The time has arrived. It is now time to consider the one good plan we have got concerning the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games...
It ain't plan A, it ain't plan B, god knows it isn't plan O...
It's quite simply... PLAN R.
And, by the end of it: it will make many people feel guilty.
We open this piece with a background look at what Queensland and it's political class should have picked up on over the last few years but we did.
THE INGREDIENTS TO A OLYMPICS RECIPE FOR DISASTER.
Let's begin with two key events that happened whilst the 2032 bid was still under the control of the SEQ Mayors and out of state scrutiny:
May 2018: Queensland State Government, makes the move to sack Ipswich City Council, after numerous corruption incidents. This move was sealed in law, in August 2018 via the Local Government (Dissolution of Ipswich City Council) Act 2018. This resultingly left Ipswich City Council under the hands of a administrator until the March 2020 Queensland local government elections (which saw the Ipswich City area rearranged into multi-member divisions).
May 2019: Queensland State Government makes the move to sack Logan City Council, after the CCC underwent a investigation in the wake of their Belcarra inquiry (The Logan-specific inquiry was known as Operation Front). This move was sealed, not in law like Ipswich (as the investigation into Logan was ongoing at the time): but in local government regulations for Queensland, as Local Government (Dissolution of Logan City Council) Amendment Regulation 2019, and led to the appointment of a administrator until the March 2020 Queensland local government elections.
These two events, meant that Ipswich and Logan had no SEQ Mayors representation at all when the SEQ Mayors handed on planning for the 2032 bid to the Queensland state government: a fact likely reflected in the long-term omission of Ipswich (pitched at feasibility stage in 2021 with Modern Pentathlon at Springfield, and ultimately axed in recent planning) and cutbacks in Logan (pitched initially for rowing/canoe sprint at Larapinta, and significantly downgraded to a indoor sports venue in recent planning).
Meanwhile: April 2019: the infamous Galaxy/YouGov poll commissioned by News Corp Australia that swung the QLD Government into supporting the SEQ Mayor's bid proposal (which had swung it's focus from 2028 to 2032, after the 2017 awarding of the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles after a nightmare bid season for the 2024 Olympics ended up with the IOC deciding to divvy up the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics between the two remaining bidders for the 2024 Games, so the disastrous bid process for 2024 was to never be repeated) was published by the Courier-Mail.
June 2019. A iron clad commitment to the bid by Canberra as well as George Street, was announced... at a News Corp-organized event (headlined by AOC president John Coates speaking), alongside numerous News Corp front pages supporting the bid throughout that month.
Coates said it himself at that event concerning the SEQ bid:
"On the basis that SEQ is the only significant region, and Queensland the only State in Australia with all three of the requisite climate, population and sporting infrastructure to host a summer Games in July/August, the AOC gave its in-principle support for a Games in SEQ and for a feasibility study into hosting them."
The late June 2019 IOC session in Lausanne revealed a fourth box that had been unwittingly ticked for Queensland: The IOC mandated future host cities needed to hold referendums, if required before submitting a bid, alongside the adoption of Host City Commissions for both the Summer and Winter Olympics and, most critically: the abandonment of the long held rule concerning awarding hosting rights seven years out from the Games.
No Australian state or territory had at the time, or has enacted to this day: any regulations either constitutional or legal that mandate referendums concerning "significant major events".
And, guess who was the lead concerning pitching the referendum idea to the IOC? None other than IOC member, AOC President... John Coates.
News Corp, focused on the relatively minor story of the bid city definition being widened: perfect for SEQ... along with the decision benefiting some other potential bidders, rather than the referendum question.
All eyes were to be on the next IOC session in Tokyo, in mid-2020, with wild rumors as early as late 2019 that the 2032 Games would be awarded then: except, that it came to a issue...
COVID 19: changed our lives in a hurry... lockdowns, border closures both domestic and foreign, quarantine... and it caused some possible 2032 bidders to take stock: India was all set for a Ahmedabad bid for 2032, but hadn't approached the IOC before the pandemic, before it ultimately refocused: a successful 2030 Commonwealth Games bid, and a potential 2036 Summer Olympic bid for that city awaits: Indonesia showed interest... alongside a German Rhine-Ruhr bid (which would have faced one hurdle under new regulations going forward: the same one that tripped up Hamburg 2024: a referendum).
And, then on March 24, 2020: the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and for that matter the 2020 IOC session to be held in Tokyo, were delayed twelve months.
What our politicians and News Corp were expecting to be a post-Olympic bid victory state election (as Brisbane had emerged as the front runner to host 2032 before the pandemic) in October 2020, ended up being a COVID-focused state election: while Queensland squandered the opportunity of a delayed Tokyo Games for the one vital ingredient the Brisbane bid needed to stave off long-term apathy: wider consultation with the Queensland public, at a time where you literally had a captive audience.
By this time, John Coates had returned to a familiar role: IOC vice president (a role he previously served in between 2013 and 2017) and would remain in that role until 2024. Queensland resumed talks with the IOC, and ultimately saw their bid get chosen (by de-fa-u-lt) as the IOC's preferred 2032 host for more dialogue at a event Coates had to step away from due to double conflict of interest concerns (as if such things hadn't been around already concerning the Australian 2032 bid since Coates became IOC VP again!)
And, naturally there were complaints from another potential bidder: the Rhine-Ruhr in Germany, that never made it to the Courier-Mail: now basking in utter dominance in news-stands throughout Queensland (outside Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast of course, where the dailies, and most critically: local editorial control survived) after the closures of daily newspapers in Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg, the Fraser Coast, Gympie, the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich in June 2020, see a sudden push towards Brisbane focused editorial... while nipping any potential Games opposition by individual titles in the bud.
