Picture this moment.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Sunday July 30, 2028. A hot summer evening in the “City of Angels”. This night, is the closing ceremony of the 2028 Olympics, and the handover of the Olympic Flag to the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, is followed by the raising of the Australian flag, as a massed marching band plays Advance Australia Fair. After the flag is raised, the crowd (nearly 80,000 strong inside the LA Coliseum) simply looks skyward.
Queenslanders watching at home (on a late Monday afternoon: July 31, 2028) is hoping their gamble pays off: after all, they remember the kangaroos Sydney sent to Atlanta in 1996, Vanessa Amarosi getting rained on at the 2002 Commonwealth Games closer in Manchester (and her redemption in Birmingham in 2022… that got overshadowed by the passing of Olivia Newton-John), and even our effort at Hampden Park in 2014 to sell the world on the Gold Coast’s Commonwealth Games four years later.
For Queensland, this is more than a handover. It’s the beginning of the most important period for tourism promotion in our state’s history: one that had it’s seeds sown as the world recovered from a pandemic.
2028, has already been a year with our eyes on the sky in the Sunshine State.
The handover in LA… is just icing on the cake.
How Queensland can own the year of 2028, is a subject many have dared not look into. Why look at that year, with such vigor they ask? It’s simple: when you think about it. The year Queensland finally gets the Olympic wheel, after so many attempts over 42 years at that point.
We begin, however with the key points of that year, that need to be emphasized.
-We already know, that in August 2028, Queensland will become the guardians of the Summer Olympics and Paralympics until 2032: a moment that will be rammed home at every opportunity by whoever is broadcasting the 2028 Olympics (who hopefully also has the rights to 2032) to Australian viewers.
-2028 is also a key year for Queensland aviation.
These events are pivotal to what shape 2028 turns out to be, even before the first choreographer is hired for the stadium portion of the QLD Olympic handover.
-1. The centennial of Bert Hinkler’s solo flight from Britain to Australia: which ultimately ended in his hometown of Bundaberg on Feburary 27, 1928.
-2. The centennial of Charles Kingsford-Smith’s Trans-Pacific crossing, from Oakland in California, to Brisbane in Queensland: arriving at Eagle Farm Racecourse on June 9, 1928.
-And, 3. The centennial of the foundation of what became, the Royal Flying Doctor Service on May 15, 1928 in Cloncurry.
These three events concerning Queensland’s aviation centennial trio need to not just be celebrated separately, but be woven into the QLD handover in Los Angeles.
And, fittingly: 2028 would be declared, in Australia: “The Year of Flight: Celebrating defeating the tyranny of distance”, or the “Year of Flight” for short.
The first thing that needs to be mapped out now: is the need for commemorative coinage.
I am openly expecting, that by the time the first “Year of Flight” coins come off the press at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra: that our coinage (especially newer coins) will look radically different on the “heads” side than they do now.
I would not be surprised if Australia’s national coin pressers are preparing now for the changeover to “Charles III” coinage (likely to be the biggest numismatic event in Australian history), beginning with next year’s coinage. In addition, this coinage set designed for the Year of Flight must not be a limited run just for a supermarket chain: it has to be a full circulation year. The concept would be as follows:
I am openly expecting, that by the time the first “Year of Flight” coins come off the press at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra: that our coinage (especially newer coins) will look radically different on the “heads” side than they do now.
I would not be surprised if Australia’s national coin pressers are preparing now for the changeover to “Charles III” coinage (likely to be the biggest numismatic event in Australian history), beginning with next year’s coinage. In addition, this coinage set designed for the Year of Flight must not be a limited run just for a supermarket chain: it has to be a full circulation year. The concept would be as follows:
-Kingsford Smith Trans Pacific 50c coin (to go alongside the 1997 dollar coin released for the centennial of his birth)
-Bert Hinkler $1 coin (to commemorate the England-Australia solo flight centennial)
-RFDS centennial $2 coin.
But, now we begin with the heavy duty events.
