Brisbane Festival Opening Night VIP Party and Performance

The 25th Governor-General of Australia and the 24th Governor of Queensland, the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO; Governor-designate and Chair, Brisbane Festival Giving Committee, the Honourable Justice Thomas Bradley and Dr Matthew Yoong; Minister for Education and the Arts, the Honourable John-Paul Langbroek MP; The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Adrian Schrinner; Chair, Brisbane Festival, Dr Jane Wilson AO; Chief Executive Officer, Mr Charlie Cush; Artistic Director, Ms Ebony Bott; Festival staff and supporters; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbul and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations people here this evening. And I thank Shannon Ruska for his Welcome to Country this evening.

As Patron of the Brisbane Festival for the past five years, I’ve been pleased and excited to see this wonderful annual celebration grow in scope and imagination, fearlessly embracing change but never forgetting that this is a festival for the whole community.

Sixty years ago, the word ‘festival’ in Brisbane meant just one thing — Warana. With happy crowds lining the streets to watch the procession of decorated floats and marching bands, it was deliberately and unashamedly community-focused, inspired by the celebration of the centenary of Queensland’s independence from New South Wales in 1959.

Before then, the Brisbane community had never come together to present and support such a broad program of cultural and historical activities. With everything from the Miss Warana contest and sporting events to exhibitions and eisteddfods, it was a Festival that celebrated our independence, identity and pride as Queenslanders.  

It allowed us to glimpse the possible and imagine what this city and our State could become.

Back then, there were just 640,000 of us and Brisbane was still a big, sprawling country town; today, the Greater Brisbane region is an exciting metropolitan hub with an international outlook, a population heading rapidly towards three million, and the prospect of being the centre of the world’s attention in just six years’ time when Queensland hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Brisbane Festival is a vital part of the cultural build-up to 2032 and beyond, and tonight we can all sense just how vibrant this area will be as a gathering place during the Olympics.  

As well as the feast of non-stop music, performances, food, art and nightlife here in the Festival Village over the next 23 days and nights, the people of Brisbane will be treated to some of Australia’s and the world’s most exciting performances and activities and I warmly congratulate Ebony Bott and her team on drawing together such a rich, accessible and inclusive program for her inaugural Festival.

And if you want proof of just how eclectic the Brisbane Festival is in 2026, can I suggest you simply look at page 49 of the Festival brochure. On that page, two events are positioned side by side that clearly demonstrate the unique spirit of this event — on the one hand, there’s a free marathon performance of the complete works of Bach for organ in the QPAC Concert Hall; on the other, the iconic Alexander Ball competition at the Princess Theatre curated by a Samoan-Maori trans woman of colour. That’s Brisbane Festival 2026!

The world premiere performance of Strong is the New Pretty tonight is another wonderful example of what a River City festival can be.  

Back in the days of parades, marching girls and beauty contests, the idea of a women’s football league, let alone presenting a play about it, would have been seen as a delusive pipe dream. Now, Suzie Miller’s play is the perfect metaphorical kick-off for a Festival that enthusiastically embraces fresh, bold ideas and invites us all to do the same.  

I once again congratulate the Artistic Director and the Festival board, management and staff on bringing the 2026 program to fruition and sincerely thank the government and corporate partners, and the generous donors, benefactors, supporters and volunteers for their ongoing support of this unique event and the vibrant creative spirit that drives it.