics great Raelene Boyle responded by saying Brisbane was planning a "cheapskate" Games and a group of local Olympic champions said in a letter to the government that using the QSAC site would be an "embarrassment" for the state.

At Future Brisbane on Friday, Crisafulli suggested the review could result in more events being moved to venues outside Brisbane and reiterated his view that a major new stadium was not required.

"What I think we need is world class venues," he said. "We don't have that at the moment. We've allowed that to disappear, and I want to see world class venues."

Refurbished venues would meet with the approval of Olympic chiefs, who awarded Brisbane the Games under the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) "New Norms" process aimed at saving hundreds of millions of dollars for hosts.