Work has begun on the main stadium for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics after protesters were removed and excavators moved into the Victoria Park site on Monday, the Associated Press news agency reported. The development began almost five years after Brisbane was awarded the Summer Games.The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority took control of the inner-city site from Brisbane City Council at midnight. A temporary fence was erected before construction began on the A$3.6 billion ($2.6 billion) stadium.There was heavy security in recent days following the arrests of five people by Queensland Police and the removal of protest encampments by council staff.A small group of workers were moved out of the fenced area after midnight as construction preparations continued.Queensland Premier David Crisafoli started the work by turning the first sod. People are calling on the government to “get on with it,” he said.“It’s game on – we have a plan to deliver for the 2032 Games and beyond, and today, we’re cracking down on delivering it,” he told a news conference, as quoted by the AP. “Victoria Park will be the beating sport, cultural and green heart of Brisbane, and a place all Queenslanders can be proud of.”Crisafoli said he respects the right to protest, but not in areas where “diggers and bulldozers” are working.Indigenous and environmental groups have opposed plans for a stadium in a heritage-listed park near central Brisbane, saying the development would destroy green space and culturally important areas.The Prime Minister said that after construction, more than two-thirds of Victoria Park will remain as green public space.Hundreds of protesters gathered at this place on Sunday. By Monday morning, with police at the entrances and patrolling the area, things remained calm on a chilly winter morning.Save Victoria Park organizer Andrea Lunt said protesters were discussing their next steps.“This place is a special asset to Brisbane with its heritage and its history,” he said. “We are not an anti-Olympics group, but we do not support the Olympics in their current form.”The International Olympic Committee approved Queensland’s site plan for the 2032 Games last year, saying the plan was “on the right track”.Queensland won the bid to host the 2032 Olympics, with support from the Australian federal government to build the venue.Last year, the State Government removed Victoria Park from heritage, environmental and planning protections and converted it to freehold land. These decisions have been challenged by local, heritage and environmental groups.Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said he had received 10 applications to protect an important Aboriginal site in the park, which it said was “at risk of injury or desecration”.He said that some applications have been rejected and others are still under consideration.Watt said heritage laws are not meant to stop projects, but steps are taken to ensure “an area is protected or preserved from being injured in any way or desecrated in any way”.