But, all this was happening: just as Tokyo and Japan started to sour on a Olympics that was seeing a brooding protest movement that had taken steam throughout the delay, that the IOC made a critical mistake in ignoring.
And, guess who was left to be the mouthpiece for the IOC: John Coates, who'd rather have Brisbane have it's day in the sun rather than accept the will of the Japanese, and push the Brisbane bid down the road in favour of a Tokyo reset in ten years time.
This mistake, ultimately led to significant distrust between the Japanese people and the IOC: one that scuppered a 2030 Winter Olympics bid by Sapporo, whose development came into the spotlight... just as the truth concerning the Tokyo Games and corruption concerning contracts came to light.
(Incidentally: guess who Queensland contracted for tourism work in recent years: Dentsu's Australian arm: whilst the corporate parent in Japan became a pariah in the advertising industry in that country for what it did concerning Tokyo 2020: ultimately being cut out of the spoils for Expo 2025 in Osaka, and ultimately facing significant fines for it's conduct: something the Courier-Mail failed to report on)
First, the foreigners that bought tickets in 2019 were barred from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and ultimately, the decision was made to run stadiums empty... just as the Australian contingent were preparing for what would become a vote for one... whilst the city it was being held in turned into a protesters paradise, where some were even using placards of Coates face as protest tools.
Brisbane ultimately won the 2032 games just before the start of the delayed Tokyo Games (whose opening ceremony was ringfenced by a protest army), with no contribution from the people of Queensland: who had once again become prisoners in their own state, because of rampant COVID outbreaks in winter 2021 in Sydney and Melbourne, causing lengthy lockdowns.
News Corp, kept the Tokyo protests climax on the downlow to Queensland readers (in favour of sucking up to patriotism for winning the Olympics without disclosing it was in a one horse race)... but this piece by Macquarie University's Tom Baudenette, a lecturer in Japanese Studies, no less: not long after the Tokyo opening ceremony set out a warning for Queensland from the Tokyo 2020 opposition.
"With Brisbane awarded the right to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic games, what lessons can be learnt from Japanese anti-Olympic protest? It will be crucial for the Australian organizers to ensure public support and confidence through careful attention to citizens’ voices and concerns."
So, what did Queensland do?
Ignored the advice of others and rushed through the foundation of Olympics legislation, on December 2, 2021, to try and get it royal assented before another key move happened: our borders reopening post-COVID: a announcement so glibly announced, the then premier proudly boasted herself as a Olympics Minister... right on the top of a press release announcing that our borders were open once more.
And the only question the Courier-Mail asked of the whole Olympics bill charade: was when the Olympics foundation bills were introduced into Queensland parliament on October 27, 2021.
Your right to know? Especially when you likely know more about 2032 than the general population and are willing to deny it.
You cannot even find out in Hansard what the voting record for that particular piece of legislation was, only who turned up, by surname only.
But the last piece of the puzzle, happened eighteen months after the Brisbane Olympic bills were passed: the cold turkey effort Victoria used to quit the hosting of the 2026 Commonwealth Games (a institution turned to pot since Durban was dumped as the 2022 host twelve months out from the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, leaving closing ceremony planners in the lurch)
Queensland's then government and or then opposition, could have used this opportunity to boldly announce that it would take the 2032 Olympics to a referendum, to set a example for the southern states in what to do with a poison chalice.
They failed spectacularly.
I can easily tell you six opportunities Queensland had to do the right thing after the announcement from the IOC concerning referenda from bidders in June 2019 and set a example for the future of the Olympic movement concerning wider consultation and failed to do just that.
1. The Queensland government should have responded to the Tokyo delay announcement on March 24, 2020 by announcing a wide consultation tranche for the 2032 bid, culminating with a referendum at the 2020 Queensland state election, on whether to go further, instead of getting insular and hiding the 2032 bid away until after the 2020 election, when it could be less risky keeping the QLD public out of the conversation.
2. The Queensland election campaign by the LNP in 2020 should have been outright built on a commitment to a referendum on the 2032 bid and whether we go forward with it before submitting to the IOC a bid book, instead of letting COVID and borders become the dominant topic of that election.
3. When Tokyo popularity started to go south from May 2021 onward, the Queensland Government should have responded by committing to a referendum prior to any foundation legislation being signed for the 2032 Games, with some proper pressure from the opposition at the time.
4. A commitment made upon leaving quarantine by the Queensland contingent that went to Tokyo to be awarded the 2032 Games, that a Olympic referendum would happen before any foundation legislation was signed and before our borders reopened.
This move would have been triggered by a opposition literally having free air for two weeks to rail against the very idea of railroading Olympics legislation through without wider consultation or a referendum.
5. Queensland government would have responded to the CM's "Our Secret Games" headline in October 2021, when the foundation Olympics legislation was introduced by pausing the railroading, knowing that the PR arm of the bid could turn on them at a moment's notice, and going toward the idea of wider consultation, and possibly a referendum on the Games (even possibly threatening to delay our borders reopening until a referendum on the Games was called), while disclosing what work News did for the bid.
6. Queensland government, upon pressure from the opposition, would have responded to the Victorian 2026 Comm Games handback in mid-2023, with a line about our deal being airtight. Queensland opposition then goes into the 2024 state election, not with youth crime as top policy, but a Olympics referendum as their signature policy, including listing a clear alternative use for state and federal money allocated to the 2032 Games if handback were to occur.
In addition, in light of issues with Tokyo that emerged after the Games, and the growing stench of scandal surrounding the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026 (where the Italian government tried to shut down investigations into contracts and bid rigging, only to get legal blowback, while wider issues are blooming in the background, including organized crime) while we are fearing the following.
