Gee whizz: A G20 brawl over Brisbane
The claws are out following the decision by Australia’s federal government to award the 2014 G20 summit of world leaders to Queensland state capital Brisbane.
The Tourism Council of New South Wales said the decision to pick Brisbane over Sydney was "desperate political gamesmanship" and a disappointing outcome for Sydney "at the expense of marginal Government held electorates in Queensland".
"Sydney is Australia’s true global city and sending world leaders to Brisbane is akin to the United Kingdom sending the upcoming Olympic Games to Liverpool, instead of London," said the Council.
Melbourne took a different tack. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said awarding the G20 summit to Brisbane was "a bit of federal government pork-barrelling", and Melbourne could do without the aggravation which G20 summits have attracted.
He said the 2010 summit in Toronto was a "nightmare for the city".
Doyle said it was ridiculous to suggest the summit would give Brisbane a big tourism boost.
"There will be 4000 people associated with the 20 leaders and a couple of thousand journos who will be locked up in conference facilities — fly in and fly out," he said.
"By coincidence, the very same year, 2014, we (Melbourne) have won the world AIDS conference, which will be the biggest conference ever staged in Australia."
Ian Jarrett
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