THE HINKLER CENTENNIAL:
The centennial of the arrival of Bert Hinkler back into his home town after becoming the first person to conquer a England-Australia flight solo, deserves celebration and investment. The celebration, would most likely entail the possibility of a festival surrounding the dates of Hinkler’s return to Bundaberg in late Feburary-early March in 2028 that is designed to attract the world to celebrate a milestone for a major aviation achievement. In addition, there is also the potential to expand the Hinkler Hall of Aviation in Bundaberg for this milestone event as well as potentially dedicating the Bundaberg Airport in Bert Hinkler’s name (with a possible terminal expansion to go alongside).
There needs to also be a push toward funding a working replica of the Avro Avian used for the England-Australia flight in time for the centennial.
THE RFDS CENTENNIAL:
There needs to be a fairly significant event held in mid-May 2028 in Cloncurry, that celebrates the role that the birth of the RFDS brought to outback residents, as well as the possibility of preserved historic RFDS aircraft being on show, and even the potential of reopening a RFDS base in Cloncurry itself (after the original RFDS base was shifted to Mt Isa in the 1960’s). In addition, there will need to be a plan for a co-ordinated open day event for the entire institution nationwide during the week of the RFDS centenary, as well as a possible reunion for former RFDS staff and even the possibility of a huge financial appeal running over that period of time.
THE KINGSFORD-SMITH TRANS-PACIFIC CENTENNIAL:
The centennial of Kingsford-Smith’s Trans-Pacific achievement needs to be the focus of Queensland Day commemorations in 2028. There is also the possibility of a special public holiday (akin to how one was declared, for the 2nd Monday in June in 2012: as a adjustment toward the Queens Birthday (as it was back then) moving to October (which eventually happened in 2016, after Labour Day was shifted instead between 2013-15) to mark the Kingsford-Smith milestone on the 2nd Monday in June in 2028. In addition, there needs to be a serious push for a large-scale SEQ air show (either at RAAF Amberley on it’s own, or split across Amberley and smaller SEQ aerodromes) around the time of the Kingsford Smith milestone.
Queensland and the federal government also needs to potentially fund a working Southern Cross replica to celebrate this milestone.
Queensland and the federal government also needs to potentially fund a working Southern Cross replica to celebrate this milestone.
But, as the glow of these events diminish, we as a state are proud of how they turned out, and are also proud of the moves we have made in the three years beforehand to secure a lucrative opportunity.
How Queensland takes this challenge (even at this time, four years out from the first jet landing on the runway) will define the smoothness or the roughness of the road to the 2032 Olympics for our tourism industry.
How Queensland takes this challenge (even at this time, four years out from the first jet landing on the runway) will define the smoothness or the roughness of the road to the 2032 Olympics for our tourism industry.
“This is the final boarding call, for the flight from Brisbane, Coolangatta, Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay, Proserpine, Hamilton Island, Townsville, Cairns to Western Sydney Airport.”
Every single one of these Queensland destinations I have mentioned, all currently have a jet service from one or more domestic airlines into Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney: in addition, Toowoomba has a turboprop service into Sydney.
Queensland tourism needs to handle the Western Sydney challenge with a significant push, after all: it will be the largest new airport to open in Australia since the new Brisbane Airport opened in 1988.
Cities like Hervey Bay need to openly look at making necessary upgrades to airports to welcome a new legion of passengers coming from Sydney’s west in four to six years.
This means items like equipment upgrades, terminal and runway upgrades (including items like additional gate lounges, security upgrades, parking spaces for passenger aircraft, even lighting to allow operations at night) to make sure their market isn’t being left behind in the race to offer a choice of Sydney services: that is between Kingsford Smith (8km from the Sydney CBD), and Western Sydney Airport (near Penrith, and is 44km from the Sydney CBD).
But: Western Sydney looming large, should be the key trigger for Brisbane Airport to undergo it’s most significant piece of terminal construction work since the new international terminal opened in 1995.
Brisbane Airport needs to have it’s vision for a new terminal (we’ll call it, Brisbane T3) connecting to the recently completed second runway to be rising out of the ground by 2028 and be completed by 2030 at the latest.
Brisbane T3, needs to not be a combined domestic/international terminal, or for that matter not be a low cost carrier terminal.
Brisbane T3, should become a international terminal, with a purpose: Brisbane T3 should become our “Transpacific Terminal”.
