Days after Rowing Queensland urged members to get behind a proposal for a new facility in greater Brisbane, the state’s Labor opposition has backed the LNP’s plan to hold Olympic events in Rockhampton.
The Crisafulli government has vowed to host Olympic rowing on the Fitzroy River, a decision the rowing community has criticised for ignoring the legacy potential for the 78 per cent of Queensland participants who live in the state’s south-east.
Moreton Bay has proposed a purpose-built facility at Lawnton, which Mayor Peter Flannery said would be cheaper than Rockhampton and give the sport a lasting Olympic legacy where most Queensland rowers lived.
About 200 people attended a Rowing Queensland-hosted City of Moreton Bay presentation on the Lawnton proposal in West End last week, and were urged to lobby their local MPs to get behind the project.
Speaking on the banks of the Fitzroy River in the central Queensland city on Monday, opposition Olympic and Paralympic Games spokeswoman Grace Grace said the Crisafulli government had made a promise to the people of Rockhampton, and that promise had to be delivered.
“I went out there this morning to have a look at the site and I was very impressed. It’s such a beautiful part of Rockhampton,” she said.
“A promise was made and a promise needs to be delivered.”
Labor members past and present, including Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher and former Rockhampton MP Robert Schwarten, have cast doubt on the Fitzroy’s viability as an Olympic venue.
Earlier this month, Schwarten told 4BC the decision had been politicised – the state government made the call against the recommendations of its own independent Olympic venue review found the Fitzroy River was “not considered feasible”.
Despite the state government’s protestations to the contrary, it does not have the final say on whether the Fitzroy River will host Olympic competition. It would be left to the two governing bodies – World Rowing and the International Canoe Federation– to determine if the field of play was ready for competition.
“Everybody from the premier down to the local member here have egg on their face over this, because if rowing doesn’t go ahead, then Rocky gets nothing,” Schwarten said.
Grace said people were entitled to their opinion, but Labor’s position was clear.
“We want that infrastructure money to be spent to deliver it [in Rockhampton],” she said.
“We trust that the government will hold their promise and we will keep them to account to make sure they deliver, not only for the people of Rockhampton with great rowing Olympic facilities and Paralympic facilities, but also for the people of Queensland as well.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
