Mike O’Connor: Will 2032 Games be a five-ringed millstone around the neck of future generations?

It’s too late to “do a Dan Andrews” and cancel the 2032 Games, but Queensland’s disastrous record in managing infrastructure costs does not bode well, writes Mike O’Connor.

Those who lean towards portents could be forgiven for seeing in the recent kamikaze demise of several hundred drones in Melbourne’s Yarra River a sign that there are some Olympian challenges ahead for the Sunshine State.

Were not these the very drones that to the accompaniment of the “oohs,” “aahs” and gasps of wonderment by wide-eyed Brisbanites were going to stage a light show that heralded the arrival of the Olympic rings in our fair city?

They were the very same and showing commendable wisdom the drone people, having fished the suicidal drones out of the Yarra – they don’t float, apparently – retired to the drawing board and cancelled the Brisbane event.

The rings however – count ‘em. Yep, there are five.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in 2022 at the inaugural Organising Committee board meeting for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Picture: NewsWire/Sarah Marshall

No short-changing there – the rings are here, which it seems is an event of some significance, though I haven’t noticed any quickening of my pulse since their arrival.

This may be because being possessed of significant reserves of cynicism when it comes to our state government’s ability to organise anything more complex than a chook raffle, I have viewed the prospect of it staging the Olympics with a mixture of bemusement and incredulity and I am confident that in this I am not alone.

Little did I and my fellow doubters and disbelievers realise that all along there was a plan. Not any plan, but in the words of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as recorded for posterity on these very pages last week, a “master plan”.

This plan, we’re told, would “turbocharge our state into the next century, not just for the next nine years, but for the next 90”.

Visions of my beloved Queensland being blasted into space by this unseen Olympic force and coming to rest several galaxies distant all but overwhelmed me.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in 2021 with artist’s impressions at the Gabba as the government announced a complete rebuild of the Gabba for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

Being of mature years and according miracle-like status to the celebration of each birthday, I wasn’t ready to be turbocharged into the next century.

While I was managing to contain my less-than-boundless joy at the prospect of being turbocharged, it seems the rest of the planet was approaching a state of trouser-wetting euphoria.

Newly returned from a business trip to Japan, South Korea and Singapore, the Premier was able to reveal that businesspeople of these countries kept approaching her and saying: “You’re from an Olympic City. How can we play our part? How can we get involved?”

I wondered if the Japanese might also have said that they were reconsidering any further investment in Queensland following the sudden increase in coal royalties, as their Australian ambassador has warned.

The Singaporeans might also have asked how safe was our proposed Olympic state?

There were six homicides in Singapore in 2022. In Queensland, there were 110.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews after the state government announced it had cancelled the 2026 Commonwealth Games in regional Victoria. Picture: AAP

But I digress, for the world, according to Ms Palaszczuk, is delighted that we are hosting the Games, which she assures us “will be the biggest single catalyst for change in this century”.

Given that the century still has 77 years to run, that’s a big call even by the standards of the overblown, puerile hyperbole that is the hallmark of political utterances in the state and if you think this to be a harsh Judgement, then I treat you to the revelation by the Premier that

“we will be hosting a climate-positive Games just as our state embarks on one of the biggest energy revolutions in the world”.

This is a complete nonsense but is in perfect alignment with a plethora of statements surrounding the Games.

We are stuck with them now, and it’s too late to “do an Andrews” and hit the abort button, not that he had any intention of ever staging them anyway.

They were merely a mirage designed to shimmer until after the last election.

Having served their purpose, they were dumped.

Hundreds of drones were fished out of the Yarra River in Melbourne after they suffered a technical glitch during a light display and plunged into the water this month. The display was supposed to light up the sky over Melbourne’s Docklands with messages in support of the Matildas ahead of the Football World Cup. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Valeriu Campan

In her published missive, Ms Palaszczuk said that “a lot has happened since we were awarded the Games”.

That rather depends on how you define ”a lot”.

There’s been a lot of talking and jostling for position as various egos ricochet around conference rooms.

There have been a lot of assurances that the event will be “revenue-neutral”. It won’t.

The state has a disastrous record in managing infrastructure costs.

Does the term “blowout” sound familiar?

All we have seen and heard so far are media conferences and “she’ll-be-right” platitudes with not a shovel to date raised in anger.

My real fear is that the much-vaunted legacy we are being promised will turn out to be a five-ringed millstone around the neck of future generations.