Bleijie insists Ekka station will stay open during Olympics

Exhibition Station will remain open during the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie declared, despite leaked documents revealing concerns about its proximity to the athletes’ village.

The Labor opposition had peppered Acting Olympics Minister Andrew Powell during question time on Wednesday with repeated questions about the newly built station.

Powell has replaced Tim Mander, who has been stood down for allegedly providing false electoral enrolment information.

Questions about Exhibition Station arose from leaked Games Leadership Group minutes, which revealed International Olympic Committee concerns about the station’s proximity to the planned athletes’ village within the RNA Showgrounds, and how to separate spectators from athletes and officials.

It has long been acknowledged that the Crisafulli government’s choice to build the athletes’ village at the showgrounds could place Exhibition Station within the Games security overlay.

After Powell ducked repeated queries for most of question time, during which he deflected to what he said were Labor’s Olympic planning failures, Bleijie was finally given the opportunity to rise to his feet.

And while the question he was asked related to his decision to allow koala habitat to be destroyed to make way for sporting fields at the private Ormiston College in Redlands, Bleijie pivoted to Labor’s topic of the day.

“Let me say this on infrastructure – Exhibition Station is going to remain open during the Games, and we’re expanding Exhibition Station,” he said.

“The platforms are there already – the minister for transport travelled on the platform – and Fortitude Valley Station remains open during the Games.

“This is another scare campaign by the Labor Party. It is an abuse of process, and I wish they had asked me earlier.”

The leaked minutes of the December 2025 meeting, tabled by Opposition Leader Steven Miles, show a new station for Victoria Park has been ruled out, as site restrictions would not allow for the required accessibility and platform lengths.

“Two stations in such close proximity would be an issue, and only one station could be open at a time,” the minutes show.

“Exhibition Station will be the primary station for the VPP [Victoria Park Precinct], along with Herston and Kelvin Grove busway stations.”

It suggests Exhibition Station – about 700 to 800 metres from the planned stadium – would be the main rail hub for north-south movement, while the more distant Fortitude Valley Station would be better suited for east-west travel.

The minutes show planning firm