Beattie07 affirms Games safety
THE horror that unfolded in Melbourne will not happen during next year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the event’s chief said last night.
“This would not have happened on the Gold Coast,” GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie said. “The safest place to be in Australia when the Games are on is at the Games.
“We’re prepared. Don’t come and deal with us.”
Mr Beattie said Games organisers had anticipated scenarios such as the tragedy that unfolded in Melbourne yesterday as part of their planning.
“What I need to do is basically assure people we have already war-gamed this scenario,” he said.
“We are prepared for them. That’s why you cannot drive to a venue in a car.
“We have worked with Gold Coast Airport and Brisbane Airport and every one of the stakeholders, everyone has been more than co-operating to be part of the security transport and overall strategy of the Games. We want to send a message to the world that the Gold Coast is safe.”
Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones said she had “full confidence” in the Queensland Police Service and Games security team.
“When delegates from the Commonwealth Games Federation Coordination Commission met only weeks ago, they said our preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games was the best they’d ever seen,” she said.
“We’ve done all we can. This will be the best Commonwealth Games of all time.
“Nothing will rain on our parade.”
Shadow Commonwealth Games Minister John Paul Langbroek said he was confident every possible precaution was being taken to ensure the Gold Coast Games were safe.
Australian National University’s terrorism expert Dr Clarke Jones said historically the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games were not targeted because they were a “hard target” to hit due to high levels of security and police personnel.
Dr Jones, who worked in intelligence for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, said years of security preparation and planning went into a special event like the Commonwealth Games.
He said venues were “not a likely target” but there was a risk of an attack in “areas where a lot of people gather”.
“You can’t bollard off everywhere, but certainly they can create vehicle checkpoints,” he said.
“I don’t want to panic anyone, (the Games) are not to be feared, they’re to be celebrated and for people to have a good time but traditionally venues are very hard targets because of the security and the planning that goes into it.
“When it’s a vehicle, they hurt a lot of people, it sounds a lot larger than the planning that’s gone into it.”
Dr Jones said he was confident the authorities would have the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games security under control.