Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Chair Peter Beattie said that "sweeping" anti-terrorism measures and police powers that "in another life I would have been out protesting against" will be needed to safeguard Australia’s "biggest event since the Sydney Olympics," according to Joshua Robertson of the London GUARDIAN. Beattie said that counter-terrorism steps during the event -- alongside surveillance from drones, CCTV and possible facial recognition scans -- "would include police searches of anyone with a backpack travelling to the Gold Coast, before they even arrive." But the "shadow" of terrorism risks have "made no dent" in the Games' appeal, with "strong" ticket sales, including in the U.K. and New Zealand. The plan to leave "no white elephants" from the A$1.7B ($1.37B) taxpayer spend for the Games includes recycling some "big-ticket" items: the A$550M ($442.5M) Games village will become a health sciences research center "linked to a university and a hospital, and an indoor sports arena will become a movie studio" (GUARDIAN, 9/6).
