Securing Ipswich’s 2032 Games legacy escalated as top council priority
01 September 2025
Elite sporting facilities to nurture local talent and attract the world’s best athletes will be a focus of Ipswich City Council’s campaign to secure legacy benefits from the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Council is escalating its advocacy for the delivery of Brisbane 2032 Games legacy projects in Ipswich, in collaboration with other levels of government, by adding this to the list of Regionally Significant Projects which are the top priorities for the city.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said elevating the Games to the Regionally Significant Projects list ensured further advocacy for critical initiatives such as the attraction of pre-Games training opportunities, the North Ipswich Sport and Entertainment Precinct, a new synthetic athletics track, and ensuring Brighton Homes Arena remains an Olympic venue on the Brisbane 2032 masterplan.
“Council is very serious about Ipswich securing our fair share of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games investment by other levels of government to benefit our residents in the long term,” Mayor Harding said.
“We are a sports-mad city with a thriving grassroots and community sporting landscape that consistently produces world-class talent, including our nation’s most successful athlete out of the Paris 2024 Games, swimming champion Mollie O’Callaghan.
“Having released our Leveraging 2032: Our Roadmap to the Olympic and Paralympic Games policy document in 2023 and setting up the Ipswich 2032 Legacy Working Group, council has been working towards delivering these benefits. With just under seven years to the Games, it’s now time to ramp this up.
“With Brighton Homes Arena slated as a competition venue under the 2032 Delivery Plan, we will continue to work with the Organising Committee as they finalise the competition program over the next 12 months to secure a medal event for Ipswich.
“With the Games injecting $8.1 billion into the Queensland economy, we also want to use this chance to showcase Ipswich as a great place to visit, boosting our brand as a tourism destination to an international audience.
“There may not be a better opportunity in our lifetimes to secure game-changing infrastructure, whether it be for sport, tourism, transport or otherwise.
“Ipswich’s legacy from the 2032 Games now sits alongside the Ipswich Central to Springfield Central Public Transport Corridor, a second inner city river crossing and key upgrades to major highways in terms of importance for our efforts in the advocacy space.
“These projects are transformative, taking us into the future as a city that is connected, vibrant and sustainable with a population on track to surge from 265,000 to more than half a million by 2046.”
Economic and Cultural Development Committee Chairperson Councillor Pye Augustine said several key initiatives have been identified that will bring legacy benefits from the 2032 Games for Ipswich.
“We will be prioritising the delivery of a much-needed synthetic athletics track in our city. As home to one of world athletics’ most exciting prospects in Gout Gout, we don’t want our rising stars to have to travel elsewhere to train,” Cr Augustine said.
“With thousands of the world’s best athletes across dozens of sports descending on our corner of the world and Ipswich being within an hour of most major competition venues, we also want to ensure our city’s local sporting infrastructure is up to scratch to provide options as elite training venues.
“As part of this push, I’m pleased council is conducting an audit of all public and private sporting facilities across the city to determine their capabilities of being used as pre-Games training venues, as well as identifying where further investment is needed.
“Ipswich also needs additional sporting infrastructure as our city grows and a new major sport hub, featuring outdoor facilities, and a new indoor sports centre, are necessary to meet the demand from our residents.
“With council delivering a new western grandstand at the new North Ipswich Sport and Entertainment Precinct – currently the North Ipswich Reserve – we will continue to advocate for further funding for additional seating to boost spectator capacity at the rectangular ground.
“Council will continue to work towards these important projects for our city, including other legacy benefits including protection and enhancement of a section of the natural environment as part of a Legacy Forest, tourism opportunities and procurement for local businesses.”
LIST OF IPSWICH CITY COUNCIL REGIONALLY SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS
- Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games opportunities
- Critical and Enabling Infrastructure
- Ipswich Second River Crossing
- Ipswich Central to Springfield Central Public Transport Corridor
- North Ipswich Sport and Entertainment Precinct
- Better Bus Network for Ipswich
- Ebenezer Regional Industrial Area
- Waste and Circular Economy Transformation
Ipswich City Council respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners, the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul people of the Yugara/Yagara Language Group, as custodians of the land and waters we share. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, as the keepers of the traditions, customs, cultures and stories of proud peoples.