Commonwealth plays $2 billion games

As the closing ceremony begins today the total cost of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games could escalate to $2 billion, over five times the original $350 million budgeted in 2002.

Victorian MP Russell Savage spoke to ABC Mildura yesterday and said Games’ organisers “lost their grip on reality”.

The Victorian Government’s original proposal excluded the expenses of public transport, security and police resources, and was upgraded to a maximum $697 million in March 2003, ABC reported.

It was yesterday revealed that the Victorian Government spent $119 million on security at the games, $73 million more than initially allocated.

A spokesman for the Victorian Government said the security upgrades were driven by the September 11 attacks and Bali bombings.

It was announced in September 2003 that $30 million would be allocated to the production of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Mr Savage said he believed the billion-dollar blow out was due to a “fireworks circus to end the Commonwealth Games”.

Funds for the Games were raised through sponsors, merchandising, TV rights and ticket sales, after the Victorian Government’s $697 million investment and over $100 million from the Commonwealth Government.

However, “nervous” Games organisers “gave away 5,000 tickets for the Opening Ceremony” just days before the Games in a desperate bid to try and fill seats, the ABC’s The World Today reported.
The Commonwealth Games ends tonight at the MCG with an expected $7.5 million giveaway of Closing Ceremony tickets to volunteers, cast and crew.

Drought of the Century

In the next 12 months the beautiful spring water creeks of far north Queensland could be transformed into sand and stone if the proposals for a $1 billion Century Zinc mine and pipeline in the region are approved.

The pipeline will run from the planned mine, 150km south west of Burketown and span 300km to the Gulf of Carpentaria, crossing major freshwater river systems in its path.

President of the Gulf of Carpentaria Land Council, Murrandoo Yanner, voiced his concern for the ecosystem of the Gulf and the livelihood of future generations in the area, yesterday while attending an indigenous cultural festival in Brisbane.

“82% of what (the water) we use will be taken out (by bores) in one year. And that’s industrial use, personal use, everything. That’s what it amounts to,“ Mr Yanner said.

“Theoretically … the place the pipe’s first going to bust and spill is at the kinks. They (the minerals) are most abrasive at the kinks in the pipeline and they’re right near the major river systems.’

The pipeline will carry zinc ore slurry to a port facility on the Gulf, which will then be shipped overseas.

The entrance of foreign ships into the Gulf has also raised opposition from the Council.

“Big ships from overseas, from different oceans, will bring stuff like thorny star crown fish that will drop off and invade our ecosystems … our reefs,” Mr Yanner said.
The National Native Title tribunal will mediate negotiations between the Council, State Government and Century Zinc Limited, on the use of land and the employment of indigenous people in the development.

Employment falls for fishing future

More than a thousand Queensland fisheries workers (6 per cent) have been paid to leave the fishing industry since November when the Federal Government released its $150 million fishing licence buyback scheme.

The Securing our Fishing Future scheme, initially proposed in November 2005, aims to protect marine biodiversity, fisheries minister Senator Eric Abetz said, while ensuring “long-term sustainability and productivity of Commonwealth fisheries”.

The centrepiece of the initiative is a $220 million business exit assistance package including a licence buyback scheme and is supported by the introduction of new fisheries management actions and the redevelopment of Marine Protected Areas.

Senator Abetz said the licence buyback schemes meant skippers and crew who leave the industry or “lose employment aboard vessels that have exited the industry will become eligible for payments of $5,000 and $3,000 respectively to help with retraining or relocation.”

For every one person employed on board commercial fishing vessels a further 1.58 related Queensland jobs are created onshore, according to the Queensland Seafood Industry Association.

This means, of the 1200 fishery employees who have left the fishing industry since last year, a further 1896 onshore jobs have been jeopardised.

“The tender provides an opportunity for those wishing to leave the industry to do so, while also better positioning those who remain to be profitable,” Senator Abetz said.