September 2021 Newsletter

Brisbane, who are you?
Have your say.

Do you think a city should have an “identity”? Does a city need an identity? Does Brisbane already have one?

We recently hosted a sold-out event at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre to start a big conversation about Brisbane’s identity.

During a fascinating panel discussion, we live-polled our audience of about 300 attendees and asked them to choose one word to describe Brisbane – you can see the results in the word salad above.

We also asked our ten panellists what their “Brisbane word” was, and received a wide range of responses:

Sallyanne Atkinson AO, Chair, Museum of Brisbane; former Lord Mayor of Brisbane: lifestyle
Scott Hutchinson, Chairman, Hutchinson Builders: unpretentious
Li Cunxin AO, Artistic Director, Queensland Ballet: young
Peter Varghese AO, Chancellor, The University of Queensland: friendly
Aimee McVeigh, CEO, Queensland Council of Social Service: optimistic
Matt Condon OAM, journalist and author: open-minded
Cameron Costello, Deputy Chair, Queensland Tourism Industry Council: deadly
Debbie Smith, Partner, PwC: welcoming
Karni Liddell, Paralympian: possibility
Laurie Malone, CEO, VALD: genuine

Now we want to hear from you. If you’d like to contribute to the “who are you project?” please choose one word to describe Brisbane, and lodge your answer here https://pollev.com/anniem229

The project is not about a brand or a logo – those things have a place – it is about an identity, a unique narrative.

Like many in the private sector, and government, and the community, the Committee for Brisbane has asked questions about whether or not Brisbane should have an “identity”.

Our unequivocal answer is: yes, our city should have an identity.

We believe that a young, prosperous and fast-growing city like Brisbane – now joining the global pantheon of Olympic and Paralympic cities – should be clear about the image it projects to the world.

And we would like to hear your view.

The business of the Games #1

2032 has the potential to deliver enormous opportunities for business, industry and community in south east Queensland: logistics support, goods and services delivery, manufacturing, construction and development. How should we best prepare?

On the 21st October, in the first of a series of business briefings, the Committee for Brisbane will assemble a panel with direct experience in and around the Olympics and other major sporting events, including venue and program delivery and legacy planning and delivery.

Our panellists will talk about what has worked and what hasn’t around the Games, discuss learnings that could benefit SEQ businesses, and suggest what we should be doing now to prepare for 2032.

If you’d like to join us for a discussion and Q&A session to start exploring the business of the Games, please save the date and we’ll call for registrations soon.

Our five panellists are:

Andrew Davison: business and trade investment

Andy worked on the 2012 London Olympics where he was involved in delivering the business and foreign direct investment strategy and outcomes, and the 2016 Rio Olympics where he was London’s business representative to Rio and the Games. A diplomat for more than 20 years, Andy has led trade and investment portfolios across the UK, Europe, Africa and South Asia and has worked with cities in the US, Middle East, South America, ASEAN and China to deliver growth and investment programs and campaigns.

James Hepburn: legacy planning

James worked on and lived through the planning, delivery, live events and legacy of the London 2012 Olympics and is an advocate for thoughtful legacy planning. He was part of a team bidding for the now Westfield Stratford London shopping centre site – a commercial precinct whose interaction with the Olympic Park and other city assets was master planned to meet the needs of the Olympic Legacy Corporation and Mayor of London. As a champion of legacy place making, James stayed in close contact with the main master planning firm, Allies & Morrison, and key delivery architects like Make, Wilkinson Eyre and the Heatherwick Studio. Alongside this he continued to work in varying joint ventures alongside Westfield as he continued their investment strategy around Stratford and more generally the legacy benefitting London opportunity sites.

Jeroen Devos: venue and legacy design delivery

Jeroen’s experience of Olympics and legacy stems from his involvement in the London 2012 Games and Legacy Transformation. He joined the CLM Delivery Partner in 2007 as part of Mace UK, working with the Olympic Delivery Authority to lead the design aspects of multiple venues for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as both part of the project management team, and the construction delivery team. In 2011, Jeroen was seconded to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (and subsequently London Legacy Development Corporation), where he was the Design and Technical Lead responsible for the design of the post-Games transformation of the Olympic Park. Jeroen also led the initial stages of feasibility and design for the new “Olympicopolis” Culture and University Quarter for the LLDC that created a new cultural precinct.

