Pacific Beat
After
the Event
To
Let: Perfect Venue, Olympic Games or Similar
So taken
was the world with sydney's flawless performance as Olympic
host last year that some visitors suggested she become the
permanent home for the Games. That, for many good reasons,
will never happen, though it would ease a big headache for
the New South Wales government: what to do with the money-gobbling
white elephant left behind at Homebush Bay. The 760-hectare
Sydney Olympic Park was a key element in the Games' success:
the closely clustered venues allowed spectators to stroll
from a day's athletics at the Olympic Stadium (now Stadium
Australia) to an evening's basketball, swimming or another
sport.
But in the
nine months since the Olympic flame was extinguished, there
has been little strolling-or any other action-at Homebush
Bay. In a city that was already well-equipped with more intimate
sporting and concert venues, Sydney Olympic Park has struggled
to attract events other than the occasional blockbuster, like
the upcoming rugby Test between Australia and the British
Lions. State Treasurer Michael Egan, already grappling with
a $A1.4 billion bill for staging the Olympics and Paralympics,
has allocated almost $A50 million to the newly formed Sydney
Olympic Park Authority. Its job, he says, will be to ensure
that the site "becomes a self-financing proposition and Sydney's
first choice for entertainment, sport and leisure," drawing
some 40,000 people a day.
Some of
that money has already been spent reconfiguring the stadium
into a cosier venue for football and cricket, and constructing
a wall on which the names of the 60,000 Olympic and Paralympic
volunteers will be inscribed (a worthy idea, but it's hard
to see that one causing traffic snarls around the site). The
authority's blueprint might eventually include shops, restaurants,
apartment blocks or a theme park; it is less likely to adopt
the suggestion of University of N.S.W. landscape architecture
professor James Weirick, who says part of the site, including
Stadium Australia, should have a close encounter with a wrecking
ball. Surely no way to treat Olympic history.
-Daniel
Williams
Party
Politics
Breaking
Up Isn't That Hard to Do
In
fiji these days, everyone's favorite word is unity. In the
run-up to the August elections-called in March after a judge
ruled the military-installed government illegal -indigenous
political parties are being urged to form a vote-sharing alliance.
Individually, ethnic nationalists fear, none will outpoll
the multiracial Labour party of exPrime Minister Mahendra
Chaudhry, who was ousted last May in a coup attempt.
Unity is
proving easier said than achieved. Since the election was
announced, all five major parties have split. Fiji's 360,000
voters are now being courted by 25 parties (up from 20 in
1999), each with its own plan for ethnic and national harmony.
Backed by some prominent coup sympathizers, caretaker P.M.
Laisenia Qarase last month launched the People's United Party
as "an alternative to factionalism." So far, however, only
two small parties have consented to enter the P.U.P. tent.
Even Labour has succumbed to split syndrome. Complaining that
Chaudhry's blunt style "divides rather than builds consensus,"
former deputy P.M. tupeni baba, an ethnic Fijian, two weeks
ago formed his own chip off the bloc. Its name? The New Labour
Unity Party.
-Elizabeth
Feizkhah/Suva
Rose
Bay by any other name
On
the map Signposts at New South Wales landmarks like Sydney
Harbour and the Blue Mountains may have to be enlarged to
accommodate a dual Aboriginal and European naming policy announced
by the state government last week. Under the voluntary system,
communities and councils can nominate local geographic features
and cultural sites like rivers, beaches and islands-but not
suburbs, streets or manmade structures like bridges-for indigenous
titles. Aboriginal groups have welcomed the proposal. Others
are less enthused: "I think sometimes we go too far," says
Australian Democrats founder Don Chipp. There's no word yet
on the selection process for sites with several Aboriginal
place names or spellings (Kookaroo, Woccanmagulli and Yah-loong
are all tribal titles for Farm Cove). Sydney taxi drivers
might resent the extra study time needed to grasp destinations
like Warrane (Circular Quay) or Kaiymay (Manly). But with
Aboriginal names already in use from Cronulla to Curl Curl,
pronunciation should be simple for anyone who can say Woolloomooloo.
-Leora Moldofsky
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June 12, 2001 | No. 24
COVER
STORY
A
Hero's Ascent
For mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer, just crossing the street can be a risky
venture. The first sightless person to reach Mount Everest's summit, he
gives millions-both blind and seeing-the courage to reach for new heights
TRAVELERS
ADVISORY...
PACIFIC
BEAT: Post-Olympics blues; fractured Fiji...
THE
ARTS
MUSIC: Rock rises from the dead, again...
CINEMA: Keeping faith with Ingmar Bergman
BOOKS: A fresh look at a founding father
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