Editorial: Mr Olympics takes back his Games

John Coates is less than subtly reminding the new Queensland Premier these are his Games, and he’ll be calling the shots, writes the editor.

What former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had thought would be her greatest legacy is now all but guaranteed to become her most infamous failure – with her planned rebuild of the Gabba for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games surely dead, buried and cremated.

Games supremo John Coates’s Olympic-sized take-down is as significant to the future of the 2032 Brisbane Games as it is dramatic.

It is the moment that the man who single-handedly orchestrated the successful bid wrests back control over it from a bumbling government that has managed to turn an event that a majority of Queenslanders excitedly backed into an expensive vanity project tied inextricably to an unpopular – now consequently deposed – premier.

Along the way, the government has burned not only most of that public goodwill towards the $7bn project, but also wasted the three-year headstart we once had over previous host cities.

The message from Mr Coates today to new Premier Steven Miles is simple. The Australian vice-president of the International Olympic Committee is less than subtly reminding the Queensland Premier that: These are my Games, and I’ll be the one calling the shots in getting them back on track.

And he is, in many ways, totally entitled to do so. We understand the political need for Premier Miles to now try to pretend he had nothing to do with the Palaszczuk Games. But Mr Miles was front and centre in that entire mess, as not only the deputy premier through the entire period but also the minister directly responsible for Games infrastructure, and one of Ms Palaszczuk’s representatives on the Organising Committee itself.

Premier Miles – who as deputy premier just months ago declared there was no viable alternative to the full knockdown and rebuild of the Gabba for the Games – wasted absolutely no time after he took office in December to order a 60-day review of all Games venues, to be led by former Brisbane Liberal lord mayor Graham Quirk.

IOC vice-president John Coates

That report is yet to be released. In fact, the review is still hearing submissions – as confirmed by Mr Coates himself. He revealed that on Tuesday he had fronted Mr Quirk alongside a powerful delegation made up of Organising Committee president Andrew Liveris and the bosses of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic organisations.

According to Mr Coates, the delegation “put it to the review committee we should abandon the Gabba and we should look for another site for the athletics”.

At almost exactly the same time at a business lunch at the Brisbane Convention Centre, Premier Miles flippantly said the Gold Coast could “totally host the opening ceremony if they want”. The Premier was just awkwardly trying to be funny, but it would not be a shock if the offhand comment was the last straw for a frustrated Mr Coates. Certainly his patience, it seems, has run out.

What Mr Coates is proposing is a return to the original premise of the bid: a cut-price Games where most of the venues are already existing, or are temporary solutions far cheaper than billion-dollar builds.

By moving away from the full knockdown and rebuild of the Gabba (a decision Ms Palaszczuk took alone, that Mr Coates has since said threatened to blow up the bid) the challenge of where the Brisbane Lions and cricket will play for up to a decade is avoided. The adjoining East Brisbane State School can also be saved, a political relief for Labor.

An added benefit in terms of legacy from the new Coates plan would be an upgrade of the often-full Suncorp Stadium from 52,500 seats to 60,000 – so it could host the ceremonies at the Games.

Mr Coates is considered the most powerful person in Australian sport. With this stunning intervention, he has proven again that is true.

BURDEN OF STUDENT DEBT NEEDS FIXING

The burden of a lingering HECS debt has been something Australian students have been living with for many years.

It is also not new that this debt faces indexation every year based on the current levels of inflation.

But in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis – where inflation is running well above the usual 2-3 per cent range – it is now worth a debate about how this system and the increasing charges are administered.

An average student debt of about $26,500 faces an increase of more than $1000 in June, if inflation for the March quarter is equal to the
4.1 per cent increase recorded in the three months to December.

To put that figure in perspective, the increase to HECS debts could end up being higher than the value of yearly tax cuts Australians are set to receive from July.

It is not surprising crossbench senators such as Jacqui Lambie are taking on the issue. “Profiting off our kids, how revolting is that?” she said yesterday. Echoing her concerns, Senator David Pocock said student debt – and its indexation – was “increasingly an issue”.

An issue that may require some thought from the government.

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 here