-A attempt will be made by the Queensland government as a unicameral legislature to prevent the CCC from investigating 2032 Games contracts for irregularities and or bid rigging.
-The railroading of Queensland Parliament concerning Olympics legislation, that kicked off the moment we won the Games will indeed be ramped up.
-Not to mention that the people of Queensland are in fact slowly growing unsupportive of the Games in general: It may well be a fight for Victoria Park today, but it could well be evolving into a fully fledged anti-Olympics movement with similar visibility to that of the Japanese in 2021 in time for the 2028 Queensland local government elections, a potential 2028 federal election and a 2028 Queensland state election. Is it not very surprising that no polling concerning the Olympics in Queensland has been made public since the 2024 state election: almost a outright effort by outlets likely to conduct such polling (News Corp Australia, most likely) to hide the truth that our politicians don't want to hear: much like how the IOC blinded themselves after local polling leading into the rescheduled 2020 Olympics in Japan in 2021 was in the 60-70% range concerning the event's cancellation.
After all: the seeds for such a significant anti-2032 movement in Queensland already exist.
-Queensland is in a housing crisis, just as significant as that of the immediate post-war period after the end of World War 2. The only difference: in 1945-1950, Brisbane was not the 200km city it is today: with a predominant amount of emergency housing relief projects funded by the Queensland Housing Commission in it's early days of existence being in the Brisbane City Council LGA. Our politicians of today as a unit have no idea how to solve our modern housing crisis, especially as land in the SE is being gobbled up as fast as it's being released: compared to the Ned Hanlon-era fight to increase available housing stock. We believe the current housing crisis in Queensland will get significantly worse, as the trade pool in Brisbane and other parts of SEQ is diverted toward Olympics projects (particularly a Olympic Village that won't even take it's first actual residents (outside athletes) until 2033 at the earliest) and that's before taking into account interstate migration (which has pretty much been unstoppable (outside COVID of course) since Expo 88, as much as our politicians don't want to admit it) and the like.
-Queensland is also in a infrastructure crisis, like none seen in our 200 years of European settlement in this state. Infrastructure issues don't just exist in our cities, they also exist between them and in many other facets, it's a known fact. The Bruce Highway north of Curra to the Port of Gladstone needs duplication urgently, Brisbane's heavy rail network needs a plan beyond Cross River Rail, that can fix the mistakes we did the first time around concerning utilizing station sites for housing, while extending the rail network to where it needs to go in the future: here's a couple of hints: the Gold Coast airport, Noosaville on the Sunshine Coast, Amberley (while serving the wider western corridor through the Ripley Valley), Beaudesert, Toowoomba, interurban expansion as far as Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, better corridors for passenger services, getting freight segregated from passenger services via a NCL-Inland Rail connection between Ebenezer and Curra, as well as completing the whole Queensland leg of Inland Rail: from Kagaru to North Star, like a good modern city, alongside internal travel within the cities of the SE corner: not just finishing the GC Light Rail to Coolangatta, but building a second LR north/south spine from a potential Tallebudgera heavy rail station to Paradise Point and new east-west connections to Nerang and Robina, rail rapid transit for Brisbane, and real public transport solutions for outer suburbs (including finishing jobs that we didn't have the guts to do the first time: extending the Kippa-Ring line to the heart of Redcliffe, like it should have been done long ago is a prime example). Our infrastructure backlog faces the same issues as housing: trade pool building these projects being drained to construct Olympics venues, with a additional caveat: risking losing significant talent built with the Cross River Rail project to interstate projects with more certainty, as the crunch continues in Queensland.
The combined housing and infrastructure crisis Queensland is facing thanks to the Olympics can be halted, or even reversed... all it takes is a say on the Games for Queenslanders that turns into a plea for hand back.
It's not as if Brisbane would be the first host of the Olympics summer or winter to hand back hosting of the event to the IOC by popular demand (although the it'd be the honour of the first Summer Olympics and Paralympics handed back by a successful bidder). That honour goes to a city you'd least expect: Denver, in the US state of Colorado.
THE DEBACLE IN DENVER.
One has to outright look at the 1976 Winter Olympics debacle... all caused by a US state's population wising up to the IOC very early on in the piece.
Denver, Colorado won the right to host the 1976 Winter Olympics in May 1970, by a mere nine point margin ahead of perennial Winter Olympics bidder Sion in Switzerland. The state started to show immediate winners remorse, after realizing the cost both financially and to the environment, especially coming off a mild recession in the 1969-1970 financial year.
Communities united to fight venue proposals first as disparate groups, before coming together under a unified banner. The costs of the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics began to hit the minds of Colorado residents, just as their own event four years later was being devised, with the promise made by Denver officials in 1970 of a "economical Winter Olympics" slowly becoming seen as a giant lie amongst taxpayers alongside the idea that sold the IOC on Denver that 80% of venues for the 1976 Winter Olympics already existed.
Ultimately, the calls grew so loud, it was put on the ballot locally for the 1972 US presidental election, (the first election held in the US with 18-20yr olds allowed to vote, no less): as a amendment to the state's constitution.
The amendment simply stated:
"An Act to Amend Articles X and XI of the State Constitution to prohibit the State from levying taxes and appropriating or loaning funds for the purpose of aiding or furthering the 1976 Winter Olympic Games."
