Mike O’Connor: Nobody wants the Games when they’ll bankrupt us

OPINION: Asking Queenslanders to get behind the 2032 Games when the health system is failing and families are living in their cars is a bit rich, writes Mike O’Connor.

Over coffee last week, a mate revealed he had come up with a strategy that he said would guarantee that David Crisafulli was the next premier of Queensland.

“It’s the Brisbane Games,” he said.

“He’s got to announce that if he’s elected, he’ll ditch them.

“The truth is that nobody wants them and they’ll bankrupt the state.

“Crisafulli just has to have the guts to stand up and say what everyone’s thinking.”

My mate is right. The exercise has been driven by political egos since Day One, the Palaszczuk government blinded by visions of grand opening ceremonies with the adoring masses heaping garlands of praise on the visionaries who had driven this magnificent spectacle.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: Richard Walker

Nobody asked us if we wanted to stage them.

And if we had been asked, the most likely response would have been “maybe, but how will we pay for them and where will they be held and surely there are other things that the government should be prioritising”.

In July, it will be three years since Brisbane was officially granted the rights to hold the Games.

Auspiciously, it was the first time since 1984 that a city’s bid was unopposed. Put another way, nobody else wanted them so it was a one-horse race.

Cue the nailbiting suspense and the confected cries of excitement and surprise when the announcement was made.

After 2½ years of dithering that has generated little more than press releases, the government has gone back to square one and announced that it will conduct a 60-day review and establish an independent authority charged with delivering infrastructure.

Athlete Nova Peris Kneebone and traditional Indigenous custodians owners with the Olympic torch at Uluru in June 2000 ahead of the Sydney Games.

Actually, what it has said is that it plans to do this.

No one has drawn up any terms of reference yet, so we have no idea who will do what and when so the 60-day clock hasn’t actually started ticking but don’t you worry about that.

It’s not as if there is any rush. After all, the Games are eight years away. Plenty of time, mate. She’ll be right.

International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates said that when Sydney held the Games, public support for the event increased “when the Olympic torch got to Uluru and the relay started and moved throughout Australia and all Australians could feel a part of it – about 100 days out”.

That’s a big ask. Trust us and we guarantee that 100 days out, you’ll be suffused by a warm and fuzzy sense of national pride and start singing Waltzing Matilda.

I don’t believe that the proposal ever enjoyed the support of Queenslanders and that what support there was is waning.

A survey by The Courier-Mail of almost 7000 Queenslanders showed 66 per cent of people did not support them, 74 per cent of people would stay away from the sporting event, and when asked whether they thought the Olympics was money well spent, 78 per cent said “no”.

Deputy Premier and Treasurer Cameron Dick spoke recently of a “need to pause” decisions on Games infrastructure, a sure sign that the government is sniffing the electoral breeze and doesn’t like the aroma of voter dissatisfaction with the Games that is wafting down George Street.

In November, Crisafulli said he supported the Games, but said they should be about

rail, road and tourism, not sporting facilities.

These things, surely, are what government should be about as a matter of course. It shouldn’t require a sportsfest for them to be addressed.

If the LNP opposition can summons the intestinal fortitude to dump the Games, it will earn the support of the silent majority.

There would, inevitably, be shrieks of outrage and claims that we’d be the laughing stock of the world.

Then Deputy Premier Steven Miles after the state government announced a complete rebuild of the Gabba for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

Really? The world has an attention span measured in seconds, whereas the Games will be a burden borne by generations of Queenslanders to come.

Premier Steven Miles has defended the event by saying the whole point of having the Games was to “unite Queensland”.

Our road system is substandard, the Bruce Highway is a deadly joke, public transport is inadequate, the health system is failing, youth crime is out of control, education standards are falling and families are living in their cars while we enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world.

We don’t need uniting and we don’t need the Games.

What we need is effective, efficient, intelligent, proactive government.

Over to you, Mr Crisafulli. Your moment is nigh.