Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie "urged the Queensland and federal governments to unite behind a Brisbane bid for either the 2024 or 2028 Olympic Games," according to Wayne Smith of THE AUSTRALIAN. Beattie was responding to a report in The Weekend Australian that IOC President Thomas Bach "had encouraged Australia, which hosted the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the 2000 Games in Sydney, to bid again." Bach said that Australia "already had three cities with sufficient infrastructure to host a cost-efficient Games." Clearly Melbourne and Sydney "have demonstrated that capacity" while Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates has indicated in the past that Brisbane "almost certainly would be Australia’s next candidate city." Coates, indeed, "worked with the then lord mayor of Brisbane, Sallyanne Atkinson, on Brisbane’s previous Olympic bid, for the 1992 Games, which was eventually awarded to Barcelona." Beattie: “I think Brisbane could handle it. I know they’re expensive to host, but the upside is that they help build infrastructure and drive the economy. With the Australian economy really struggling now that the mining boom is slowing, a Brisbane Olympics would be a terrific stimulus.” Beattie warned that any bid would require “a spirited contribution” from the commonwealth government. He said, "It would be nice if we could get bipartisan support." While Australia presumably would mount a stand-alone bid, "it is more than likely that Brisbane would join with the Gold Coast, host city of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in spreading events over the southeast Queensland region" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/23).