Mike Irving: Games management

Mike is a Director at PwC and was previously Head of Program Controls for the City of Gold Coast during the 2018 Commonwealth Games. His role oversaw a broad remit of Program Management, Governance, Reporting, Finance, Procurement, IT, Legal and HR, working across the City’s existing teams to deliver the program of work that the City was accountable for as part of GC2018. At Games time, Mike was then a Venue Manager for Commonwealth House/Gold Coast Media Centre that hosted a large part of the State Government’s and City’s trade and investment events, as well as providing a base for media.

Whitney Luzzo-Kelly: corporate programs

Whitney has international program design and delivery experience on six Olympic Games: Atlanta 1996, Nagano 1998, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 as well as the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. She has an extensive international business background incorporating Olympic family and global sponsor hospitality, logistics planning and commercial rights negotiation experience executing national marketing and public relations strategy and corporate programs for some of the world’s leading blue-chip companies, sporting organisations, their sponsors senior executives and dignitaries, including IBM, Coca Cola, Nike, Celebrity Cruises, General Motors, Mercedes, BMW, Tiffany & Co., Bulgari, Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA).

The business of the Games #2

The Committee for Brisbane has written to the Federal and State Governments, Brisbane Economic Development Agency and Council of Mayors (South East Queensland) with a suggestion to start work, now, on a concierge and support service for interstate and overseas businesses and industries who will be attracted to the city and region by the 2032 Games.

In the lead up to Sydney 2000, Business Club Australia was established by the Federal Government, via Austrade and with the support of the States and Territories, to provide a range of “Brand Australia” incentives and programs to partners:

A broad keynote speaker program
Investment and trade partnering events
Access to Olympic athletes and organisers
A central ”hub” (at Darling Harbour) for events coordination

A recent article in The Australian quoted the former Sydney Olympics bid chief, Rod McGeogh, suggesting the model be revived for the Brisbane Games.

The Committee for Brisbane is keenly interested in identifying and promoting business opportunities associated with the Games.

While the Sydney BCA was essentially held in conjunction with the Games, we see the opportunity to use the 11-year runway to our great advantage and to start work now on a business attraction and investment strategy.

With its diverse corporate, NFP and university membership, the Committee for Brisbane would welcome the opportunity to contribute to a discussion on a BCA or similar, while acknowledging that governments would need to take the lead.

On the road again

The Committee for Brisbane Management Committee continued its occasional “road trip” series and for its August meeting visited the wonderful Museum of Brisbane (a Committee Affiliate) at City Hall.

Committee members were treated to a private tour of the fabulous City in the Sun exhibition which celebrates Brisbane. Well worth a visit: City in the Sun

Thank you Director Renai Grace for hosting us.

Nominations open soon for Management Committee positions

Nominations will open on Monday 11 October for five Executive positions and up to nine Ordinary Member positions on the Management Committee

Nominations will close on 27 October and the Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 16 November, from 5.30pm at the Grove, 480 Queen Street.

This year’s AGM will be the first under the revised Constitution and will be required to elect:

A President,
Two Vice-Presidents,
A Secretary,
A Treasurer,
Up to nine others, and
The Immediate past-President (automatic election).

Any financial Member (other than Student Members) is eligible to nominate for any of the five Executive positions. For the nine Ordinary Member positions, the places are required to be filled by:

up to four Members or nominated representatives from the Corporate Leader member category,
up to three Members or nominated representatives from the Corporate Member category, and
up to two Members or nominated representatives from the Enterprise Member category.

Coming up on the event calendar

Save the date for these upcoming events:

8 October: Public event to release the Phase Two report from Brisbane 2033: Our Olympic and Paralympic Legacies
21 October: “The business of the Games” briefing for members (see story above)
12 November: 4th annual Inner City Vitality Report and Event

New members

The Committee recently welcomed four new Members and one Affiliate

Corporate Member

McGees Property
Millovate

Enterprise Member

COHA Group

Associate

John Corry

Affiliate

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service Brisbane

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