The Transpacific terminal vision, must allow space for border pre-clearance for both the US and Canada: this would mean, flights leaving Brisbane via the “Transpacific Terminal” for both countries would go through US/Canadian customs and immigration before leaving Australia, meaning destinations like Vancouver (which will be becoming a daily service from next year), Honolulu and ultimately the mainland US and parts of central and eastern Canada (i.e. a future for services beyond BNE-LAX/BNE-SFO and BNE-YVR), can serve the Transpacific routes with the elimination of the biggest bugbear for Australian travellers crossing the Pacific: having to go through US/Canadian border controls at their destination (or in the case of LAX (a major gateway into the US): exiting border controls before possibly flying elsewhere from a different terminal) after a eighteen hour flight.
Bringing them landside in Australia, before they board, before jetlag sinks in, is far simpler. It also would allow new airlines and new concepts to serve Brisbane direct (e.g. the possibility of having direct flights to Europe and potentially the US east coast as Qantas’s vision for simpler long haul flights evolves), not just from the US/Canada, but into our existing international terminal (restacked once US/Canadian flights leave from a new terminal.)
Brisbane T3, needs to not be a combined domestic/international terminal, or for that matter not be a low cost carrier terminal.
Brisbane T3, should become a international terminal, with a purpose: Brisbane T3 should become our “Transpacific Terminal”.
The Transpacific terminal vision, must allow space for border pre-clearance for both the US and Canada: this would mean, flights leaving Brisbane via the “Transpacific Terminal” for both countries would go through US/Canadian customs and immigration before leaving Australia, meaning destinations like Vancouver (which will be becoming a daily service from next year), Honolulu and ultimately the mainland US and parts of central and eastern Canada (i.e. a future for services beyond BNE-LAX/BNE-SFO and BNE-YVR), can serve the Transpacific routes with the elimination of the biggest bugbear for Australian travellers crossing the Pacific: having to go through US/Canadian border controls at their destination (or in the case of LAX (a major gateway into the US): exiting border controls before possibly flying elsewhere from a different terminal) after a eighteen hour flight.
Bringing them landside in Australia, before they board, before jetlag sinks in, is far simpler. It also would allow new airlines and new concepts to serve Brisbane direct (e.g. the possibility of having direct flights to Europe and potentially the US east coast as Qantas’s vision for simpler long haul flights evolves), not just from the US/Canada, but into our existing international terminal (restacked once US/Canadian flights leave from a new terminal.)
The biggest challenge for Qantas’s Project Sunrise vision, however: is the possibility for the revival of commercial supersonic flight: long thought to be dead after the demise of the Concorde.
With two US airlines (United Airlines and most recently: American Airlines) interested in acquiring the Boom Overture model (88 seats, but currently planned to operate with a range that will require a stopover on any Australia-bound trans-Pacific journey from the US west coast) for a 2029 startup, it could potentially halve travel times… for a price.
If the technology improves, to allow a full Australian eastern seaboard-US west coast supersonic journey to be done without a refuel stop, you could potentially see two services a day in either direction: something that will dramatically challenge current operators of AU-US routes to do better as the business market shifts to speedier services.
With two US airlines (United Airlines and most recently: American Airlines) interested in acquiring the Boom Overture model (88 seats, but currently planned to operate with a range that will require a stopover on any Australia-bound trans-Pacific journey from the US west coast) for a 2029 startup, it could potentially halve travel times… for a price.
If the technology improves, to allow a full Australian eastern seaboard-US west coast supersonic journey to be done without a refuel stop, you could potentially see two services a day in either direction: something that will dramatically challenge current operators of AU-US routes to do better as the business market shifts to speedier services.
The same applies to expanding our international capability.
Cairns and Townsville are ready now to add additional services, whether they be route, or charter (Cairns particularly, as it could become a stepping stone for JAL into Australia once their Boom Overtures are ready: as a alternative to leisure-focused Jetstar, which already serves both the Kantō region (i.e Tokyo and surrounds, with a population nearly twice that of Australia as a whole: over 40 million people) via Tokyo Narita Airport: and the Kansai region (i.e Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto and surrounds, with a population of over 20 million people) via Osaka Kansai Airport with direct flights.).
These two markets combined, have a population nearly the size of the United Kingdom: and could potentially be a significant lure if additional destinations in Japan sign on for Cairns flights to add on to the eight current flights that Jetstar run out of that airport a week.
