As I sit and write this from my Brisbane home, my thought process is accompanied by the soothing sounds of helicopters flying overhead. They’ve been flying for days in preparation for the G20 summit, which is taking place in Brisbane on the 15 - 16 of November.
To add further to the mood of calm and serenity, 6,000 members of Queensland, inter-state and New Zealand police forces are wandering the city streets, along with 900 soldiers. If you weren’t almost comatose from this relaxing and stress-reducing setup, you could take a quick look up to the roofs around South Brisbane. You might catch a tranquil glimpse of a sniper lounging up there getting a tan.
Ah, the serenity. But there’s no reason to worry, as the Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Ross Barnett announced:
“I don’t want people who might see them (the snipers) to be overly concerned. If you see people on the roof along here … they’ll be the good guys.”
Phew, I am so glad the ones with almost carte blanche power under the made-to-order security laws put in place for the G20 summit are the good guys.
The ones who can strip-search anyone they deem to be suspicious in the security areas [which are dotted throughout the entire city]. The ones who are collecting unprecedented amounts of footage of Brisbane citizens to feed into their new state-of-the-art surveillance centre. The ones who have ‘sonic cannons’ that can boom audio for 2 kilometers or emit colossal sound to deter protestors. The ones who can arrest and detain people for as long as they wish without a warrant. Imagine if they were the bad guys? That would be very troubling.
Even though they are (of course) the good guys, it still seems that a lot of Brisbane residents have decided to avoid the CBD completely during the lead-up and throughout the G20 summit. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has decided that this won’t do, making last-minute pleas and offering sweeteners (like limited free parking) to ensure people continue to visit the CBD during the event.
This way, Brisbane won’t become a ‘ghost town’ and negatively impact tourism in the future. Somehow, I get the impression that it might be a bit late for this plea. Perhaps spending months making sure that everyone in Brisbane knew how strict the security would be, how it would be very difficult to get around Brisbane, and how people should avoid the security areas wasn’t the best strategy to ensure a busy and vibrant city. Maybe releasing a list of items that are prohibited in those areas, including everyday objects alongside weapons, and making sure that regular people might be concerned about getting into trouble wasn’t the most brilliant plan. Also, I don’t know about you, but there is no way I can enjoy the sights and streets of Brisbane without carrying around my eggs, reptiles, canoes, whips, or kite. How can I shop without my lizard?
Possibly the approach of giving out lots of information that seemingly encouraged a lot of businesses to shut down for the entire week, and then at the last minute switching to encouraging people to visit wasn’t the best idea – but then I’m no politician, Lord Mayor, event planner or professional “good guy”.
But, I’m sure it will still all run smoothly. I’m sure none of the 6,000 police pumped up and on edge will abuse their powers. I’m sure nobody will be targeted unfairly. I’m sure Campbell Newman will scrap every single one of G20 laws immediately following the G20 summit, and won’t abuse his power either. After all, it’s not like anything like that has never happened in Queensland before.