Colorado emphatically passed this amendment (with a turnout level matching the significance of the vote, especially in a country where voting is optional), and ultimately saw Denver pull the plug weeks after the vote, and the IOC offering the 1976 Winter Olympics to runner up Sion (who refused), then Whistler in Canada (who refused), then back to the US with a alternate proposal, first by Salt Lake City (later to host the 2002 and 2034 Winter Olympics), being gazumped by Lake Placid (hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics, and would ultimately get the 1980 Winter Olympics) before the IOC put it's foot down, and awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics to Innsbruck in Austria (which still had plenty of it's 1964 Winter Olympics infrastructure existent), with less than three years to go until the event, while Denver dodged a very significant Olympic bullet: as a far more significant recession occurred almost twelve months to the month after their vote, that was ultimately triggered by the 1973 oil crisis.
When someone tells you, it's "too late" to call a referendum on the Olympics: remind them that Denver called a referendum on hosting the Games, just over three years away from hosting the 1976 Winter Olympics. Brisbane: as of Boxing Day has six and a half years until the 2032 Games, and our government has just as much chance as those in Denver half a century ago, of lying to us, Queensland voters as a collective unit and most importantly lying to the IOC concerning the real costs of the 2032 Games, that will ultimately be shelled into Queensland's hands and taken away from projects that need the money far more: not to mention the fact that Queensland and Australia are places that led the world concerning compulsory voting at elections and referendums: with Queensland being the first Australian state to offer compulsory voting at elections 110 years ago.
The following segment of PLAN R: is designed to be a fictional take on the inevitable TEDx talk that will happen... sometime in 202x concerning a Olympic and Paralympic Games referendum in Queensland, one based on the same model as Denver: where instead of encouraging people to vote no on hosting the Games, you would be instead encouraging a yes vote on handing back the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, much like Denver did concerning their constitutional amendment in 1972.
We will not be going into the specifics of how the campaigns would operate day by day, other than what the potential cases for such a referendum would look like and who they would target as well as the questions involved.
It may or may not happen: don't take this as gospel.
THE TALK, QUEENSLAND NEEDS TO HAVE:
Do you approve this proposed alteration?"
This question developed by the government made one key mistake: speaking legal jargon when most voters speak plain English.
How I'd have worded the question.
"Should the First Peoples of Australia's right to deal with their own affairs either independent of or in conjunction with the Federal Government be legally recognized in the Australian Constitution?"
Simple, to the point, and a clear stepping off point for "yes" or "no" and is critically: in plain English.
Which brings us to how I'd order a Olympics referendum in Queensland.
QUESTION 1:
-The first question concerns allowing the right in our constitution to call a referendum prior to the state lodging a globally significant event bid (e.g. Olympics, Commonwealth Games and World Expos).
It would be laid out as the following:
"Do you wish to amend the Queensland Constitution to mandate referendums for prescribed “major events”?"
There would need to be a explanation made, well before the referendum, as to how a "prescribed major event" would work in Queensland constitutional law if approved.
I'll give you what I believe should be the criteria that defines a "prescribed major event".
-The “major event” is being looked at by either the state government alone or a combination of state/federal resources, negotiating with a significant international body prescribed in the act adding the requirement to the QLD constitution (i.e. the Commonwealth Games Federation (responsible for awarding the Commonwealth Games), International Olympic Committee (responsible for awarding the Olympics, and in parallel (on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee) the Paralympics) or Bureau International des Expositions (responsible for awarding World Expos).
-The “major event” is potentially seen as a major tourism and economic drawcard to the state.
-The “major event” is potentially seen as major job creation opportunity in both the setup and running.
-The “major event” will also be seen to generate significant volunteer interest.
-If the “major event” fulfills all those questions, a referendum must be called at the earliest opportunity before any bidding documents are submitted to a prescribed significant international body mentioned in the act adding the requirement to the Queensland constitution.
In addition, there needs to be the potential for criminal charges for the failure to consult widely on a "significant major event" by public officials. There would be a clause that allows such charges concerning the failure to consult widely to be retroactive to the 1st of January, 2010, and would allow a future Queensland government (once the state cabinet papers are released for 2009-2018 of course) to investigate the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games for any significant wider consultation deficiencies concerning the event.
There are already dozens of locations globally that mandate referendums for significant major events at bid stage. In fact such votes in the last quarter of a century since the Sydney Olympics have been mainly been on the Winter Olympics: a event which pretty much uses the host city for as little events as possible (opening/closing ceremonies, speed skating, ice skating disciplines and ice hockey), while the lions share of athletic events are held in ski resorts, while some attempts at referenda on the Summer Olympics at bid stage either were successful, were rejected, and have even led to cities pulling bids once a threat of a vote had been made.
Just look into the 2024 bidding race: where it went from five to two, with successful referenda in Hamburg, the threat of referenda in Budapest and general unease in Rome seeing the race thin out to just Paris and Los Angeles (who was the USOC's second choice: the first choice, Boston pushed for a referendum (echoing it's city's roots: the location where the first real seeds of the events leading to the American Revolution were sown), before any agreement to even bid with the USOC was even signed).
QUESTION 2:
-The second question, will be the most significant: as it would be the trigger to begin the process of handing back the 2032 Summer Olympic Games back to the IOC.
"Do you wish to repeal all acts passed by Queensland Parliament concerning the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, triggering hand back negotiations with the IOC as well as the appointment of a politically independent administrator to run Queensland for up to 3 years?"
Our original idea for the second question was a lot more wordy:
"Do you wish to repeal the “Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements Act 2021” and begin the process of a “2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Repeal Act (insert year here)” to hand back the hosting rights to the 2032 Summer Olympics to the International Olympic Committee?"