Cairns and Townsville are ready now to add additional services, whether they be route, or charter (Cairns particularly, as it could become a stepping stone for JAL into Australia once their Boom Overtures are ready: as a alternative to leisure-focused Jetstar, which already serves both the Kantō region (i.e Tokyo and surrounds, with a population nearly twice that of Australia as a whole: over 40 million people) via Tokyo Narita Airport: and the Kansai region (i.e Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto and surrounds, with a population of over 20 million people) via Osaka Kansai Airport with direct flights.).
These two markets combined, have a population nearly the size of the United Kingdom: and could potentially be a significant lure if additional destinations in Japan sign on for Cairns flights to add on to the eight current flights that Jetstar run out of that airport a week.
The adaptability of the Sunshine Coast’s international gate (which can be converted to domestic operations in a matter of minutes) is the example some regional airports in Queensland need to look to: particularly Hervey Bay (gateway to K’gari) and Proserpine (gateway to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays), to expand their offering to allow for future international charter services must be a forward thought.
There also needs to be moves to increase competition on some coastal domestic short haul routes in Queensland: particularly those linking the Wide Bay with Brisbane, where competition either doesn’t exist (Hervey Bay-Brisbane, purely a Qantas domain) or competition went extinct during the pandemic (Virgin/Alliance’s Brisbane-Bundaberg service, which was axed in September 2020, leaving the Brisbane-Bundaberg market to Qantas, although Link Airways is about to kick off it’s own Brisbane-Bundaberg services later in 2022). There needs to be serious thoughts about councils in this part of Queensland and potentially the state and federal governments to work together to secure slots for airlines on those two key routes into Brisbane.
And, of course, there is the longterm planning going on every day for SEQ’s three main airport gateways: We need to see by 2028, a iron clad commitment to connecting these trip generators to the heavy rail network.
The work has already occurred in Brisbane with Airtrain just passing it’s 21st birthday in May this year. The Sunshine Coast has planned for a rail connection in their airport’s 2040 master planning (what mode it will be (heavy rail connected to the rest of the SEQ passenger network, or a independent light rail system similar to G:Link) is a very contentious topic), while the Gold Coast has marked on their master-planning toward 2037, for both a G:Link connection through their airport site (in consultation with GCCC and the Queensland government, and is set to head to public consultation in November) and a heavy rail connection (whose Gold Coast Airport corridor has been preserved by Queensland’s government since the development of the Tugun Bypass).
A heavy rail service between the airports on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast through Brisbane’s heart (a similar service to how Thameslink connects Gatwick Airport to areas north of London in addition to the direct Gatwick Express from Victoria railway station in the heart of London), needs to be the ultimate goal of Cross River Rail. Such a vital cross-region service will be our savior during the Olympics, not the motorcar.
The work has already occurred in Brisbane with Airtrain just passing it’s 21st birthday in May this year. The Sunshine Coast has planned for a rail connection in their airport’s 2040 master planning (what mode it will be (heavy rail connected to the rest of the SEQ passenger network, or a independent light rail system similar to G:Link) is a very contentious topic), while the Gold Coast has marked on their master-planning toward 2037, for both a G:Link connection through their airport site (in consultation with GCCC and the Queensland government, and is set to head to public consultation in November) and a heavy rail connection (whose Gold Coast Airport corridor has been preserved by Queensland’s government since the development of the Tugun Bypass).
A heavy rail service between the airports on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast through Brisbane’s heart (a similar service to how Thameslink connects Gatwick Airport to areas north of London in addition to the direct Gatwick Express from Victoria railway station in the heart of London), needs to be the ultimate goal of Cross River Rail. Such a vital cross-region service will be our savior during the Olympics, not the motorcar.
There also needs to be serious consideration towards drawing up plans now, for a “Airport Express” proposal that re-organizes existing rail layouts in Brisbane’s CBD post CRR (to potentially separate Airtrain at Central/Roma St from existing services) and delivers a twin express track from Albion to the Airport junction, possibility of two new stations (Toombul (linked through a redevelopment of the condemned shopping centre site to Toombul Station and bus interchange) and Skygate) and ultimately duplication to Skygate) and grade separation at Eagle Junction (to allow for a conversion of the existing Doomben line to light rail, freeing up more train paths in Brisbane’s congested inner core).
