Editorial: David Crisafulli owes Qld a clear policy on Olympic stadium

It is the height of arrogance for the man expected to become premier in three weeks not to come clean on his Olympic stadium plans, writes the editor.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli had nothing to offer on the Olympic stadium on Sunday. Picture: Liam Kidston.

It is the height of arrogance for the man that every poll suggests will be premier in three weeks from today to refuse to tell Queenslanders what his plan is for the track and field venue at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

On Sunday David Crisafulli stuck firm to his commitment of a 100-day venues review if he does win, but then ruled out two options – pushing ahead with the current premier’s stinker of an idea for a temporary facility at the old QEII Stadium or building a new stadium – seriously limiting the terms of reference, and so the value, of yet another review.

Based on his evasive answers on Sunday, the only options left to Mr Crisafulli are a refurbishment of the outdated 38,000-seat Gabba or hosting the 2032 athletics at the 27,500-capacity Gold Coast home of the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Both would be embarrassing.

In bizarre scenes, Mr Crisafulli was asked at least eight direct questions about his stadium preferences on Sunday.

Other than criticising Labor’s plan, he just kept weaseling out of a direct answer by saying “our focus is not on stadiums” and “we’re not embarking on new stadiums”.

Mr Crisafulli must start to bring Queenslanders into his trust, on this and other matters. He might well win regardless. But to keep things from them is disappointing.

CALL OUT ANTI-SEMITISM

Queenslanders will likely look on with disbelief today at the protests in the southern capitals marking the anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel – the modern-day equivalent of flying the flag of al-Qaeda on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne on September 11, 2002.

We will think ourselves lucky that we have been spared the anger and division that the bigger capital cities have endured over the past year – scenes that have shattered the belief that our society is insulated from such divisions.

But dig a little deeper and we find Queensland is not immune. Consider the account we publish today from local Jewish leader Jason Steinberg. He tells of Queensland children being bullied at school because they come from a Jewish family, and of businesses being boycotted because of the same. It should not be so, and the tragic echoes of the 1930s make this reality more gut-wrenching.

It must be a wake-up call to all of us that 90 per cent of Queensland’s Jewish people say they feel less safe here than a year ago, and that 60 per cent say they have endured direct anti-Semitism this year.

People have the right to express their opinions. This truth is at the heart of the concept of free speech, which The Courier-Mail will fight for on every single occasion. But the problem since October 7 is that the line into racism has been crossed.

Be as angry as you want about Israel’s response to that horrific terror attack. But remember Israel is a nation, not a religion – and it is certainly not a race. This distinction must always hold. Sadly, it has been haemorrhaging – and with it our society’s tradition of mutual respect.

That is not to be too Pollyanna. As with every society on earth forever in history, Australia has not always been the Utopia we might want to believe. We are the world’s most multicultural nation, but we have tended to demand assimilation from new migrants – and from those whose ancestors were the first human occupants of the land that we now all call home.

To be a migrant in Australia, a thick skin has always been needed. To have a different skin colour to those on the First Fleet? Well that has also historically – tragically – meant missing out on an invitation to the Lucky Country project.

But we should always commit to trying to be better. Sadly, the events of the past year have been eroding our successes – and with far too little acknowledgment of this from our political leaders, whose focus should surely be on uniting us.

Federally, the Labor government has put politics ahead of patriotism – in terms of a shift in Australia’s foreign policy towards Israel, and in its repeated failure to respond with any conviction to demonstrations such as those today in support of the terrorists who killed 1200 innocent people exactly a year ago. But as the nation’s pre-eminent political commentator Paul Kelly wrote in the Weekend Australian: “Labor cannot respond from conviction – it criticises anti-Semitism but it is dependent on the Palestinian vote … across critical Labor seats”.

This is, then, a test of leadership for Anthony Albanese. Australians would expect their Prime Minister to be definitive when responding to evidence of a 738 per cent increase in incidents against people who profess a single religion, as has been the case for Jews in Australia – according to a survey from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. But Mr Albanese has simply not been, taking too long to call out the obvious – as happened last week when he took three days to take a definitive stance against today’s planned pro-Palestinian protests.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton describes Labor’s dillydallying of the past year as a “moral fog”. He is correct. The response should be clear, regardless of the politics.

Anti-Semitism must be resisted at all costs. If not, we have failed to learn the lessons from history.

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

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Originally published as Editorial: David Crisafulli owes Qld a clear policy on Olympic stadium