Editorial: Queensland has grown up since the 1982 Commonwealth Games

QUEENSLAND has grown up. It wasn’t the speeches, the lifesavers, the superstar singers or the dazzling light shows unveiled at the opening ceremony that proved it – it was the music.

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QUEENSLAND has grown up. It wasn’t the speeches, the lifesavers, the superstar singers or the dazzling light shows unveiled at the opening ceremony that proved it.

It was the music. When the Commonwealth Games last came our way in 1982 in Brisbane, our state wanted to be nothing more than what the world thought we were.

It was all there in the opening ceremonies where Click Go The Shears and Road To Gundagai were played and Australia jauntily sang along.

Journalists who covered those Games still talk about going out to dinner on a Sunday night and finding only two restaurants open for dinner in the heart of the city.

But these days the Gold Coast and Brisbane, while not losing our knockabout flavour, are far more sophisticated than they were then.

To see Queensland’s own Katie Noonan performing an emotional compilation of great Australian songs last night was to witness a world-class performer in perhaps her finest hour.

Katie Noonan (left) performs during the opening ceremony. Picture: Getty

To hear the stunning work of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and some of the state’s best young musicians who thumped out one Australian classic after another as the teams walked in was to be proud to be a Queenslander. And that emotion will grow over the next 10 days.

There are great stories coming in all directions. Pool queen Cate Campbell, who was shattered after she failed in her pet 100m freestyle event at the Rio Olympics, has risen again and will jostle for gold.

Mark Knowles, the Australian hockey captain and last night’s flag bearer, will play his last game of hockey for Australia at the Games.

World champion hurdler Sally Pearson was raised a few kilometres away from the stadium where she used to catch two buses to training.

Beaudesert bullet Riley Day, who last year was competing in school track sprints, takes on the best, including Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica.

And it is not just the major nations that have the best stories.

Australian sprinter Riley Day at home in Beaudesert. Picture: Adam Head

Tuvalu, one of the world’s smallest nations located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, has a population of 11,000, yet they send a team to every Games. Countries such as Tuvalu are why the Games still matter.

It is true the Games have lost some of the lustre of bygone generations.

When they last visited Queensland, the athletics world had no world championships and Brisbane had no Broncos or Lions.

Yet still it maintains a dignified presence on the world sport scene.

Queensland great Susie O’Neill started her love affair with the pool when she watched the Games in 1982, keeping scrapbooks with the deeds of swimmers such as Tracey Wickham.

“It inspired me and I now really hope these Games will inspire others,’’ O’Neill said.

They surely will. They always do.

MAYOR SHOULD HAVE STEPPED ASIDE

THE principle “innocent until proven guilty” is a critical pillar for any functioning criminal justice system.

From Roman practise to Islamic law, the presumption that every accused has committed no crime until the prosecution proves their guilt has been a legal staple that has traversed time, culture and tradition.

Yet while the principle is sacrosanct, it is not, strictly speaking, absolute given our system of law has always tolerated certain acceptable administrative caveats, such as the denial of bail for some accused criminals.

The extraordinary case of Logan Mayor Luke Smith and his refusal to stand aside while facing serious criminal charges has thrown up whether another such caveat should be considered.

Logan Mayor Luke Smith remains under fire after being charged by the CCC. He maintains he is innocent. Picture: Annette Dew

Cr Smith, who has staunchly denied the allegations of corruption and perjury, deserves the presumption of innocence like any accused.

However, he also holds an important public office that is vested with responsibility for overseeing a region of more than 313,000 people, as well as its parks, roads, libraries and numerous other facilities.

While there will always be trepidation about laws allowing the removal of rightly elected politicians, there should be scope to temporarily stand aside an official facing serious charges.

Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe says he currently doesn’t have the power to stand Cr Smith aside pending the outcome of the charges.

But he’s voiced his support for new laws that would give him the authority to do so.

Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Obviously, such reform should be carefully considered and subject to widespread consultation given perverse outcomes would be an ever-present risk because of partisan politics.

However, Mr Hinchliffe is correct that these extraordinary circumstances may require an extraordinary response.

It should be noted that at a federal or state level, a leader or a minister would have stepped aside or quit within moments of a charge of perjury or corruption.

The mayor should have already done the right thing by himself, the people of Logan and his position and stepped down pending the outcome of these charges.

If he’d done that then we would not be debating the need for new laws.