The possibility of Airtrain becoming Brisbane’s answer to the Heathrow Express with the right amount of investment (this likely should mean: Airtrain post-BOOT end in 2036 transitioning into a organization administered jointly by Brisbane Airport and Queensland Rail (much like how Heathrow Express is a JV between Heathrow Airport and Great Western Railway (a UK rail franchise operator): not the current concept of a straight transfer to QR: which could preclude investment) is very high.
Queensland’s tourism and aviation industry work hand in hand.
The turboprops opened the door in the 60’s/70’s, and a new jet age will see Queensland run into the 2030’s: one where hopefully, some of the world’s major centres of culture are likely to be connected directly into Brisbane, without the need for a refuelling stop on the way, with the choice of speed versus capacity being paramount along with some services out of Brisbane currently still run with turboprop aircraft, converting to jet operation.
The turboprops opened the door in the 60’s/70’s, and a new jet age will see Queensland run into the 2030’s: one where hopefully, some of the world’s major centres of culture are likely to be connected directly into Brisbane, without the need for a refuelling stop on the way, with the choice of speed versus capacity being paramount along with some services out of Brisbane currently still run with turboprop aircraft, converting to jet operation.
Which brings us: to our next “act”, and it’s called...
Tourism Queensland needs to start the groundwork now for the next wave of Queensland visitors.
This next wave, won’t be like the waves from the eighties onward: Americans lured by Hoges, Japanese before the bubble burst, the Chinese from a booming middle class and of course the post-COVID overseas tourism boom.
This next wave, won’t be like the waves from the eighties onward: Americans lured by Hoges, Japanese before the bubble burst, the Chinese from a booming middle class and of course the post-COVID overseas tourism boom.
This wave, has it’s seeds in the young of the late 2010’s that first saw Queensland through the eyes of a six year old blue heeler. This fact below needs to be paramount.
The six year old that started watching Bluey in 2019, will be the eighteen year old, fresh out of school ready for their first big trip alone come 2032.
And Queensland needs to be prepared far better for the challenge that awaits in ten years.
Because we all remember the big sell job the Expo Authority did just before Expo 88 opened: listed 323 different accommodation options throughout SEQ in a full page ad in southern newspapers that could guarantee a bed during Expo 88: simply because there were rumors about a hotel room shortage in Brisbane itself within easy access to the Expo site (likely because Brisbane at the time of Expo had only two five star hotels: the Sheraton above Central Station and the Hilton on the Queen Street Mall).
Newspaper advertisement, concerning Expo 88 accommodation, The Age, 29 April 1988.
Our accommodation needs during the Games, will most likely be met by the continuing expansion of our accommodation footprint (pushed heavily in the last twenty years by hotel investment in Fortitude Valley, which was led by the original Emporium hotel: which has now been joined by many high quality establishments in the James St precinct, and South Bank: where the Emporium Fortitude Valley’s successor was opened) both in existing locations (the Queens Wharf hotel complex) and potential new sites near transport links (Bowen Hills, Toowong, Park Road on the rail network and Buranda on the Cleveland line and served by the busway network).
There also needs to be serious thought about a prize (far better than the “Best Job In The World”) that allows ordinary Queenslanders to help shape the vision Tourism Queensland faces in the lead up to 2032, to not just welcome those coming for the Olympics… but to welcome those who’s best impression of Queensland is a cream Queenslander with a maroon roof, occupied by Queensland’s biggest children’s television export since Wombat stormed the nation in the eighties.
I believe this “prize” should be fittingly named for David Jull: former federal politician who passed away in 2011, and who many have said was the best tourism minister Australia never had.
The passion that Jull had for the tourism industry while sitting on both sides of federal parliament (including working as part of a QLD Tourism Board team led by Sir Frank Moore during a two year hiatus from federal politics, just as Queensland’s tourism marketing became “Beautiful one day, Perfect the next”) is something our politicians would dream of today.
The passion that Jull had for the tourism industry while sitting on both sides of federal parliament (including working as part of a QLD Tourism Board team led by Sir Frank Moore during a two year hiatus from federal politics, just as Queensland’s tourism marketing became “Beautiful one day, Perfect the next”) is something our politicians would dream of today.
