As we roll into mid-year 2025, the prospect of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics looms large for the construction sector.

Beaten by rising material costs, rising fuel and energy costs and scarcity in skilled labour, the building Industry has never been in worse shape for building and procuring a major world event such as the Olympics. Acres of turf will be needed to upgrade existing fields for events across Queensland. Is there enough gravel, aggregate or concrete? Not by my measure.

Thousands of tonnes of steel, concrete aggregate, aluminium, glass and other items, acres of turf and landscape materials…………..all must be procured in a short time span.

The CFMEU looms large as battles will begin over large infrastructure spending by government agencies. Unless a clear agreement is in place, there will be industrial action at inconvenient stages of the build. We have no time to lose!

The sooner venues are finished, the more time Queensland will have to test them with large events before the Olympics. Testing facilities and then overcoming these and fixing bottlenecks, fixing and patching obvious flaws that inevitably are found during commissioning and testing of large new facilities will take time.

Are we training the security and police across a broad spectrum of threats? Will those who do not speak English be able to get support? Nearly every nation will have representatives and spectators here. Will it be a spectacular success or a catastrophic failure?

A lot hinges on the next 24 months. Current indications are a major rocket needs to be fired under organisers and the Queensland Government and the City Council. Not fast enough by any measure. One recruiting agency suggests 4,000 senior project managers are needed and soon. We do not have this many, and currently there are under deployed project managers who may take roles on mines or other infrastructure. The Queensland Government need a hu on SEEK and other employment sites and to be able for job seekers to see where there are work vacancies, who they are with and how long they would be deployed. We need to allow South African, Kiwi, English, UK, Canadian, USA, Singaporean and Irish who have worked here to return with a 4 year visa minimum, to get this work done!

Many older construction workers have called it quits in the industry over the recent downturn. These people need to be encouraged to return to the fray.

We need information kiosks and a ‘Dunny Tzar’ to ensure our facilities are first class. I rate them very poorly at present. The loo with a view has been demolished and is being replaced. That is a good start. Kiosk amenities should provide for huge numbers of visitors, over 1 million additional residents, and visitors to parks, national parks and urban parks. Our facilities need a huge upgrade which is long overdue. We need our amenities to be modern and cheerful, and not the terrible box we have dished up from many councils. All amenities across the state need to be upgraded, and in northern NSW where tourists will flock. Let’s get cracking. Our amenities across Queensland are a disgrace when we consider major events.

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