Qld Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson’s plea to premier
Cairns Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson has joined a raft of Australian athletes criticising Premier Steven Miles’ revised plans for the beleaguered 2032 Games.
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Cairns Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson has joined a raft of Australian athletes criticising Premier Steven Miles’ revised plans for the beleaguered 2032 Games.
But Mr Miles has hit back claiming cost-of-living pressures are hurting Queenslanders and greater investment is still needed in essential services.
Patterson, who dreams of bowing out on home soil with a gold medal around his neck, said the Games had the power to inspire a whole nation.
“It’s the fairytale ending,” the swimmer said.
“Drop the goggles and scoot off. Michael Jordan had the Last Dance. I could have the Last Lap.
“Hopefully the Premier can pull the rice out of his ears.
“The whole point of the Paralympics and Olympics is that you give kids and adults something to be inspired by and feel motivated to do something amazing.
“I think it’s great that we were nominated to do it but now we have to stick to it.”
Earlier this week, Olympic swimmers including Grant Hackett, Leisel Jones, Brooke Hanson, Geoff Huegill, Jessicah Schipper and others joined Paralympians Karni Liddell, Curtis McGrath, Emily Petricola and Monique Murphy in penning an open letter questioning key decisions made ahead of the key event.
Among the athletes’ concerns were the limited capacity of the main stadium and $1.6bn refurbishing the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre.
“While we understand that you want to get the best value for taxpayers out of the Games, we do not believe that the QSAC site represents that, not just financially but also in terms of a legacy for Brisbane and Queensland,” the letter said.
“And frankly, a main stadium with a capacity of only 40,000 would be an embarrassment which in no way would represent the go-ahead spirit of Queensland.”
A blockbuster Olympics was hard to justify to voters in the current economic climate, the Premier said.
“They’re talking to me about their hospital, about their school, about how hard they’re finding it to make ends meet,” he said.
“When Queensland is facing those kinds of day-to-day challenges, I can’t justify spending billions more on stadiums, no matter how many swimmers ask me.”
Under revised plans a $2.5bn federally funded venue will host swimming events and will be the only new stadium built for the Games.
Athletes Sally Pearson and Steven Bradbury were also signatories to the letter.
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Originally published as Qld Paralympian Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson’s plea to premier
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