The ”David Jull Prize” would be based on the highly successful Reg Grundy Award by the AACTA, which was launched in 2020, to find new formats and breed a new generation of television writing talent in the process.
The David Jull Prize selection process would be designed to bring forward the future of our tourism marketing muscle. Just submitting a initial entry around selling Queensland to the world and not being selected for the longlist would be seen as a positive in anyone’s CV: that is, they are hireable, because they simply attempted to reshape the way Queensland is sold to the world.
The David Jull Prize selection process would be designed to bring forward the future of our tourism marketing muscle. Just submitting a initial entry around selling Queensland to the world and not being selected for the longlist would be seen as a positive in anyone’s CV: that is, they are hireable, because they simply attempted to reshape the way Queensland is sold to the world.
Because, winning the “David Jull Prize” will be seen as a gateway to bring Queensland’s tourism marketing in the digital age, back to the heights of what the “Best Job In the World” did in 2009, and potentially make Queensland a buzzword for the world, just as Queensland is given the opportunity of a lifetime.
After all: Los Angeles was the first US market exposed to Hoges and “a shrimp on the barbie” just before the 1984 Olympics, and will be the location that will kick off a new golden age for Queensland tourism marketing.
And, such marketing needs to be gold standard… Queensland’s government should not be ashamed to spend $100m or more a year on selling this state to the world leading into 2032: and it has to kick-off, during the 2028 closing ceremony, straight after the handover to Brisbane… with a advertisement selling Queensland to US visitors airing on NBC, and being released to the world with the utmost secrecy (to the point that it won’t garner any publicity in Queensland itself prior to airing: all the publicity happens afterward) straight after the ceremony.
And, such marketing needs to be gold standard… Queensland’s government should not be ashamed to spend $100m or more a year on selling this state to the world leading into 2032: and it has to kick-off, during the 2028 closing ceremony, straight after the handover to Brisbane… with a advertisement selling Queensland to US visitors airing on NBC, and being released to the world with the utmost secrecy (to the point that it won’t garner any publicity in Queensland itself prior to airing: all the publicity happens afterward) straight after the ceremony.
Such ideas have been attempted by others before: in a far different age.
Back in 1989, a product, that would ultimately sell nearly 119m units globally was launched off the back of a campaign that never ran in Australia or in that matter the western world.
That product was none other than the Nintendo Game Boy, whose launch advertising for the Japanese market: was shot in the wilds of outback Queensland and garnered very little publicity in Queensland as a result.
A pair of Japanese Game Boy launch commercials: from Vahan Nisanian on Youtube.
At this time, we now return to the start of this journey: 80,000 looking skyward at the LA Coliseum, and billions watching at home at the 2028 Olympics closing ceremony.
The Queensland handover, begins with the largest drone show ever assembled occurring above the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, forming various images of Queensland’s early aviation history, the first Qantas Avro, the DeHaviland 50A that Qantas lent to help found the RFDS in 1928, Kingsford-Smith’s Southern Cross and Hinkler’s Avro Avian, before the final part of the Coliseum segment: a F111 dump and burn simulated by hundreds of drones. This proceeds into a video package selling Queensland as the 2032 host (and helps broadcasters make the switch to the second half of the presentation, being done at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium).
This package, begins at the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach, with a modern take on a Expo 88 classic: a reimagined “Come Join The Spirit” from the Queensland pavilion, with various sports shown off throughout Queensland (along with some symbolic places in not just Queensland’s Olympic story: but Australia’s Olympic story, such as the monument in Cairns celebrating the start of the 1956 Melbourne torch relay and Agincourt Reef: where the 2000 torch relay literally met the Great Barrier Reef, The Gabba, where the 2000 football tournament came to life: and will ultimately be a Olympic stadium in itself), all with a theme where you will see in each scene, someone wearing a shirt containing one word from a Bert Hinkler quote to the Australian Prime Minister after his 1928 England-Australia flight, culminating at the Southern Cross Memorial at Brisbane Airport, where the person wearing the last word of the Hinkler quote “sightseeing” will hold up a screen, that will show a aerial shot of SoFi Stadium.
The second half of the presentation, begins with the full quote shown on the floor at SoFi Stadium:
“You know, one day, people will fly by night and use the daylight for sightseeing. Bert Hinkler, 1928”.
