{"id":20074,"date":"2026-05-28T08:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/20074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:23:12","slug":"brisbane-stadium-protesters-defy-eviction-threats-as-construction-looms-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/20074\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane stadium protesters defy eviction threats as construction looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne, Australia
Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n

A coalition of environmentalists and Indigenous Australian activists camping in the city park where the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics will be built is holding firm against threats they will be forcibly removed to allow construction to start next week.<\/p>\n

Victoria Park, one of Brisbane\u2019s few significant inner-city green spaces, is due to be fenced off from Monday as building starts on the Olympic stadium precinct.<\/p>\n

\"\"
People walk through Victoria Park-Barrambin, where the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics will be built, in Brisbane, Australia, on 8th December, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters\/Hollie Adams\/File photo<\/p>\n

Protesters, who have pitched an Aboriginal tent embassy in the park, have been warned by the Queensland state government they will be removed if they do not vacate the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it stands, participants say they intend to remain at the site and continue their campaign,\u201d Aboriginal elder Gaja (Aunty) Kerry Charlton told Reuters by phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also point to protections under the [Queensland] Human Rights Act, which they argue supports their right to maintain and defend cultural heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The construction schedule was set despite an outstanding application to the Australian government by Indigenous groups to protect the park in perpetuity as a \u201csignificant Aboriginal area\u201d.<\/p>\n

The park, which includes many old-growth trees, is known as Barrambin (\u201cWindy Place\u201d) to the Yagara and Magandjin peoples, who consider it culturally and spiritually significant.<\/p>\n

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Premier Steve Crisafulli has said the state cannot afford any delays in the construction of the 63,000-seat stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland is feeling a sense of pride, and we\u2019re not going to have that hijacked by a group of activists, I\u2019m just not going to do that,\u201d he told media last week.<\/p>\n

Workers contracted by the body that is charged with delivering 2032 Games venues began erecting fencing at the park on Tuesday, in an area adjacent to where a press conference was held by advocacy group Save Victoria Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cBit of humbug\u201d
The activists accused the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) of trying to disrupt their press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe old grannies would say there was a bit of humbug happening there. It was probably, in layman\u2019s terms, some sabotage of our media gathering,\u201d said Charlton.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A view of York\u2019s Hollow waterhole at the Victoria Park-Barrambin, where the main stadium will be built for the 2032 Olympics, in Brisbane, Australia, on 21st July, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters\/Nick Mulvenney\/File photo<\/p>\n

GIICA said it had been undertaking site investigation works since October and used temporary fencing for safety, while Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the workers were \u201cleft shaken\u201d after being confronted by protesters.<\/p>\n

Crisafulli confirmed Victoria Park as the location for the Olympic stadium over a year ago, breaking an election promise that he would not green-light a new arena in the city.<\/p>\n

He has said no more than a third of the park\u2019s green space will be used for the stadium and an aquatics centre being built for Australia\u2019s third Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Save Victoria Park group commissioned an independent assessment by hydrogeologist Ted Hamer, who found the area lies above a functioning watercourse fed by a natural spring which could be \u201cpermanently terminated or unacceptably diminished\u201d by the Olympic stadium construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance of permanent spring-fed freshwater sources, springs and the associated ecology to Aboriginal people and early settlers is undeniable,\u201d Hamer said in the assessment.<\/p>\n

Charlton said activists were prepared to dig in for a prolonged fight to protect the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ancestors were in the park, their children, grandchildren. We all visited there and played there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat cultural heritage is tied to the protection of the spring and the trees \u2013 and also those animals and habitats that are connected to that ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne, AustraliaReuters A coalition of environmentalists and Indigenous Australian activists camping in the city park where the main…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23,19362,99,19363,7820,19364,19365,3742,19366,18996,19367,19368,7152,19369],"class_list":["post-20074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-australia","tag-barrambin","tag-brisbane","tag-environmentalists","tag-far-north-queensland","tag-games-independent-infrastructure-and-coordination-authority","tag-giica","tag-indigenous-australians","tag-magandjin","tag-olympic-games","tag-save-victoria-park-group","tag-steve-crisafulli","tag-victoria-park","tag-yagara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}