Go for gold, or settle for silver?
The Games won't solve Brisbane's problems, but they shouldn't make things worse.
What price Olympics glory? Is hosting an international sports event worth it if it means less money and/or attention is directed towards important social issues such as health, education and policing?
While the early ambitions have been toned down a little — at the time of writing, it would seem there will be no new multi-billion-dollar stadium no matter who wins the state election in November — there’s no denying the Olympic and Paralympic Games are going to stretch the budget.
Given the estimated half-billion-dollar bill Victoria is facing for cancelling the Commonwealth Games, baling out isn’t really an option. So, even those who wish we’d never made the bid in the first place must admit that we have to make the best of it.
Of course, much of the money to be spent on the Games — especially federal money — wouldn’t be available for other purposes. We need to treat it as a windfall that must be spent wisely.
There’s a big risk that government services that don’t feed directly into the Olympics machine will feel neglect over the next decade.
Will human and material resources be redirected from the things governments should be doing — educating children, feeding and sheltering the poor, building and maintaining transport infrastructure, treating the sick and creating safer suburbs — so we can make “the dream” come true?
One of the reasons rolled out to support hosting the Olympics is that it will “put Brisbane on the map” — presumably meaning it will attract investment and tourism dollars in both the medium and long term.
That may be the case, but I wouldn’t be comparing Brisbane to the likes of Sydney, Beijing, London or Paris, which were already well and truly “on the map” before they hosted the Games.
Of course, the public — also known as the voters — are only interested in the short term.
Nobody’s thinking about a post-2032 utopia when it’s already getting harder to pay the rent or mortgage, hospital ramping is rampant, and we’re no closer to solutions to youth crime and domestic violence.
Brisbane is locked into hosting the Games, so let’s do it with an eye to the future. Not a pretend future where the focus is on visitors and interlopers, but on the practical needs of the people of Brisbane and Queensland as a whole.
Importantly, any infrastructure spent on the Olympics must be able to be put to good use when the travelling show has moved on. It should not be like the World Expo site, which has undergone several expensive reimaginings since 1988.
We need a multipartisan plan to ensure that not one dollar spent on the Games will be wasted.
If that means having a “bargain-basement” Olympics, so be it.