State leaders blame Beattie
AS Games chairman Peter Beattie fronted cameras eager to take blame for the closing ceremony debacle, it’s been revealed it was signed off by a committee of seven high-level representatives from GOLDOC, the State Government and Gold Coast City Council.
Mr Beattie chaired GOLDOC’s ceremonies and arts and culture committee, which was made up of other board members and was authorised to give “key approvals” for the ceremonies.
According to GOLDOC’s most recent annual report, the committee included CEO Mark Peters, deputy CEO Brian Nourse, former Australian Commonwealth Games Association CEO Perry Crosswhite and Gold Coast Cultural Precinct CEO and director Criena Gehrke.
Also on the committee was Damien Walker, director-general of Minister Kate Jones’s Department of Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games.
Sunday’s closing ceremony has been widely condemned for disregarding the athletes, who filed quietly into the stadium under house lights before the live broadcast.
Instead of marching proudly through the stadium with their flag bearers as the centrepiece, athletes were told to practise dance moves “for this rehearsal” ahead of the broadcast, and were left to mill about in the dark as an announcer counted down the minutes before the show started.
Many left before the broadcast began, and politicians were criticised for making long, self-indulgent speeches despite the swiftly emptying stands.
Mr Beattie told the Gold Coast Bulletin he accepted “full responsibility” for the debacle.
“It’s my fault. I’m not going to pass the buck. It’s mine. We can sit around and look at the entrails of this, blame everybody. I’m the chairman of the organising committee and it’s my fault,” he said.
“People can look at this for 100 years but there is just one chairman of the bloody organising committee and it’s me. I hate it when other people (buck pass) and I am not going to do it.”
Mr Peters said “it was always our expectation that visuals of athletes would be part of the ceremony” but declined to answer further questions.
Jack Morton Worldwide, the US-based production company which received more than $40 million from Games organisers, went to ground yesterday, failing to answer questions on who made the decision to omit athletes from a starring role in the Games finale.
Ms Jones said Mr Beattie was right to accept blame for the mess after he’d “inserted himself” into the ceremonies committee.
“Trust has been broken,” she said. “I expected, like every other Australian, that the closing ceremony would be broadcast with the athletes being front and centre.
“Making a decision not to have a parade of athletes is like saying ‘you’re going to have a Commonwealth Games without awarding medals’. Peter Beattie has said that the buck stops with him and it does stop with him.”
Ms Jones said the State Government representative on the ceremony committee was there “for logistics” and was not aware the athletes would be left out.
“Quite frankly GOLDOC were managing the contracts for the opening and closing ceremonies.”
GOLDOC has already began a brutal wind-down from 1900 staff to a few hundred, with the numbers progressively dwindling from there as the Games wash-up is finalised.
Meanwhile, Channel 7 continued to blame host broadcaster NEP Australia for not providing them footage of the athletes.
NEP, a subsidiary of New Yorkbased NEP Group, received the single biggest contract of the Gold Coast Games, although the exact sum has not been disclosed.
Mr Beattie and Mr Peters travelled to Sri Lanka in October to unveil their plans with Jack Morton’s head of public events, David Zolkwer, and gain approval from the Commonwealth Games Federation, promising a “wow factor”.
Mayor Tom Tate said the ceremony was a surprise and was glad the stuff-up wasn’t his fault. “All I know is, it wasn’t me.
“I would like to have seen the athletes highlighted, marching out in flags and all their glory and cele-
brate them. When you look at the whole picture, in the achievement, the opening ceremony, the weather was perfect, if you lead your life where you want 100 per cent perfection – well that is just not life.
“Did we miss a beat not honouring the athletes at the closing ceremony? Yes we did.”
The Mayor was pleased with his own performance on the night. “It was all about the athletes, the amazing feat and how proud we are of them, and their families are proud of their achievement.
“Well, you only can look at what you can control. My speech was short and sweet, you be the judge,” he said.
“I mean I can’t keep it much shorter, what do I do, just say thank you?”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the decision-makers behind the ceremony should “hang their heads in shame”.
“I am just as disappointed about it as anyone else.
“I wanted to stand up an cheer everyone who participated in the Commonwealth Games and unfortunately that was a decision of GOLDOC.
“But look lets not just focus on one issue, lets focus on the whole 12 days.”