A fantastic cultural presentation of Queensland is shown on the field, with some of our sporting icons from both the Olympics of the past and from outside the Olympics making the trip to Los Angeles, showing how Queensland has always punched above it’s weight, and soared high when the situation demanded it.
This leads into a big unannounced surprise: a reunited Powderfinger as the big finale of the QLD package, with the Powderfinger classic “Sunsets” ending the segment, with a voiceover at the end: “As the sun sets in Los Angeles, the sun rises on Queensland’s Olympic dream, We will see you, in 2032.”
This would fade to a animation of the Brisbane 2032 logo, over the river in Brisbane’s CBD, packed full of boats: a callback to how the Sydney 2000 handover began in 1996.
“You know, one day, people will fly by night and use the daylight for sightseeing. Bert Hinkler, 1928”.
A fantastic cultural presentation of Queensland is shown on the field, with some of our sporting icons from both the Olympics of the past and from outside the Olympics making the trip to Los Angeles, showing how Queensland has always punched above it’s weight, and soared high when the situation demanded it.
This leads into a big unannounced surprise: a reunited Powderfinger as the big finale of the QLD package, with the Powderfinger classic “Sunsets” ending the segment, with a voiceover at the end: “As the sun sets in Los Angeles, the sun rises on Queensland’s Olympic dream, We will see you, in 2032.”
This would fade to a animation of the Brisbane 2032 logo, over the river in Brisbane’s CBD, packed full of boats: a callback to how the Sydney 2000 handover began in 1996.
Meanwhile, on NBC in the US, the premiere of the new QLD tourist campaign that would take this state into the 2030’s occurs: entitled, “Queensland Sunrise”, designed specifically to be a call to action, culminating in the words that will carry our tourism industry into the 2032 Olympics: “Queensland: Ever Beautiful, Forever Perfect”.
That’s our vision, for what Queensland needs to aim for in 2028: something, you who are reading this can help shape.
If you know someone who hasn’t enrolled to vote (whether they are old or young) or know people that are at the age that they will be eligible to vote or at least register: after all, the 2024 Queensland state election is merely two years away: while QLD local government elections are just under eighteen months away, encourage them to enrol to vote as soon as possible and help those, who are only just going into the political adventure (particularly those graduating from Year 12 in 2023) by giving them the chance to be active politically on their own accord, while steering them away from the kinds of political trappings (such as what is created by the Young LNP and Young ALP in university campuses, along with the exploitative influences of modern American political theory, that I fear is going to infect Queensland like a virus come 2024) that could become outright dangerous if left unchecked.
Our call, is simple: for our youth, and those falling off the electoral roll at the end of our enrolment drive for 2022: Enrol to vote today. Because your future, depends very heavily on the decisions you make every three years (federal) or four years (LGA/state).
And it is our youth, that should be rightly angry about the failure to consult widely concerning the 2032 Olympics by the government (along with no openness concerning corporate donations to the bid in it's early stages: in the wake of events concerning Star Entertainment: operator of SEQ's two legal casinos, as well as the eagerness of our state’s sole print outlet (which gobbled up dozens of regional titles in the middle of a pandemic) to do very little criticism of the bid), encouraged by a “opposition” that did nothing to point those critical facts out: just hoping to ride on a Olympic gravy train back into power.
Because, unless you point out the failings concerning this particular subject by the major parties on a regular basis (to counter those snoozing in Bowen Hills), you’ll never get significant change in politics in Queensland.
The time has arrived, to make the 2024-28 term of parliament… the one term people remember for generations to come: because that will be when significant decisions concerning 2032 will indeed be made.
The time has arrived, to make the 2024-28 term of parliament… the one term people remember for generations to come: because that will be when significant decisions concerning 2032 will indeed be made.
Because, as we always say over at One Queensland… That it will be a matter of political will, before such things happen, especially when such ideas inevitably end up concerning the promise, the present and the future of Queensland.
To enrol to vote: head on over to the AEC website.
This post is dedicated to Sir Llewellyn Edwards, head of the World Expo 88 Authority (1935-2021), and John Desmond Herbert, Queensland's first recorded state minister for tourism, holding the role from 1966 to 1974. (1925-1978)
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