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‘Compensation provision needs to be planned for the Olympics’
Planning for the 2032 Olympics must include strategies to avoid potential losses for businesses, says one Gold Coast lawyer.
Lauren Croft
Gold Coast-based lawyer Bruce Simmonds has warned against not planning correctly for the 2032 Olympic Games after Commonwealth Games scare tactics backfired in 2018.
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Gold Coast residents and businesses were forewarned of busy streets and huge crowds before the 2018 Commonwealth Games, with locals urged to stay off the streets and hospitality venues hiring more staff and ordering extra food and drink. However, this resulted in many residents leaving town and the 650,000 guests never arrived, leaving the Gold Coast quiet as ever.
Mr Simmonds, who is the litigation director with Queensland firm Parker Simmonds Solicitors & Lawyers, said the lessons of the Commonwealth Games must not be forgotten during planning for the Olympics.
“We know the Gold Coast will be a major participant in the Olympics so Games organisers need to learn from the mistakes of the Commonwealth Games planners who now admit they over-emphasised likely traffic congestion and visitor numbers for the 2018 Games,” he said.
“The actual numbers who visited the GC were tiny by comparison with the predicted crowds. Locals were told to stay off the streets and many left town to avoid the crush. In the end we had the bizarre sight of city officials pleading for locals to get out and support businesses.”
Whilst there were rumours of a class action brewing from local business owners against the Games organisers for scaring crowds away, Mr Simmonds said an ex-gratia payment scheme would better work in the government’s favour.
“I’m not aware of any class actions after the Commonwealth Games but the ex-gratia compensation provision needs to be planned for the Olympics, otherwise we are in jeopardy of never getting community support for another big event like the games,” he said.
“Watching Australians compete at the Tokyo Olympics has generated a huge buzz about Queensland hosting the 2032 Olympics but the Gold Coast business people know better than anyone how this thing can be a giant fizzer if the crowds don’t come.
“Given the uncertainties of the world now with Covid and whatever comes next, nobody has any idea what shape the Games might be in 2032 or, like this year’s Tokyo Games, if spectators can even attend them.”
According to Mr Simmonds, the main lesson organisers should take from the 2018 Games is to manage businesses and crowd expectations accordingly.
“A number of businesses on the Gold Coast went to the wall, or very close to it, because the pre-Commonwealth Games hype talked up the event as a huge payday for all involved. In the event it was, for many local businesses, a huge fizzer,” he said.
“That’s the lesson we need to take forward to 2032.”
