Wells will take the place of her predecessor, Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck, who left the panel along with Liberal National Party MP Ted O’Brien after the coalition lost the May 21 federal election.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Wells, the member for the northern Brisbane seat of Lilley, would sit in a committee meeting on Friday as an observer ahead of her formal appointment by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“It’s fantastic, she’s a Queenslander, she’s a woman and it’s wonderful she’s been appointed sports minister,” she told reporters.

“And my advice is that she’ll be joining us as an observer until she is fully endorsed by the federal government.

“She’ll be joining us at our first meeting today, so looking forward to having her on board.”

Labor MP Milton Dick is one potential candidate who could replace O’Brien on the Olympic committee.

Dick, whose Oxley electorate covers southwest Brisbane, was part of the Australian Olympic delegation that travelled to Lausanne in Switzerland in 2019 as part of the 2032 bid.

Meanwhile, the organising committee president has defended the premier’s removal of Scott Morrison’s appointees.

Palaszczuk wrote to O’Brien and Colbeck to inform them they were no longer on the committee.

The premier added that as the Olympics minister, it was her role to deal with board appointments and dismissals.

Committee president Andrew Liveris said the process had been conducted by the book.

“Look, it’s very clearly the premier’s job,” he told reporters on Friday.

Liveris said he was focused on using the 2032 events to highlight the culture, truth-telling and aspirations of Indigenous Australians.

The committee president said he toured some Indigenous communities on Thursday and he’s keen to learn more.

“My generation was in the dark, especially in the cities about what really went on,” Liveris said.

“Building that narrative is so important to not just the Olympics, the nation, that’s the part that I heard yesterday, and a lot more.”