http://aspirecq.com/?p=49
Managed to get into a little hot water about my reference in a previous column about the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Just for the record I think it’s great that Queensland is holding the Games in 2018. For an Australian athlete to compete in a world class event on an Australian stage is something for all of us to savour.
However can you imagine what the Gold Coast will be like over the next six years as they put in a light train network to help transport visitors to the different venues? It’s a rat race now. (I wonder if a mono rail network above the roads was considered?)
Take a mental step further and imagine if Rockhampton won the bid instead. I can hear some of you now saying, “It would never happen, who would even dare suggest funding a Rockhampton bid”. Quite likely no one, unfortunately. However if you can get past these mental hurdles, imagine what infrastructure would be built (though we won’t need a new pool complex or hockey field). Netball would finally get a decent venue. CQ NRL bid would get a stadium. Little athletics would have a fantastic training facility. Crocodiles would mysteriously be relocated from above the barrage for the rowing course. What a statement about decentralisation the State Government would be making by supporting such a bid. What a magnet there would be to attract people to live, work and play in our region. Giving people migrating to Queensland a real alternative to the south east corner. Oh, but it wouldn’t be sustainable. Politically irresponsible would be the calls. Would it be though, if we were serious about decentralisation and developed a tri-city concept with Gladstone and the Capricorn Coast with a fast (bullet) train running between the two major centres and maybe a mono rail service connecting the coast and Rockhampton, would the investment in the infrastructure needed to hold the Games be unsustainable? Share some of the events with Gladstone. Relocate the Queensland Institute of Sport to Rockhampton. Close some roads to cyclists and walkers only. With the international attention the Games would bring imagine the image the Rockhampton region could project. Dynamic, vibrant, innovative, clean, green. An image that would endure after the resource boom ends. A Commonwealth Games in the Rockhampton region could be the stimulus for the Rockhampton/Gladstone regions population to exceed 350,000. Taking pressure of the south east corner. Would a population base of this size and the benefits of a more decentralised state make a successful Game bid sustainable? But the Gold Coast Games will be great for the States tourism. We’ve got beaches (as good if not better) and islands. Imagine how picturesque the marathon would be run from Bangalee to Yeppoon with the Keppel’s in the background. But the State can’t afford it! This would be an investment in a decentralised State, thus a stronger State. Making cities with populations over one million bigger is not better. Growth needs to be encouraged across the State. Something like a Commonwealth Games would be the stimulus for this type of healthier growth to occur. And if the rules say that cities under 500000 people can’t bid for the Games, international expos etc, break them. If not sustainable development, lets at least work towards smarter development. If that means changing the rules or risk being unpopular in the more populated areas then do it. Our future is more important. Could we at least try to get an Australian qualifying game in the hockey played in Rockhampton during the 2018 Commonwealth Games? I’m sure the Rockhampton boys hopefully in the team would love the opportunity to play in front of their friends and family as well as even a bigger crowd who might find it hard getting to the venue at the Gold Coast. After all I think CQ will be making a fair contribution to the cost of holding the Games.