Commonwealth Games chair Peter Beattie reflects on highs, lows and reputation

GOLD Coast Commonwealth Games chairman Peter Beattie admits his public reputation will forever be tarnished by a widely panned Closing Ceremony that excluded athletes from broadcasts.

GOLD Coast Commonwealth Games chairman Peter Beattie admits his public reputation will forever be tarnished by a widely panned Closing Ceremony that excluded athletes from broadcasts.

The ex-Premier, ahead of yesterday’s final organising committee (GOLDOC) board meeting, reflected on highs and lows of April’s Games.

Key points from Mr Beattie were:

* acknowledging his name would forever be linked to the disastrous Closing Ceremony which broke tradition and excluded athletes from the TV broadcast, leaving many athletes gutted along with viewers;

GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie and Commonwealth Games Australia President Sam Coffa yesterday. PICTURE: AAP Image/Dave Hunt.

* his refusal to say whether he regretted telling concerned residents to “suck it up” in regard to pre-Games fears of transport and general chaos;

* revealing $35 million in savings to be returned to State Government coffers and calling CEO Mark Peters’ controversial final six-figure payout deserved and “chickenfeed” by comparison.

CLOSING SHOCKER

Mr Beattie, who at the time took the blame for an Closing Ceremony flop which tarnished the Games and sparked widespread condemnation, said: “There was no doubt it was personally damaging.

“It was damaging to me and it will always be. When people associate my name, it will always be one of the things.”

But Mr Beattie said he took the blame “when a whole lot of people ran away from it” to stop days of “blame games”.

“I was worried about the Gold Coast reputation. I was happy to be the scapegoat because then people focus on the quality of the Games, the athletes, the things that mattered.”

‘SUCK IT UP’

Mr Beattie on whether he regretted telling Queenslanders and Gold Coasters to “suck it up”: “What’s done is done.” (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Asked if he regretted telling Queenslanders to “suck it up” in regards to fears about transport, Mr Beattie said: “What’s done is done.”

The blunt phrase has been cited anecdotally to the Gold Coast Bulletin by many Gold Coasters who quit town as their reason for leaving.

Pressed on whether he’d choose different words, Mr Beattie said: “I’m not going to get into … you’re writing a story that says he says ‘suck it up’ again. I’m not stupid, I’ve been around a long time.

“Saying suck it up at the end of the day, we were talking about how people should behave through it. Let’s be honest — all of the (media) in this room covered how bad the M1 was going to be during the Games.”

TRANSPORT DEBATE

Mr Beattie: “You should make sure you haven’t got an M1 that is a dog of a road because people used commonsense, they’re not stupid.” (AAP Image/Dave Hunt).

Mr Beattie said the GOLDOC transport plan worked, citing seven million trips taken during the Games, including 5.5 million on the public transport network, with all modes posting record passenger numbers.

But asked if he would advise the next host of a Games not to “over egg” messaging around transport concerns, he said: “You should make sure you haven’t got an M1 that is a dog of a road because people used commonsense, they’re not stupid”.

CEO ‘BONUS’

GOLDOC CEO Mark Peters. Picture: Jerad Williams

Mr Beattie revealed GOLDOC would be returning at least $35 million in savings and up to $38m to State Government, praising Mr Peters for delivering the event under budget.

An estimated $300,000 “retention” payment is heading Mr Peters’ way for seeing out his contract, an arrangement designed to ensure top brass didn’t quit prior to the event.

Mr Beattie — saying it was part of his salary “held back” annually — disputed it was a “bonus”, calling it a pair of “handcuffs”:

“This is a good man, he’s a good Gold Coaster, he worked his butt off and he’s entitled to the money we held back,” Mr Beattie said.

KATE JONES’ TAKE

Queensland Tourism Minister and Games Minister Kate Jones: “The legal advice confirms under the LNP contract it is the (GOLDOC) board not the Minister that decides if the CEO has met his obligations.” (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Games Minister Kate Jones, who explored legal advice into stopping the payment, said last night she “wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t investigate the CEO’ entitlements”.

“(But) the legal advice confirms under the LNP contract it is the (GOLDOC) board not the Minister that decides if the CEO has met his obligations.”

On the $35m in Games savings due back to her Government, Ms Jones said: “We will have a better idea of the detail once all contracts have been finalised. We always promised we would deliver the Games on time and on budget,” she said.