Sensational-Adelaide.com

Poll pledge: Libs would bid for 2018 Commonwealth Games
Article from: The Advertiser

August 23, 2008 12:30am

STATE Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has committed to a bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games if the Liberals are elected in 2010.
It would be Adelaide's third bid for the Games after failed attempts in 1990 and 1996.

Mr Hamilton-Smith will unveil his official policy in a keynote address today to the annual general meeting of the Liberal Party.

He said he would begin work on the bid while in Opposition.

"We'll appoint an interim advisory group to start an audit of our sporting infrastructure and develop a framework for the bid process," he said.

Mr Hamilton-Smith said bidding for the Games would be one of the Liberal Party's "urgent tasks on coming to government". He said it "runs together with our support for a world-class stadium" in Adelaide.

The Opposition has been pushing for months for a commitment from the Government to refurbish AAMI Stadium or Adelaide Oval or build a new stadium in Adelaide's CBD.

Yesterday, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced her state would also make a bid for the 2018 Games, to be held on the Gold Coast.

The ACT and West Australian governments have announced feasibility studies to examine possible bids for Canberra and Perth to host the Games in 2018.

The next two Commonwealth Games will be held in Delhi (2010) and Glasgow (2014).

Also in his speech to the party conference, Mr Hamilton-Smith is expected to call for party unity and for it to remain focused and determined in the lead-up to the 2010 state election.

Adelaide is the only mainland state capital to have never hosted a Commonwealth Games.

The Games have been held in Sydney in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982 and Melbourne in 2006.

"In 1990, SA started work on a bid for the 1998 games," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

"We had a bid committee and a board that put together proposals for accommodation, sporting facilities, and transport and tourism facilities.

"We missed out, just beaten by Kuala Lumpur.

"From March, 2010 we will begin that process again, culminating in a decision at the end of 2011 by the Commonwealth Games Federation."

Mr Hamilton-Smith said the Games were as much about reputation, pride and achievement of the host city as they were about the estimated 4500 athletes, 17 sports and 50,000 overseas visitors.

"This will begin the regeneration of our tourism industry and provide a sporting heritage for our young people to build on," he said.

"As part of this process we will need to complete an audit of our sporting infrastructure and I call on the Rann Government to begin that process.

"Regardless of their actions, we will start that process while in Opposition."

On the Queensland bid, Mr Hamilton-Smith said it appeared Anna Bligh was "not satisfied with taking our water, she wants to take our opportunity to host the Commonwealth Games".

Düsseldorfer wrote:Wow, this is just more of a reason not to vote liberal, if we were to host the 2018 Commonwealth games, the appropriate facilities would have to be constructed; a new inner city stadium, a swimming centre and many other facillities...which = no public transport improvements, no new trains, no new hospital...seriously MHS, we do not need a shit sporting event like the CG, no one ever goes to it or watches it...i would prefer to see our essential infrastructure upgraded firstly by 2018, then build "world class" sporting facilities and hopefully bid for the "OLYMPIC GAMES" round 2030.

adam73837 wrote:I think that it would be great to have the Commonwealth Games in Adelaide. Providing that we have the state aquatic centre built IN THE CBD, NOT AT MARION, (RANN, YOU F***), decent public & private transport systems and of course, a decent stadium IN A DECENT LOCATION.
In order to get all of these things, we'd have to wait until after 2018, so I'd prefer to bid for 2022. If of course Rann wins the next election, we can just kiss any improvements to Adelaide goodbye, because Rann and his guard dog Furious Foley are idiots, -end of story. AND they're going to lose their government (that has quite a few good ministers) the next election. But wait, how can I put down Rann, because according to most people on this forum, the light shines out of his ass!
I ain't saying that MHS is the best, not for a second, but like I've said many times, if Rann and his guard dog Furious Foley don't step down, they'll lose their government the next election, regardless of how many times they try to upgrade our PT System, fail miserably, then blame other people for it by telling them that they're a bunch of bloody wingers or that they should wear lighter clothes on trams, etc. Yeah, I know, within a few days, someone will have posted on this forum that I'm a 'bloody winger'. Maybe I am. And maybe are about a million other people living in Adelaide. But we wouldn't be bloody wingers if we didn't have such a pathetic Premier and Treasurer. THIS STATE DESERVES BETTER!!!
But I must admit, now that I've got everyone's attention, that if there's one thing that I do like about Rann, it's this:
Whenever the public supports something that his opposition, or someone that he doesn't like, has done or said, Rann immediately does the same thing and claims that its his idea. It's pathetic of him, I know, but at least we actually get decent things in the end. All that we need is pressure on Rann, and HE WILL FALL OVER LIKE A DOMINO.
What does that have to do with anything? Well, MHS and the Liberals have been pushing for the inner city stadium for a while, and now that they're going to gain more attention by saying that they'll bid for the Commonwealth Games in 2018, Rann's Government will announce their MASTERPLAN TO BUILD A NEW WORLD-CLASS INNER CITY STADIUM THAT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH PRESSURE FROM THE PUBLIC OR THE OPPOSITION
My friends, expect to see a world-class stadium being announced for the city fairly soon... (we got the rail electrification -opposition; we got the ACC Planning Powers taken away -Opposition; we're going to get the new stadium -Opposition; noticing the pattern?).
Oh, I can't WAIT for the new stadium!