InQld reported on Tuesday:

A rare closed doors meeting of Brisbane City Council last night voted to support the city’s bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games after spending eight hours poring over details of how to satisfy the financial and infrastructure demands from staging the events.

A secret meeting keeping crucial information from the public doesn’t inspire confidence that the Brisbane Olympics stacks up. I have an open mind about the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and acknowledge there would be a lot of non-economic benefits flowing from it, but we should be realistic and frank about the likely economic cost of it (see my post More work needed to show SEQ Olympics would stack up).

Last Saturday, I chatted about the economics of the Olympics with my old friend and fellow economist Dr Alistair Robson, and I’ve published our conversation as my latest Economics Explored episode: EP80 Olympics: Economic boon or burden? Al and I discussed the historical cost over-runs associated with the Olympics, the problem with the lack of transparency around the bid, and how the community might get a better return on investment by investing in community sporting facilities instead.

Please feel free to comment below. Alternatively, you can email comments, questions, suggestions, or hot tips to contact@queenslandeconomywatch.com