The 2014 G-20 Australia summit will be the ninth meeting of the G-20 heads of government.[1] It will be held in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Australia, on 15 and 16 November 2014. The hosting venue will be the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.[2] On 1 December 2013 Brisbane became the official host city for the G20.[3] The City of Brisbane will have a public holiday on 14 November 2014.[4] Up to 4,000 delegates are expected to attend with around 2,500 media representatives.[5] Leaders from Mauritania, Myanmar, New Zealand, Senegal, Singapore, and Spain are also invited to this summit.[6] European leaders expressed their desire to support the recovery as the global economy moves beyond the global financial crisis. European Commission President Barroso and European Council President Van Rompuy stressed the importance of coordinated growth strategies as well as finalising agreements on core financial reforms, and actions on tax and anti-corruption.[7] According to Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu the main objectives of the summit are to provide strategic priority for growth, financial rebalancing and emerging economies, investment and infrastructure, and employment and labour mobility.[8] Professor of international finance law at the University of New South Wales Ross Buckley suggested that the summit should emphasis the implementation of existing strategies rather than seeking agreement towards reforms.[9] Climate change has been removed as a subject for discussion at the summit; Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated he did not want the agenda cluttered by subjects that would distract from economic growth. Officials from the European Union and United States of America are reported to be unhappy with this decision.[10] At each of the previous summits climate change was included on the agenda.[11] Australian media says that Australia will have a significant effect on the agenda.[1] Mike Callaghan, the director of the G20 Studies Centre at the Lowy Institute for International Policy has stated that if the G20 meeting is to attain significant outcomes it should focus on boosting infrastructure spending, multilateral trading systems and combating both tax avoidance and profit shifting.[12] Preparations[edit] The Prime Minister of Australia at the time of the 2011 G-20 Cannes summit, Julia Gillard, was asked to have Australia host the 2014 summit.[1] Brisbane was selected over Sydney because the city was better equipped to cater for a significant increase in plane arrivals and the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre will be undertaking renovations at the time.[13] The Parliament of Queensland passed the G20 (Safety and Security) Act 2013 on 29 October 2013.[14] The event will involve a complex security operation. Event organisers will need to ensure that appropriate security measures are in place to protect visitors, while minimising disruptions to inner-city residents and businesses.[15] About 6,000 police from Queensland, interstate and New Zealand will be ensuring security at the event,[16] and more than 600 volunteers will provide assistance at the summit.[16] Roads between the central business district and the Brisbane Airport will be temporarily closed. Around 1,500 security specialists including interstate and overseas personnel together with thousands of Queensland police will make patrols.[17] Public transport services will be reduced in the central business district and surrounding suburbs.[18] One wing in a major Brisbane hospital has been reserved for the exclusive use of world leaders during the summit.[19] A secure, government wireless network is required for public safety communications during the summit. Telstra will establish the network in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns before the event and later continue rolling it out across South East Queensland.[20] The Australian Government rented 16 bombproof Mercedes Benz S-Guard limousines specially for the Summit at a cost of AU$1.8 million. Some world leaders however, including Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin plan to bring their own vehicles.[21] 800 people were involved in a security exercise, which tested responses to fake security issues, crowd management and transport over 10 hours on October 6, 2014. Actors portraying delegates were used, which involved a mock world leader arriving from a Qantas Boeing 737-800 at Brisbane International Airport into a 13-vehicle motorcade consisting of police motorbikes, police cars, sedans, vans, an SUV and a ute, which travelled from the airport to a Brisbane hotel.[22] The cost of hosting the event has been estimated at around AU$400 million.[22] Associated meetings[edit] G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will meet several times in 2014. Sydney will host a meeting on 21–23 February [23] followed by a meeting in Cairns, Queensland in September 2014. At the September meeting participating countries agreed to automatically exchange tax information to reduce tax evasion.[24] Canberra will host a meeting for G20 finance and central bank deputies in 2014.[25] The Youth 20 Summit is the official (G20) youth event being held in Sydney in July 2014.[26] A meeting of G20 trade ministers took place in Sydney during July, and the annual G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting was held in Melbourne during September. Officials-levels meetings of public servants have taken place throughout the year to prepare for the ministerial meetings.[27] Security measures[edit] There will be a declared area taking effect from the 8th of November with a number of restricted areas which will be fenced and guarded by police.[28] Freedom of movement for ordinary citizens will be restricted. According to the G20 (Safety and Security) Regulation 2014 and article 12 of the The G20 (SAFETY AND SECURITY) BILL 2013,[29] the restricted areas can be changed at the Police Commissioners or the Ministers request at any time during the proceedings. Residents living in these areas will have to have a security clearance performed, and their car given a security pass. Residents not receiving a security clearance will be forced to leave the area, but will be paid accommodation expenses. The G20 legislation will suspend important civil liberties, including the absolute right to arrest without warrant, in addition to the police powers act, 2000, to detain people without charge, to predispose the courts into not giving arrested individuals bail, extensive searches of the person without warrant,[30] including strip searches, and the banning of common household items carried in public. Officers have the backing of increased penalties when lawful directions are not followed. The peaceful assembly act of 1992 is suspended during the G20 meeting dates. Size of placards are strictly regulated, as is permission to protest, and the location of protests. Legal observers will be in force to observe the use of police power during this time.[31] Heavy fines are enforceable due to the legislation. Most offenses carry between 50 and 100 penalty units worth of fines. A penalty unit in 2014 is $110.[32] Attendance[edit] There was divided opinion both within Australia and from other nations on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin should be allowed to attend the G-20 Summit, following Russias response to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as well as Russias actions in Ukraine earlier in the year. Australias foreign minister, Julie Bishop, approached other G20 countries about banning Putin from the meeting, and stated that this consultation found that there was not the necessary consensus to exclude him.[33] A poll taken in July 2014 found 49% of Australians do not think Putin should be allowed to attend.[34] It was confirmed in September that Putin will attend, with Prime Minister Abbott stating that The G20 is an international gathering that operates by consensus – its not Australias right to say yes or no to individual members of the G20.[35]
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 20:56:59 +0000
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