The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a significant event for all of Queensland. With it comes a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Delivery of a successful games will bring economic opportunity to Queensland, and lasting legacy benefits to the community and across our transport, infrastructure, and sporting facilities.
Delivering a megaevent such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games is highly complex. It involves many stakeholders, spanning multiple layers of government as well as the private sector. Successful delivery will require strong planning, coordination, and risk management.
To give parliament and the public visibility and assurance over this key event, we will deliver a series of audits that will span this forward work plan and will continue through to delivery of the games and beyond.
The following figure details the key themes that will guide our audit work and reports to parliament over the life cycle of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We note that responsible entities’ delivery against these themes will not be sequential, with many activities overlapping through to delivery of the 2032 Games.
Brisbane Games reports and report themes in the lead up to the Games
Delivering a large global event with an immovable deadline will require responsible entities to adapt their approaches to adjust for challenges and opportunities as they arise. For example, the decision regarding the location of the main venue for the Olympics was made well beyond the original schedule. This has had flow on impacts to planning and coordination for transport, security, and city planning. Entities need to quickly adapt their approaches, planning, and delivery to ensure the Brisbane 2032 Games will be delivered to expectation and to ensure intended benefits are realised.
Our schedule of audits over the Brisbane Games will need to be adapted as required to ensure we provide the right reports at the right time. As a result, the topics we plan to deliver may change in scope and timing, and we have not scheduled specific topics for each tabling year.
Our audits and focus areas over the next 3 years
We have aligned the focus of our reports for the next 3 years with the key phases of the Brisbane Games’ life cycle. Over the next 3 years we plan to table at least 3 performance audits, however this may increase depending on the specific focus area of the report and the requirements of the entities involved.
Performance audit reports planned to table in 2026–27
This audit will assess the effectiveness of cross-entity governance, risk management, and planning activities supporting coordination and delivery of the games. It will follow up recommendations made in our 2024 audit, Preparing for the Brisbane Games (Report 5: 2024–25). The report will consider progress made against recommendations aimed at strengthening governance, risk management, cost control, and environmental sustainability planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It will also provide an update on the progress made by entities in planning and delivery of the Brisbane Games since our last report.
Who we are auditing:
- Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
- Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee
- Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority.
Other performance audit reports planned to table between 2026–27 to 2028–29
We plan to deliver additional audits over our 3-year plan. At the time of publishing this plan, there remains uncertainly over the timing and delivery of key milestones by entities. As such, we have listed the below topics we plan to deliver over the forward 3-year period in addition to the audit above.
We will update our website as we make decisions over specific audits and timing.
The complexity in delivering a megaevent such as the Brisbane Games requires entities to establish and maintain robust planning, coordination, and performance monitoring arrangements across the full life cycle of the games. This is essential to ensure the games is delivered to a high standard and in ensuring intended legacy and other benefits are realised for the community and Queensland.
In addition to our Cross-entity governance and preparedness for the Brisbane Games audit, we may undertake additional targeted reviews of specific areas over the next 3 years, including:
Realising the benefits and legacy of the Brisbane Games: The Brisbane Games presents a unique opportunity for Brisbane and all of Queensland. When the Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded to Brisbane, they were estimated to deliver approximately $8.1 billion in economic and social benefits to Queensland, in addition to lasting legacy outcomes in areas such as health and wellbeing, sport and physical activity participation, and accessible and inclusive communities.
This review would assess how key entities have established governance arrangements and processes to identify, manage, and measure benefits and legacy outcomes associated with the Brisbane Games.
Games coordination, governance, and risk management: In late 2025, an updated games governance structure was established to oversee the planning and delivery of through the Brisbane 2032 Games. A risk management framework was also implemented in early 2026.
Our Cross-entity governance and preparedness for the Brisbane Games audit will assess early implementation of these arrangements, however an additional deep dive review may be undertaken to assess operational effectiveness of these frameworks.
- Planning and progress against planned milestones: This would assess how effectively key entities are planning and scheduling for the delivery of the games, factoring in how host city contract obligations are being tracked and met.
Audits relating to planning, oversight, and risk management will likely involve the following entities:
- Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
- Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee.
The infrastructure program for the Brisbane Games will include the building or refurbishment of 17 sporting venues as well as the athletes villages. There will also be a variety of transport and other infrastructure projects required to ensure a successful delivery of the games. To deliver these projects prior to 2032, key entities will need effective planning and arrangements with delivery partners and the private sector.
Over the next 3 years, we may deliver reviews relating to:
- the selection and use of appropriate procurement arrangements to deliver planned infrastructure and transport projects. This would assess how value for money is being considered and managed through these arrangements as well as risk transference between the public and private sectors
- the effectiveness of portfolio and project governance arrangements to oversee delivery of infrastructure projects
- project management deep dives into specific infrastructure projects.
Assessment of these areas may be covered through performance audit activities or updates provided through our Major projects annual reports.
Audits relating to infrastructure planning and delivery will span a variety of entities. These will likely involve the following entities:
- Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
- Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority
- councils with games infrastructure projects.
As the Brisbane Games gets closer, we will begin audits that will assess the operational preparedness of public sector entities. This will be a series of audits which may commence in 2027–28 and will continue through to delivery of the Brisbane Games.
Likely focus areas may include:
- Games preparedness: This would assess planning and preparation by the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee for delivery of a successful games.
- Delivery of a safe and secure Brisbane Games: This would assess planning and preparation activities regarding safety and security of people and assets through to the games. This spans physical and cyber security through to emergency management planning.
- Transport preparedness: This would assess whether transport systems are operationally ready, resilient, and capable of safely and efficiently moving athletes, officials, spectators, and the workforce during the Brisbane Games, while meeting service, security, and accessibility commitments.
- City preparedness: This would consider how key councils and other stakeholders are planning for the delivery of the Brisbane Games. It would focus on how planning is factoring in delivery of services and benefits to the community and visitors while managing risks to delivery.
Who we may audit:
Audits in this series may span a variety of entities. This will likely involve entities such as:
- Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee
- Queensland Police Service
- Department of Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business
- Queensland Health
- Department of Transport and Main Roads
- Brisbane City Council
- Gold Coast City Council
- other councils hosting Brisbane Games events
- Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games.