Dangerous and undemocratic for Olympics committee to be exempt from RTI laws

It is outrageous, dangerous and undemocratic for the state government to exempt the Brisbane Olympics Organising Committee from Queensland’s Right to Information laws.

It is truly outrageous, downright dangerous – and, let’s face it, undemocratic – for the government to exempt the Brisbane Olympics Organising Committee from the state’s Right to Information laws.

The bill introduced to state parliament on Wednesday by Premier and Olympics Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk to establish the BOCOG clearly states all documents “created or received” by the body between its establishment and the closing ceremony in 11 years will remain secret. Every single one.

This is an affront to the values of open government the Premier claims to believe in. It is a sign that less than seven years since taking office she has forgotten the values she committed to, and has instead decided voters can be safely treated like mugs while she runs the state without the awkwardness of having to be transparent and accountable.

Annastacia Palaszczuk celebrates after Brisbane was announced as the 2032 Summer Olympics host city. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Getty Images)

It is a disgraceful move the Opposition now must make at least an attempt to amend when the bill is up for debate – if only to ensure Ms Palaszczuk has to then go on record in parliament’s Hansard owning this outrageous and undemocratic decision for all time.

The good news is the Premier has listened to another criticism of the bill by making a significant change to the draft version circulated to stakeholders last month. That draft legislation sought to give Ms Palaszczuk nine picks of the 22 or so on the BOCOG board, by giving the Premier four of the selections and the Olympics Minister (Ms Palaszczuk) an additional five.

Beyond giving the Premier too much personal influence over the make-up of the BOCOG, this would also have been counter to the spirit of the bid agreement – as it had earlier been agreed the five “independent” directors would have to be signed off by the state minister AND the prime minister.

Enter the Prime Minister’s special envoy for the Olympics and Sunshine Coast federal MP Ted O’Brien. He was the only person with the courage to blow the whistle publicly on this attempted coup and warn of it – in The Courier-Mail.

Despite the mock anger at the time directed at Mr O’Brien from his federal colleagues (he was briefly gagged as a result by the Prime Minister), the final bill has reverted to the original agreement: the five independent directors will be nominated by the state Olympics Minister after being selected through a joint process with the federal government – and that the prime minister has a veto.

This is a big win for Mr O’Brien, and for common sense and fairness. And it is important in terms of ensuring the federal government’s commitment to funding half the Olympics is maintained.

Beyond that welcome change, the other interesting difference in the bill circulated to stakeholders and the one introduced to parliament yesterday is the way Australian Olympics supremo John Coates’ spot on the BOCOG board is baked into the legislation.

The bill now says the Australian Olympic Committee can nominate either its president OR “an honorary life president” to its post on the BOCOG board. How many AOC honorary life presidents are there? One: John Coates, who will stand down as AOC president next year. Just in case his replacement decides they want to take the AOC’s spot on the BOCOG board themselves, the updated bill adds as a backup that “any person who is a member of the International Olympic Committee from Australia” should have a seat on the board. The Australians currently on the IOC? Just one: John Coates.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Mr Coates deserves to be front and centre as we start the hard work in delivering what should be the best ever Olympics.

He is not only a seriously experienced administrator when it comes to the Olympics (he led the IOC’s oversight group for the Tokyo Games, for instance), but he was also the central figure in Brisbane’s successful bid. It was Mr Coates who reworked the IOC’s entire bidding process in real-time to one that best fits the framework for the Brisbane bid. It was a work of genius from a man often considered Australia’s craftiest-ever politician (and yet one who has never actually run for public office). In that context, we should perhaps not be surprised the legislation for the Brisbane Olympics now makes repeated references to him personally.

The last point to be made on the legislation is that it also requires at least 50 per cent of those on the BOCOG board be women. This is undeniably a good thing.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us