Public Hearing - Inquiry into the Planning and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (POLA) 2025
On 3rd June 2025, Save Victoria Park testified at the Brisbane public hearing and inquiry into the State Government’s proposed Planning and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 (the POLA Bill).
The public hearing was run by the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee with the following MPs on the committee -
Mr Jim McDonald MP for Lockyer (Chair) (liberal)
Ms Jonty Bush MP for Cooper (labor)
Mr Terry James MP for Mulgrave (liberal)
Mr David Kempton MP for Cook (liberal)
Mr Chris Whiting MP for Bancroft (labor)
Mr Bart Mellish MP for Aspley (labor)
What is the POLA Bill?
The POLA Bill was introduced by the Queensland State Government on 1 May 2025 by Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie MP. The bill was promoted as streamlining Olympic development, but has faced significant criticism due to undermining community consultation, restricting democratic processes and undermining human rights. It’s been viewed as a bill which strips away the checks and balances that exist to protect public land and community voices.
"The ability of community groups to go to court to enforce planning laws is essential to ensuring they are complied with. This proposal to allow government to override planning laws is entirely unacceptable"
-Queensland Council for Civil Liberties“It’s a slap in the face to the community, and to democracy”
- Rosemary O’Hagan from Save Victoria Park
This bill proposes to override 15 important laws that protect Queensland’s environment, water, heritage and planning processes - all to fast-track Olympic developments. Here are the 15 acts which would be overriden -
(a) the City of Brisbane Act 2010;
(b) the Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995;
(c) the Economic Development Act 2012;
(d) the Environmental Offsets Act 2014;
(e) the Environmental Protection Act 1994;
(f) the Fisheries Act 1994;
(g) the Integrated Resort Development Act 1987;
(h) the Local Government Act 2009;
(i) the Nature Conservation Act 1992;
(j) the Planning Act 2016;
(k) the Queensland Heritage Act 1992;
(l) the Regional Planning Interests Act 2014;
(m) the South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009;
(n) the Vegetation Management Act 1999;
(o) the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008.
The bill also proposes to remove the requirement to have at least one Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander on the Olympic board and at least 50% women on the board.
The bill was referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee for detailed consideration and report.
Public Submissions to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee
As a part of this process, the community was given 20 days (from 1 May to 20 May 2025) to write submissions to the committee. You can read more about this here.
The committee received over 900 submissions (117 of which were deemed invalid)
The committee received an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposed bill
Approximately 88% of visible submissions were unsupportive of the bill
There was also major concern across industry bodies and in the community
329 visible submissions referenced Victoria Park highlighting major concerns regarding the
negative environmental, heritage, cultural impacts from stadium construction as well as
raising concerns about the Bill’s disregard for democratic legal processes. This was, by far,
the largest category of submissions received.
Key Excerpts from Submissions to the POLA Bill Parliamentary Hearing
“Without the rule of law, the State will never be ready to host the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and should not consider itself worthy of doing so” - Bar Association of Queensland
“When the visitors come to the Olympics, we want to be in a position to celebrate the heritage of the oldest living culture in the world. Passing laws to minimise the voices of Aboriginal people around the protection of cultural heritage in the approval process for Olympics is antithetical to this goal, and sets the stage for significant animosity and attention at the continued history of dispossession and destruction of cultural heritage” - Queensland Conservation Council
“Barrambin/Victoria Park Master Plan was undertaken by Brisbane City Council between 2020 and 2024. The Master Plan reflects four years of community and Traditional Owner consultation; the proposed Bill’s sudden override for the development of the 2032 Olympic Stadium betrays the intent of the Master Plan, the democratic process, and disrespects local governance” - Australian Institute of Architects, First Nations Advisory Committee and Cultural Reference Panel (FNAC)
“If Queenslanders cannot enforce their legal rights, they have no rights at all” - Queensland Council of Civil Liberties
Public Hearing-Inquiry
There was also a public hearing into the bill on 3rd June 2025. The program for this public hearing-inquiry can be viewed below as well as key testimony videos.
Save Victoria Park’s Testimony
Rosemary O'Hagan & Andrea Lunt from Save Victoria Park testify at the public hearing into the Queensland State Government's proposed POLA Bill.
"The State picked Victoria Park as a stadium site, despite knowing that it was legally protected, and therefore creates the need to get rid of critical laws protecting the site. There were, and are, far more suitable stadium sites for stadium construction. It's important to note that Victoria Park is a high risk site, inherently unsuitable for stadium construction. It has a sloping terrain, it has hard granite, it's located in an already congested area with 5,000 school students, it is also next to the biggest hospital in the state. The cost of the build is at higher risk of budget blowouts and time delays. If the government was so concerned about delays for this Olympics, it wouldn't have chosen such a high-risk site. It would have chosen a brownfield site like they did in Sydney or in London. It would have chosen a flat site." - Rosemary O’Hagan from Save Victoria Park
Spring Hill Community Group & Brisbane Residents United Testimony
Dr Neil Peach from the Spring Hill Community Group & Elizabeth Handley from Brisbane Residents United testify at the public hearing into the Queensland State Government's proposed POLA Bill.
“Over the next 10 to 15 years, Brisbane, if it was to retain its park-to-people ratio, would need 30 new Victoria Parks. Maximising a hectare here or there at the corner of the park… is not going to make a lot of difference. This land and this process will be scarred if you take nearly 60% of it for a stadium and its associated facilities.” - Dr Neil Peach
Queensland Conservation Council, Louisa Bonner & Aunty Sandra King Testimony
Dave Copeman from the Queensland Conservation Council, Louisa Bonner from Yugambeh Jagera Traditional Language Country and Aunty Sandra King, an Elder woman of Yagara, Quandamooka, Bundjalung and South Sea Islander ancestry testify at the public hearing into the Queensland State Government's proposed POLA Bill.
“How do we say to the world, ‘Let’s celebrate the most incredible old traditions here, but we stuffed up their culture and we gave them a two-week period to have a say about it’? That is what we think we are doing when we are inviting the world here and saying, ‘Let’s celebrate these cultures.’ That is not what we should be doing. It makes me feel sick to my stomach that, once again, this parliament is dispossessing Aboriginal people of what limited rights they have for the sake of a political football.” - Dave Copeman, Director of Queensland Conservation Council
Queensland Law Society, Bar Society & Queensland Environmental Law Association Testimony
Representatives from the Queensland Law Society, the Bar Association and the Queensland Environmental Law Association testify at the public hearing into the Queensland State Government's proposed POLA Bill.
Mr Michael Batty, President, Queensland Environmental Law Association
Mr Michael Connor, Chair, Planning and Environment Law Committee, Queensland Law Society
Mr Matt Dunn, Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Law Society
Ms Cate Heyworth-Smith, President, Bar Association of Queensland
Ms Kristen Hodge, Co-Chair, First Nations Legal Policy Committee, Queensland Law Society (via videoconference)
Mr Troy Webb, Member, Planning and Environment Law Committee, Queensland Law Society
Save Victoria Park’s Response to DSDIP Report on POLA Bill Submissions
DSDIP is the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. This is the department which is required to report on the POLA Bill submissions received.
You can read DSDIP’s report on the submissions here.
You can read Save Victoria Park’s Response to DSDIP’s Report on the POLA bill submissions here.