Beattie: Don’t blame me

GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie scoffed at business owners “whingeing” at going under on the back of soft trading during the Commonwealth Games.

When asked at a cheque handover presentation yesterday, the Games boss said it was “absolutely nonsense” that businesses closed because of the city’s biggest ever event.

“Anyone who suggests that, absolutely nonsense. If you fail on the basis of 11 or 12 days of your trading during the Games, then frankly you’re going to go anyway,” he said.

It was previously revealed Games organisers had been warned about a forecast drop in business almost a year prior to the event.

Multiple businesses have claimed the drop throughout the Games, as well as 18 months of construction and preparation, left them unable to recover from the event.

Mr Beattie (left) said GOLDOC took no responsibility for businesses going under.

He called for a national and international promotional tour for the Games, and claimed those who complained needed to take part.

“Those businesses who may not have done as well as they wanted to do out of it, they will have another opportunity if they get into the positive gear,” he said.

“If they keep whingeing, all they’ll say to people is, ‘don’t come to the Gold Coast’.”

When asked about people who had a negative view of the Games, Mr Beattie said: “What happens in these things, to be really blunt, is you’ll end up with a small, tiny group of whingers. You could actually put them in heaven and they’d still complain,” he said.

“The reality is if you take the real people, the people who bought tickets and were surveyed, 9500, 86 per cent were very positive about the Games organisation, 97 per cent had great experiences.

“If you look at those figures, it’s not what people think. I just say to everybody, whether you loved the Games, whether you want to whinge about an aspect of it, ‘move on’.

“If you keep whingeing, all you’ll do is undermine Gold Coast.”

Mr Beattie and Games CEO Mark Peters presented a cheque for $42,365 to Gold Coast Community Fund (GCCF) Chair Nick Scott at Games headquarters in Ashmore.

The money was from an online memorabilia auction.

The money handed over to the GCCF brings the total donation to more than $500,000, which will go towards charities such as the Salvation Army and the Homelessness Network. the