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3 hours ago, Victorian said:

What Ballarat doesn’t understand is that rowing is not a Commonwealth Games sport! 

You are wrong, rowing is a Comm Games sport, they just haven't done it since 1986. It was in the first games in 1930 and was part of various games there after. Remember that there are only two compulsory discipline sports for the Comm Games - Athletics and swimming. The host nation gets to decide what other sports are included. We could even nominate trampolene, ten pin bowling or quoits if we wanted to. Although of the five or six remaining sports yet to be announced my money is on track cycling, shooting, wrestling, rowing, e-sport and mens t-20.

Australia and in particular Victoria has a long and well established rowing tradition so why wouldn't Ballarat and Nagambie put their hands up to showcase a sport that sits at the heart of their communities. They both have competition ready venues, and Ballarat in particular has boat houses and spare comptition boats on hand to loan for the games. Further, it can be conducted with minimal cost and there are already plenty of people (volunteers) on hand in Ballarat who are highly experienced at staging Tier 1 competition regattas.

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24 minutes ago, Victorian said:

Hope they do get stripped. Geelong is a s**t hole 

Greater Geelong most certainly is not. There are some very beautiful and picturesque areas, the water-front, beaches, Great Ocean Road, etc.

But it seems some of these Liberal Party Geelong Councillors need to wake up and get the hell out of the way before they are booted out by the Geelong voters

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12 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

Greater Geelong most certainly is not. There are some very beautiful and picturesque areas, the water-front, beaches, Great Ocean Road, etc.

But it seems some of these Liberal Party Geelong Councillors need to wake up and get the hell out of the way before they are booted out by the Geelong voters

Put it this way, the only time I have spat on by opposition supporters at a sporting event was in Geelong… Geelong people are feral. The scenery may be lovely but the people are no where near that. 

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33 minutes ago, Victorian said:

Put it this way, the only time I have spat on by opposition supporters at a sporting event was in Geelong… Geelong people are feral. The scenery may be lovely but the people are no where near that. 

That must have been terrible for you to experience that. It must have been truly awful and upsetting.

Be reassured that as bad as your awful experience was, there are a many good, hard working decent people in Geelong, Greater Geelong and the whole Surf Coast region.

At the 2026 CWG, there will be a happy festive community carnival atmosphere there which hopefully will wipe that memory away as you do your work as part of the Games workforce.

 

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14 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

The Council down in Geelong seem to be on another planet

 

Okay, so having read the article in detail, this directly has nothing to do with the Greater Geelong Council interfering with any games preparations. It's more about the council identifying different priorities to the community's needs than the local State Member. The stand out for me being the example of the $2 million state funded bike path which council removed because it was creating traffic havoc. 

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On 6/11/2022 at 9:49 AM, RooBlu said:

Okay, so having read the article in detail, this directly has nothing to do with the Greater Geelong Council interfering with any games preparations. It's more about the council identifying different priorities to the community's needs than the local State Member. The stand out for me being the example of the $2 million state funded bike path which council removed because it was creating traffic havoc. 

Further to this, this highlights why it is important that the Games organisers and State Government heavily engage with Councils to take their advice on how infrastructure is implemented. A more successful implementation of the VicRoads bike path plan did occur in Ballarat in 2021-22 where VicRoads initially proposed placing a bike path through the middle of the Sturt Street gardens meandering past statues and trees. There was a lot of community pushback because the track would have destroyed a significant green space. After consultation with the Council VicRoads produced a more satisfactory solution by re-purposing the seldom used pedestrian pathways that border the median strips along Sturt Street as new dedicated bike pathways. The compromise was the loss of a few non-arterial intersections to road traffic along the 2.5 km strip which caused a few grumbles, but overall the result does benefit the community and bike riders.

This is an example of where Councils must be engaged to advise on the effects that infrastructure builds may have on their communities and not to be side lined resulting in major civic changes that may impact human movement and the quality of life of residents after the games.