The repeal of the Olympic and Paralympics acts first signed in late 2021, will need significant planning work done by Queensland Parliament well before any referendum date, including the possible appointment (not made official until a referendum result is known) of a apolitical administrator that would work independent of government (potentially even being the face of Queensland's government, if significant resignations occur, or greater powers are given (such as calling elections and council redistributions), while dealing with the fallout that a Brisbane 2032 hand back would inevitably deliver.
The mention of the appointment in the question: also prevents political parties stuffing a mate in for the administrator's job, with the explicit mention in the question itself: that the person responsible for hand back of the Olympics/Paralympics and ultimately the political reconstruction of Queensland afterward, is politically independent, has no party membership or donation history toward them.
The independent administrator would have additional powers, concerning the the ability to launch a royal commission into the 2032 bid, direct control of services like police, emergency, education and health services (i.e. all are answerable to the administrator, the power to directly call elections (important for a potential state recall election) along with requesting legislation to be repealed that would preclude the administrator's work... that would only be active if the third question passes.
QUESTION 3:
Question three, involves the most important power shift in this state's history.
"Do you wish, for the independent administrator of Queensland, to have significant powers, including the right to work independently of parliament concerning specific decisions of their choosing after the handback of the 2032 Olympics/Paralympic Games to the IOC/IPC respectively?"
Far better than my original idea:
"If the “2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Repeal Act (insert year here)” is active, should it have the power to force resignations from public office (if applicable) and issue ten year bans on accepting public office and political lobbying in the private sector for all people responsible for the bid/hosting?"
One of these additional powers, would be the right to call a royal commission into the 2032 bid/hosting.
THE 2032 BID/HOSTING ROYAL COMMISSION.
Once the dust has settled on handback: the independent administrator of Queensland will launch a significant independent royal commission into the entire SEQ Olympic bid process prior to July 2021, and hosting until the Olympics/Paralympics acts were passed in December 2021. A inquiry will likely see former SEQ mayors, organizations and individuals with possible links to the bid and notable state and federal politicians facing the stand, answering questions about what they knew or did about keeping the bid out of the eyes of the Queensland public.
The 2032 Bid/Hosting Royal Commission would ultimately have the power to sanction politicians and organizations, while possibly examining criminal conduct (concerning two new charges that could be introduced in the wake of a Olympics referendum: the act of willingly/unwillingly deceiving the public concerning a major event bid and the act of failure to consult widely on a major event bid) upon completion of the inquiry.
The sanctions for politicians and organizations include, for just appearing as a witness to the 2032 bid/hosting Royal Commission:
-5 year bans on public office and political lobbying in the private sector for individuals first elected to QLD parliament, and SEQ councils after December 2, 2021.
-10 year bans on both public office and political lobbying in the private sector for individuals outside key roles (e.g MLA's who turned up for the Olympics acts vote on December 2 2021, SEQ local councilors, past/present federal MP's/senators with no direct role on the bid).
-Lifetime bans on both public office and political lobbying for those in key roles (premier, opposition leader, Olympics ministers and shadows, SEQ Mayors past and present, and federal MP's/senators who had direct roles concerning the bid) who knowingly/unknowingly kept Queenslanders in the dark at bid stage.
-Sanctions for organizations, and individuals within those organizations that knowingly or unknowingly influenced decision making by Queensland state and local politicians at the time the bid was being developed.
The person, we would openly recommend for the chair of this royal commission is none other than the head of the successful Sydney 2000 bid, Rod McGeoch, who famously closed his book "The Bid: How Australia Won The 2000 Games" in the mid nineties, with a bold prediction: that Australia wouldn't be hosting the Olympic Games again for a century after Sydney 2000.
QUEENSLAND RECALL ELECTION:
Meanwhile, mass resignations from state politics, federal politics, as well as the SE councils (which could be better off sacked entirely and run directly by the independent administrator for Queensland, pushing toward the calling of a LGA election that ultimately takes local government elections in Queensland out of state election years where the re-organized SEQ councils (with a push to cap council populations in the metro SE corner to 200k), may well occur post-Question 3 passing (especially if the independent administrator for Queensland (for example) potentially sees the passing of the Olympics/Paralympics acts in late 2021 by Queensland Parliament without wider public consultation as a trigger to mandate significant repeals of legislation signed since then, even possibly a base line set with any legislation passed by the Queensland Government after the 27th of October, 2021 (the very day the foundation Olympics legislation was introduced to the Legislative Assembly) that has had royal assent needs to be repealed, reviewed by a interim legislative arm (a gateway to a upper house revival) and potentially reintroduced by a Legislative Assembly cleaned of it's connections entirely to the December 2, 2021 vote on the 2032 Olympics foundation legislation, bill by bill, and there also needs to be a framework developed (by the administrator and the electoral commission of Queensland) to handle the effects of such a significant electoral event caused by a significant legislative event.
Our belief at the state level, is quite simple: a recall state election, with all seats in Queensland to be vacated, with special conditions for those who didn't turn up for Olympics votes in December 2021, while any existing members that did turn up on that day not being allowed to regain their seats in parliament, whilst awaiting the results of the 2032 Bid/Hosting Royal Commission (along with any MPs replacing previous members that were there that day being forced to be punished for their predecessor's faults), with the independent administrator, in conjunction with ECQ and a temporary legislative body having powers to decide who is legally able to run in a recall election called by a administrator, even void any Queensland redistribution for a recall election (meaning that the recall election would have to run on 2020/2024 boundaries), as well as the possibility to deregister political parties who refuse to follow instructions concerning legal candidates for seats, developed by ECQ and the administrator, a option that can only be used... as a last resort option.
