Opponents of a planned stadium at Victoria Park took advantage of the final day before it gets closed to the public, with hundreds turning out for a last-ditch rally at the inner-city parklands.
But as they voiced their frustration at the Crisafulli government’s broken election promise not to build a new stadium for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Albanese government gave them another blow.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt rejected two First Nations appeals, made under section 9 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, to urgently prevent work associated with the planned 65,000-seat stadium and National Aquatics Centre from starting from Monday.
It was then that the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority would take ownership of the land to prepare for venue construction.
Watt said, in assessing the section 9 applications, he considered whether a significant Aboriginal area was under serious and imminent threat of injury or desecration.
“In accordance with federal cultural heritage law, I have decided not to make declarations under section 9 of the Act in relation to these applications,” Watt said in a prepared statement on Sunday afternoon.
“This is because, based on the information before me with respect to each application, I was unable to be satisfied that either application met the statutory requirements for a declaration to be made under the Act.
“Today’s decisions follow consultation with interested parties, and I acknowledge the importance of the area to the Turrbal and Yagara Peoples.”
Watt said four applications made under section 10, along with another section 9 application, remained under consideration.
In one of the largest anti-stadium protests at Victoria Park, more than 1000 people gathered to demand work stop at least until the section 10 applications, brought by local First Nations elders, were determined.
After demonstrating along Herston Road, the protest moved into the park. There, Gaja Kerry Charlton, an elder who had made one of the section 10 applications, welcomed them to “Barrambin” and thanked them for their support.
“We wanted to give that message to the government, to the nation, to the world, that this action is deeply wounding us and many different First Nations people here on Yagara Country,” she said.
Former premier Campbell Newman said he was “really disappointed” with the LNP government, members of which – including Premier David Crisafulli and his deputy, Jarrod Bleijie – served in his cabinet between 2012 and 2015.
“They’re acting like they’ve been in government for 10 years rather than 18 months,” he said.
“It’s arrogance, it’s just breathtaking hubris, and I’m afraid the Deputy Premier is behaving in an unacceptable way.”
Bleijie has been strident in his criticism of stadium opponents, who he has called “loopy” and NIMBYs.
As premier, Newman appointed Bleijie the Queensland attorney-general – one of the most powerful positions in the ministry. On Sunday, Newman said he would not have condoned Bleijie’s commentary if he was still premier.
“In fact, he’d been given a strong talking to” he said.
“That’s not the way to behave in 2026, when people in the community have legitimate concerns about any project. So, I think the premier should be pulling him into line.”
Speaking on the Sunshine Coast, where he announced contracts had been awarded for the first stage of the Wave bus transit system, Bleijie described the people at Victoria Park as “professional protesters”.
Bleijie said they would be dealt with by police should they attempt any disruptions to GIICA’s work after the midnight handover, as he slammed those who were forced off the site on Friday.
“I will say I was shocked and appalled at the abuse, not only the police but council workers received by those protesters the other day at Victoria Park when they were just going about doing their job,” he said.
Uncle Adrian Burragubba, from Wangan and Jagalingou Country in Central Queensland, said the Brisbane City Council and police officers who participated in that Friday eviction should be investigated.
Burragubba said the site was sacred for all First Nations people, as had been passed down through generations of ancestors.
“They’re the ones who told us that song and that story, and that Dreaming, and that dance, and that rhythm,” he said.
“Where that rhythm comes from, and where that melody comes from as well, it’s from here – it’s from the natural environment.
“This is what we do as Aboriginal people. We bring the story, we bring the song and the dance, and a lot of our people that grow up with it from very young age, and this is where they come and learn.
“There’s a sacred site here. It’s a spring – we’re connected to that spring, we’re connected to the kinship ties with this mob here [the Yagara and Turrbul] from Wangan and Jagalingou Country.”
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