Last weekend the Rockhampton Rowing Club held its winter regatta. As the mist rose over a calm river, the bush lined banks of the Fitzroy presented photo opportunities worthy of a Doyle painting.
To all the sceptics about Rockhampton hosting the rowing and canoeing Olympic events, these Instagram-worthy photos should put all doubts at bay. There is no better advertisement to the world of the rugged beauty of the Australian bush than the sun rising over the Fitzroy river. The water was like glass last weekend – with none of the river flows that some have expressed concern about. There were also no crocs in sight.
Unfortunately, one of the southern sceptics who question the temerity of our humble town to host an Olympics event is the current Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Last week, the PM went on the Two Good Sports podcast and out of nowhere said that “are we really going to do rowing in Rockhampton on the Fitzroy River, when there are some pretty good facilities at Penrith?”
The PM is from Sydney so perhaps it is no surprise that he wants to take an Olympics event from regional Queensland to Sydney. But still, you would hope that the Australian PM would be happy to see all parts of Australia share in the Games.
The PM’s unexpected intervention came without him or his office talking to anyone from Rockhampton who knows how great the Fitzroy will be.
On the day of the rowing regatta last weekend, the temperature hit 21 degrees in Rockhampton creating ideal conditions for a rowing event.
One problem with holding the rowing in Penrith is that it is not ideal for the “Summer” games in late July – when the rowing will be held. At that time of year, the average temperature in Penrith at 9am is just 9.6 degrees and the average maximum is just 18 degrees. Some days the temperature can drop below 0 and maximums can be as low as 11 degrees. In Rockhampton in July the average temperature at 9am is 15 degrees and the average maximum temperature is 23 degrees – perfect conditions for rowing.
The Penrith facility is a world class rowing facility, and it hosted an excellent event at the Sydney Olympics. But because of the weather, the Sydney Olympics were held later than normal in September. Queensland does not need to do such rescheduling given our tropical climate and that is why events should stay in Queensland.
The rowing in Rockhampton can also be done at an affordable cost. The original proposal to host the rowing events at the remote Wyaralong Dam would have cost $350 million to build new roads, water and power infrastructure for a 5-day event.
In contrast, the Rockhampton rowing course is just 3 kilometres from a city centre, an airport and the national highway (once the Ring Road is complete).
The construction of new stands, sheds and a media centre can be done for a tenth of the overall cost of Wyaralong and provide legacy benefits as a new training and competition venue for rowing.
In addition, the plans to build an athletes’ village at the old railway workshops will revitalise the centre of Rockhampton and provide more housing. A new athletes’ village would still need to be built for Penrith but should all of the investment for the Olympics go to capital cities?
The PM’s regrettable and ignorant intervention into games planning is unfortunately par for the course for a modern Labor party that does not seem to get that it is the wealth from our regions that helps pay for big public spending items like the Olympics. Given that Queensland and Australia can only afford to fund hosting such events thanks to the coal royalties of Central Queensland, it is only fair that one medal event is held in this beautiful region of our state.