PRE-2021 REPEAL PUSH:
Which brings us to another possible power for a independent Queensland administrator: repealing acts beyond the Olympics scope (i.e. they were enacted before December 2, 2021), if they believe such acts preclude the running of Queensland under a administrator.
For example: two acts that could be targeted, would be... the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934, and the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1922... the acts that sets out the guidelines for a upper house revival (CAAA 1934), and most critically: sets out the guidelines for the abolition of Queensland's upper house (CAAA 1922).
This would mean, without a election or a referendum: a Legislative Council is resurrected in Queensland, initially with a appointed membership (a exit door, for politicians who didn't turn up for the Olympics votes in 2021: to remain in politics, alongside significant experts in transport, education, law and order and health, with the independent Queensland administrator also serving as LC president), who would act as a defacto QLD Government until a lower house recall election occurs... with the first job of a post-recall Queensland government would be to make the newly reinstated upper house elective at the first opportunity, as the last recommendation of a administrator, before they transition into the Legislative Council presidency full time (with the LC presidency having the right to appoint members at their own will) until the first upper house elections in Queensland are conducted, alongside the first state election post-recall.
Our view is that the repeal events required, along with other changes post referendum will be held publicly in the Legislative Council chamber of Queensland's Parliament House, and relayed to a satellite venue (Brisbane's City Hall) where the SEQ metro councils (all councillors and mayors) and their council CEO's will be in attendance to find out their fate.
Our long term view for a revived QLD Legislative Council however, will be to shift permanently into the Undumbi Room in the Parliamentary Annexe (utilized for lower house sittings in the late seventies/early eighties while restoration work occurred on the main Queensland parliament building), once made elective.
DEPARTMENTAL AMALGAMATION:
And finally, the most important of these "additional powers": the ability of a independent Queensland administrator to become the final decisionmaker for certain government departments, and willing to override decision-making by said departments. These four base departments that would be administrator-answerable are: the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Emergency Services (i.e. the State Emergency Service, Queensland Fire Department, and Queensland Ambulance Service), Queensland Education Department and Queensland Health. These four departments are the most significant front facing places the Queensland government has to the people of Queensland from the cradle to the grave... it always has, and always will. Our view is to transition these departments into one mega department ultimately answerable to a single minister (i.e. not in the fashion of Russ Hinze's combined local government and main roads ministry from 1974 to 1987, where both departments stood alone, Hinze was simply the face for both and became the "Minister for Everything", once police, then racing was added)
No government in Queensland would dare merge police, education, health and emergency services into one giant state department... you are likely one scandal away (e.g. education having access to police and health records of students) from being voted out if that were the case.
If such a move were made, under administration: you could potentially teach potential future politicians who want to be in charge of this giant department (we'd call it the Department of State Services) how to run it without scandal, and if the administrator sees a scandal under their watch they'd be gone from frontline decision making in three years maximum anyway.
Other potential direct administrations include, Transport and Main Roads (better off split into three: Queensland Transport's customer facing infrastructure (e.g drivers licensing, road safety etc.) merged into the Department of State Services), Department of Main Roads standing alone as it's own agency, and the public transport functions TMR manage spun off and amalgamated with Queensland Rail's infrastructure (paving the way for the QR split we suggested earlier this year), Local Government (incorporated with the trading hours powers of the QIRC and liquor/gaming licensing divisions) and Justice/CCC.
Now we have talked about what could come from a referendum: now, let's look at the cases themselves.
THE CASES:
Now, we've talked about the questions at a referendum, let's now talk about the cases in a state referendum where potential options have not been this broad since the 1920/23 referendum event concerning liquor consumption (with three cases: prohibition of brewing and sales (led by the QLD Temperance League), state management of brewing and sales (the a variant of the latter (government managed alcohol retail monopolies) exists in some US states today), and the status quo (continuance, led by brewers/pub owners)
We begin with, the one that should be the loudest case for a QLD Olympic/Paralympic repeal referendum.
CASE 1: ALL YES.
The name says it all: this case group, supports all three questions answered "YES". The All Yes case is targeting the 18-34yr old demographic, and pushing clear images of housing unaffordability (both in the sales and rental markets) becoming significantly worse in the lead-up to the Olympics for first home buyers and potential renters, thanks to the fact that tomorrow's first home buyer or tomorrow's suburban renter could well be fighting with a Olympics construction worker for a home, forcing prices to spiral even further than today: alongside the general fear amongst some that the Olympics will be a significant security minefield that our current political leaders (after all, premier's approaching 40 (from a electorate more known for one suburb having it's own act of parliament), opposition leader's 50, the most senior Queenslanders in both the federal ALP and LNP (federal treasurer is also nearly fifty, the former federal opposition leader that lost his seat this year is approaching 70) have no idea at all how to trawl, as the inevitable security requirements for the Olympics have soared dramatically since Sydney 2000.
Paris 2024 required 72,000 security personnel: 15,000 soldiers, 35,000 police officers, and 22,000 private contractors.
Queensland may well need 100,000 security personnel (nearly the size of Mackay, just over 20,000 more than the size of the US encampment in Brisbane in WW2 (80,000 soldiers) and half the size of the Australian army that served in WW2 in the Pacific (around 200,000 soldiers) and they all need to be housed somewhere in SEQ or Queensland... much like the Olympics construction worker.
(Note for the reader (sorry to break the fourth wall here): that 2032 security personnel estimate wasn't recent: it's been in this piece since 2024, in case you were wondering.)
