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‘It’s a fiasco’: Qld government urged to take Gold Coast into consideration when planning 2032 Olympics
The Queensland government needs to appoint a Gold Coast City Council representative to the planning committee for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games or risk serious disruptions during the Olympics, this Queensland lawyer has warned.
Lauren Croft
Gold Coast-based lawyer and litigation director at Queensland firm Parker Simmonds Solicitors & Lawyers Bruce Simmonds argued that the Queensland state government is “Brisbane-focused” and has an “anti-Gold Coast mindset” – and said the GC City Council should seek legal advice on whether it can be required to commit ratepayer funds to host Games events and athletes if it has no input on the event.
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Currently, the city has no say in the planning of the 2032 Games, despite hosting and organising the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
“This is no surprise given the way the Brisbane-focused government treated the Gold Coast during the COVID shut downs, effectively crippling our tourism economy. Gold Coasters vividly recall the disruptions we endured during the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics will be much worse,” he said.
“This is despite The Gold Coast hosting nine sports, plus managing a new athlete’s village at Robina and using more council venues than Brisbane, plus its experience of having hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.”
According to Mr Simmonds, “it beggars belief that there’s a regulation that rules out ‘elected office holders’ from serving on the organising committee.
“Gold Coast City Council officers studying the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangement Bill say it shows for appointment of independent directors, none of them can be ‘an elected office holder’.”
However, Redland mayor Karen Williams currently holds a place on the committee, despite the Redland area hosting one event: the canoe slalom at a whitewater centre to be built at Birkdale.
Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate and deputy mayor Donna Gates do not have a place on the planning committee, which Mr Simmonds predicted was a result of “bad blood between the Brisbane council and government and the Gold Coast council, manifesting in deliberately shunning the GC from Olympics planning involvement.”
The only representative for the Gold Coast so far appointed is business and sports identity Rebecca Frizelle, brought in by Prime Minister Scott Morrison given her experience with the Paralympics.
“It’s a fiasco,” Mr Simmonds added.
“And frankly, the Gold Coast needs to seek a legal opinion on whether it can opt out of committing ratepayer funds to any Olympic events if the elected officials have no say in the planning and thus the spending of ratepayer public money.”
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