OPINION: Some odd arguments are being made to justify spending vast sums ahead of the Olympics

Some curious arguments are being made to justify spending mind-boggling sums on the Olympics. Why bother, when the Gold Coast can do a better job at a fraction of the cost, writes Keith Woods.

This column confesses to being a trifle confused about the Olympic Games debate.

Supposedly, the light rail stage four extension to Gold Coast Airport must absolutely be built by the time of the 2032 sporting jamboree regardless of cost.

Yet one is tempted to ponder, what really is the link between this project and an event due to largely take place 100km away in Brisbane?

Yes, there will be some events on the Gold Coast, but none south of Burleigh. And the Gold Coast Athletes’ Village will be at Robina.

There are many very strong arguments in favour of extending the light rail to the Airport, but the onset of the Olympics isn’t one of them.

A graphic showing how the Brisbane 2032 Olympics drop-in pool would look at the Brisbane Arena. Photo: Supplied.

Similarly, we have in recent weeks been treated to innumerable clarion calls from prominent figures in Brisbane, led by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, stating that Games swimming events must absolutely take place at the proposed Brisbane Arena.

Mr Schrinner wails that it would be an outrage to walk back the plan, despite its eye-watering price tag of at least $2.5 billion, and despite other perfectly reasonable options such as the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre at Southport being available.

Why would that be? We’ll let Mr Schrinner explain.

“The swimming is already proposed to be held in a venue called the Brisbane Arena,” he wrote last month.

“The Brisbane Arena is a mid-sized indoor stadium where a temporary pool will be constructed.

“More permanently, think of it as a replacement for the Boondall Entertainment Centre – but in an inner-city location.

“Yes it will serve as a swimming venue for the Olympics and Paralympics, but more importantly it will be an ongoing entertainment centre for the people of Brisbane.

“And so if the swimming goes to the Gold Coast, that could mean the loss of the Brisbane Arena as a legacy asset for the people of Brisbane and South East Queensland.

“ ... If we don’t have the swimming in Brisbane, we won’t have the Brisbane Arena, and that would mean Boondall would be our long-term solution for entertainment in that mid-size range.

“Does anyone think that’s a good outcome from a legacy point of view?”

An image of the proposed Brisbane Arena.

So the swimming must absolutely take place in this new Brisbane Arena, at vast cost, because we’d like somewhere more salubrious to watch Billie Eilish, Pink, Drake and the rest of them?

Like the attempt to link the light rail extension to the Olympics, it’s a specious argument in my view.

Yes, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall is poorly located and showing its age. A spanking new concert arena in central Brisbane would be just spiffing.

But what, exactly, do pop concerts have to do with the Olympics?

It’s all a very far cry from what Queenslanders were promised when former Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – remember her? – first spruiked the Olympics. Readers with a sufficiently long memory will recall a commitment to using existing venues, with the implication the sporting extravaganza might take place at minimal cost to Queenslanders.

The “new norm” they called it.

Instead it appears we’re getting the “old norm” – local politicians falling over each other to get expensive pet projects over the line.

A general view as the crowd enjoy the atmosphere during the swimming on day one of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Aquatic Centre in Southport on April 5, 2018. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images.

The worry is, if all this spending is approved, there will be little left for the bread-and-butter infrastructure the Gold Coast and communities elsewhere in Queensland already need.

A good example is provided by our report today about the sorely needed upgrade to Helensvale Rd, which the cash-strapped state appears in no mood to help finance.

There is also the wildly overdue requirement for east-west connections across the M1 at Coomera highlighted in this newspaper yesterday.

And what about the schools with ageing buildings in need of replacement?

The Gold Coast Aquatic Centre at Southport. Picture: Gold Coast City Council.

We were also, by the way, assured that this would be a Games for all Queenslanders. Something that would bring a sprinkle of Olympic magic to every corner of the state.

That promise too appears to be under pressure, with reports suggesting letting too many events leak from Brisbane might usher in a debacle on the scale of Victoria’s cancelled Commonwealth Games.

This would no doubt be true if spanking new venues were to be built in every corner of the state.

But that is not necessary. A good deal of what is needed is already here on the Gold Coast.

The city could easily accommodate not just swimming, but sports like hockey, rowing and golf.

It was well outlined in council’s submission to the Brisbane 2032 review.

Really, Brisbane should be comfortable with the Gold Coast being the state’s sports capital. It has already captured the market on so much else – drab government departments, CFMEU and anti-Israel protests, white elephant casinos – that they can surely let us have this one.

Light rail extension or not, this city is well placed to take on many more Olympics events.

And it can help keep Games spending on the long-promised even keel while doing so.

MAYOR LETS HIMSELF DOWN

Mayor Tom Tate often handles himself well when confronted by angry punters.

He did so again on March 11, when prominent coffee shop owner Bianca Holgate confronted him on Surfers Paradise beach about his absence during Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

“That’s democracy,” he said.

So what on earth possessed him to later make bone-headed comments about the incident on radio, “joking” that he could have given her a parking ticket?

Extreme weather events can be highly stressful for those that go through them.

The number one thing people need in those circumstances, even ahead of the practical help, is understanding and compassion.

Whatever she had been through, Ms Holgate was clearly distressed.

The Mayor should have known better than to engage in gormless banter about his encounter with her.

Follow @keithjwoods

Originally published as OPINION: Some odd arguments are being made to justify spending vast sums ahead of the Olympics