In addition, there is a strong belief amongst the All Yes case that infrastructure costs in SEQ (whether they be road capacity or public transport) are only ballooning because of the Olympics. You only have to look at the book of unfulfilled dreams that was Action for Transport 2010, the NSW government released in 1998: just two years out from Sydney 2000 and how little was realized from it by 2010 (only road projects such as the missing pieces of a Sydney Orbital motorway (the Westlink M7 between Prestons and Seven Hills, as well as the Lane Cove Tunnel) and Parramatta-Chatswood rail getting cut back to Epping-Chatswood really got ahead), and realize that Queensland is likely headed down the same path.
CASE II: ALL NO.
The All No case, is lead by politicians (most likely the premier of Queensland and state opposition leader, alongside a few SEQ mayors (they know who they are) and potentially the sole print newspaper operator in Queensland, who are all scared of the potential risks of Question 3 passing, the potential of a constitutional mandate concerning consultation on major events and most critically, the end of the Olympics gravy train.
They don't give a damn about the common person trying to purchase a home in Brisbane's suburbs, let alone what will happen when you add security and construction workers into the market in the years to come.
They don't care that Brisbane becomes a near garrison town for four weeks in 2032, for the first time since WW2 when Macarthur turned Brisbane into a US base for the Pacific.
They only care about the rewards at the end... not the risks getting there.
Most critically: they will all have to be open during the leadup to the referendum in saying to Queenslanders why they were left out of having a say on the bid before it was shipped to the IOC.
CASE III: YES ON TWO, NO ON ONE (ALSO KNOWN AS YES ON 1 & 2 NO ON 3)
This case would be led by politicians that are willing to accept the will of the people (potentially defying their own party leaders), but are outright scared of the consequences that a Question 3 passing will deliver to their political career.
One of the biggest threats to the All No message, and potential leadership material if resignations still occur (i.e. All No leaders taking the fall for losing the Olympics) if for some reason Question 3 doesn't get up, and Question 1 and 2 passes successfully.
CASE IV: YES ON 1, NO ON 2, 3.
This case would again be led by politicians who can read the room (yes, we didn't consult this time: this mistake will never be repeated) and back Question 1, but show their disdain for Queensland voters by not backing the other two questions, purely because they want to retain their seat on the Olympic gravy train and not have Question 3 become a problem as a result. A bigger threat to the All Yes message than most people think, basically: they are All No's with a guilt complex concerning consultation.
ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR CONSIDERATION:
In addition, we believe significant ideas should become the law of the land: most notably the extension of no-donate, no-gift rules into the media (as well as possible reforms to the QLD press gallery, inc. mandatory membership for all journos working in QLD, restrictions on journos gaining government work as well as running as a state candidate (both must require resignation from the Press Gallery, and a 2 year wait to take up a government job or candidacy, akin to how politicians legally have a two year waiting period to get into political lobbying), alongside something that hasn't even been legally tested in Queensland yet (but rightfully should): the idea that a miner is technically a property developer: meaning that mining and resources companies with huge FIFO facilities they built themselves (i.e. they are effectively landlords to their workforce) may well inadvertently fall under current QLD restrictions concerning property developer donations.
Thank you once again, for the lend of the hall, I'll be taking photos shortly in the empty chairs.
(loud applause)"
THE END OF THE POST-JOH CONSENSUS IN QUEENSLAND POLITICS.
Before we hit the long, hard conclusion: we look into the one event that could outright occur out of a Olympic Games referendum.
The end of the post-Joh consensus in Queensland politics could well be triggered by a All Yes victory at a Olympic Games referendum. Defining signs of such a consensus, include:
-Queensland politicians refusing to give Queenslanders the right to either a trial or referendum concerning daylight saving: many people who should know better are always referring to the 1992 result as the death of the issue: despite Queensland's voting population, due to factors like births, people turning eighteen and interstate migration is now over double (a figure achieved sometime in early 2024) the amount that went to the polls on Feburary 22, 1992, and will increasingly become a problem as our parliament slowly gets younger: just ask Bryson Head and Ariana Doolan: both were born after the 1992 DST referendum and are being forced to toe a party line first devised, before they were born!
-The fact that every Queensland government since 1989: bar Newman (who famously shredded the original Cross River Rail proposal) has had to saddle projects kicked in by past administrations as their own projects and then take the fall for their success or failure: for instance, the late eighties push for a tolled Sunshine Motorway, ended up being a bugbear for a newly elected Goss Government, when the Tollbusters movement began, the Rob Borbidge-gestated plans for airport rail in Brisbane as a BOOT project and the M1 upgrade between Loganholme and Nerang (as well as the South East Transit Project: the SE Busway) ultimately ended up being opened by Peter Beattie.
Even Crisafulli has a project kicked in from another administration: Cross River Rail, a project that will fall to the same fate as others before it: only the political nuts will know who turned the first sod, but whether it has success or failure is all worn on the person cutting the damn ribbon.
Such consensuses have existed throughout Queensland's political history, and have equally significant conclusions.
For starters: the foundation consensus (from 1860-1915), whose conclusion took from the 1912 Brisbane General Strike, until the 1915 state election to develop: with a significant trigger: then premier, Digby Denham announcing that the 1915 state election would be conducted using compulsory voting (the first ever use in Australia of the concept), as a attempt to stave off the problems of 1912's post-strike poll, a move that predated federal compulsory voting by a decade, but ultimately cost him his seat: kicking off a Labor dynasty (bar 1929-31) that lasted into the 1950's.
The Single House consensus (from 1915 to 1957), was most symbolised by Queensland Labor in the late 1910's/early 1920's taking advantage of Queensland's failure to make it's upper house elective: leading to a 1917 referendum on it's abolition that failed, followed by stacking the deck so it could abolish itself. This same consensus, led to things we take for granted today: free public hospitals, public housing, the early parts of the Bruce Highway... but by the 1950's: it had worn out it's welcome. The end of the Single House consensus, came on one issue: of all things: annual leave for workers: which ultimately set the cards falling after a ALP schism, thanks to then premier Vince Gair, and ultimately charted the course for a state election in mid-1957 that saw Frank Nicklin take the reigns.