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1 hour ago, RooBlu said:

Looking for a job? There are six positions available on the Organising Committee. Applications close midnight 21 June 2022:

Click Here: Careers - Organising Committee 2026 Commonwealth Games

WOW! Great opportunity. I would love to apply however not a senior position! I am only 20! If there are any Assistant and Administrative roles that come up please let me know. Casual or part time would even work better too given I am still studying at university! 

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1 hour ago, Victorian said:

WOW! Great opportunity. I would love to apply however not a senior position! I am only 20! If there are any Assistant and Administrative roles that come up please let me know. Casual or part time would even work better too given I am still studying at university! 

Once the senior executive positions are in place, they will be organising and hiring staff very quickly. I would keep my eyes glued on this link and the Comm Games 2026 Webpage for details if you are so motivated. You never know what opportunity will potentially arise and perhaps where that may take you one day.

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16 hours ago, Victorian said:

 

 

Interestingly Martin Pakula (Sports and Special Events Minister) has announced that he won't be running for office in this year's November State Election. The Deputy Premier, Police and Emergency Services Minister and Education Minister have all announced retirement at this year's election. When you consider the offices that three of these Ministers hold, it's completely understandable considering the stresses that the events of the last 2 and a half years have placed upon them. Even the Deputy Premier who had to often stand in for the Premier.

That said, the Sports and Special Events portfolio is an interesting resignation because there has been little if much happened with that while everybody was locked down, sports clubs were shut and major events mostly cancelled. I would suggest that now with Melbourne and indeed Victoria cranking back up its major events programme, theatres re-opening, concerts being booked and of course the 2026 Comm Games that this period over the next four years would have been Mr Pakula's time to shine.

Jeroen is a good choice. He's articulate, athletic in appearance, and has a strong presence both on and off the camera. He will need all of his "cat herding" skills to keep a lid on the team responsible for organising the 2026 Games.

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17 hours ago, RooBlu said:

Oh thank God for that, at least the Liberal's will now have somebody to blame for every little blunder that happens during the preparations. ;)

I don’t get what you mean? 
 

Ms Allan I think is a good fit. She is a member for the Bendigo area- one of the regions hosting the games and despite being Deputy Premier, it appears this is her only portfolio so it’ll allow her to focus time towards this. 

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1 hour ago, Victorian said:

I don’t get what you mean? 
 

Ms Allan I think is a good fit. She is a member for the Bendigo area- one of the regions hosting the games and despite being Deputy Premier, it appears this is her only portfolio so it’ll allow her to focus time towards this. 

It's a joke ... But that said, every little thing that could possibly go wrong during preparations, the state opposition will (by tradition) leap upon and blame the Minister, including when the coffee machine breaks down at the Games Organisation Head Office or if the athletics track turns out to be green instead of blue or ochre coloured. :rolleyes: The opposition politicians are certainly not going to beat up on a senior public servant like Jerome if things go a little awry or not according to their plan (because railing against public servants never ends well for pollies):(

In other words, the state opposition now have their whipping boy (or in this case "Girl") to say "Oh we could do it so much better and for half the cost" or "This Minister couldn't organise a pub raffle".

That all said, given the now very tight time-line where we effectively have just 42 months to organise everything including:

  • Determine the location of and the construction of four villages;
  • Design, approve and build build an athletics stadium and warm up facility;
  • Construct a new Gymnastics venue;
  • Possibly construct a new cycling velodrome;
  • Upgrade roads and parking around all venue locations;
  • Build a new train station;
  • Upgrade and retro-fit many existing venues including the main swim centre;
  • Coordinate ticket sales and merchandise;
  • Organise lead up promotion and advertising;
  • Compile and coordinate a security plan;
  • Formulate and implement the public transport plan; and
  • The official handover only takes place five weeks from now.

There's a lot that needs to happen and much could go wrong if they fall short on any of their time lines as there's seriously no margin for error. I imagine that the "Project" wire diagram illustrating the time line for Games deliverables will cop a real beating and will be the most studied feature at the Games organising headquarters. Ms Allan and Jerome will certainly have their work cut out for them in the months ahead and I can foresee a real sprint to the finish happening by March 2026.

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