Nicklin may have started a new consensus: but didn't ultimately name it: it took the events after his retirement in 1968 to put fate to that: the Joh consensus (1957-1989) became the standard fare for Queensland in the first thirty years of the television age. Whether it was the pragmatism of Nicklin, or the risky moves Joh pulled over almost twenty years (confronting protest, restricting their rights, dealing with union pressure) all came to a head come early 1987: when the shady side of Queensland began to be exposed in extreme detail, after a period from 1983 onward, where Joh's Nationals effectively governed alone. The Fitzgerald inquiry's discoveries between 1987 and 1989, and a Labor leader with modern values in Wayne Goss (a beneficiary of the work post-war concerning health and housing, raised in the same Inala community that also gave Queensland politics the Palaszczuk dynasty in Henry, and daughter Annastacia) that was lost on a aging QLD Nationals base: just as much a problem then as a aging base would be to today's LNP) ultimately put the gates on the Joh consensus in December 1989.
The end of the post-Joh consensus, has had many false starts and finishes (Newman, Crisafulli), but has one key issue that could trigger it: in much the same way older consensus issues were triggered, a significant event that ultimately overshadows all policy.
That significant event that could end the post-Joh consensus: a Olympic Games referendum ultimately leading toward hand back to the IOC and a significant inquiry into the bid and hosting.
THE LONG HARD CONCLUSION:
That was merely a example of what could happen if given the opportunity to explore a dangerous concept. But, we want to explore it more. We launched a year ago, a Facebook group entitled "Citizens for Queensland's Future": inspired by the efforts of Colorado residents fifty years ago to send the IOC packing, thanks to a grassroots effort by "Citizens for Colorado's Future", that ultimately led to Richard Lamm (the first Colorado politician to take note of CCF's work) becoming a notable enough figure in Colorado politics to win the state governorship in 1975.
I'd love to also see this lead to a debate where both QLD's premier and opposition leader have to deal with the Olympics question... in a three way debate with yours truly.
My conditions are simple:
-This debate is a independently organized affair (i.e. this won't be a News Corp love-in, in fact: journos won't even be able to report on it until the end of the debate even then it'll be via a intermediary: a trial for what could potentially be used for News Corp Australia concerning state political reporting after a referendum)
-You must be prepared to answer questions about the lack of public consultation on 2032 as far back as 2020, and whether you are for or against a referendum designed to my model (i.e. are you willing to accept the consequences if Queensland voted to repeal the Olympics acts signed in December 2021, which you were both witness to, let alone the risk of a administrator potentially mandating a repeal of half a decades worth of legislation, along with other legislation that could preclude the successful work of a administrator before any recall election takes place).
-You must also be prepared for the likelihood that our two big leaders may well walk out of there saying to themselves... "We got schooled on the Olympics... by Rain Man" or worse: finding out stuff about bid stage... that they weren't even aware of.
Why, ask questions they have no idea of prior to the event... because the response afterward should match the facts revealed by them.
That would mean punching above our weight as a state, and as a person (perhaps showing that last shred of traditional Queensland empathy that in our minds went down the toilet at the Okura Hotel in Tokyo in July 2021)
We'd punch above our weight even more if our politicians as a collective (including the previous premier prior to Miles, as well as the previous OL prior to Crisafulli) had agreed to give Queensland a say on 2032 well before the bid book was submitted, along with examining whether there had been any conflict of interest concerning any AOC partner and any SEQ Mayor prior to the bid landing on the premier's table in 2019.
Yes, we believe the Allan Sutherland disclosure of a gift from a News Corp Australia subsidiary (Quest Newspapers: which is literally now a skeleton after SEQ's News Corp-owned community newspapers were basically shuttered in 2020) in 2017/18 deserves wider examination. If the SEQ Mayors outside Sutherland, were never aware, let alone QLD's parliament and other significant figures of interest in Canberra, then serious questions may need to be asked of other SEQ mayors and whether they have accepted gifts in the past from News and it's subsidiaries past and present that fall through the cracks, and the awareness of our politicians of them when making decisions related to them.
Why is this significant?
Because News Corp Australia and any subsidiary run by it... is a long term partner of the Australian Olympic Committee...
In fact, at the time of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, News Corp Australia was in the middle of a five year agreement with the AOC concerning sponsorship: one signed in November 2015, in the leadup to the Rio Olympics, incidentally: just under eight months after the SEQ Mayors first agreed to bid for the 2028 Olympics.
And, yet News Corp Australia has refused to disclose this very serious fact concerning their AOC sponsorship at every opportunity it's generated since 2019: first for the bid, and then for the hosting: something that is also endemic in rugby league reporting in this state, especially as News Corp owns 70% of the Brisbane Broncos, which: also has never been disclosed in the hundreds of Broncos articles the Courier-Mail publishes every single year.
Not to mention the conflict of interests concerning it's land in Bowen Hills (particularly as News Corp's QLD HQ sits within the Priority Development Area segment of the suburb, where any development, whether it be a garden shed or a skyscraper has to go through a state government process to even proceed, and has required such a action since March 2008)
And guess where News Corp's land in Bowen Hills is?
Within 3km of a proposed stadium and other ancillary facilities proposed for 2032... including a Olympic Village that will get development priority... that News will literally sell the rights to Rupert Murdoch's funeral to the QLD Government so the same conditions can ultimately get applied to it's land.
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