Melbourne 2006 (M2006) Commonwealth Games
Overview
The 18th Commonwealth Games was held in Melbourne on 15-26 March 2006. The Games brought to Australia over 6000 athletes, coaches and team officials, and large numbers of VIPs from 71 Commonwealth countries and territories.
The M2006 Games attracted over 1 million spectators including thousands of international spectators. Over 3000 local and international media reported on the Games. Over 5000 service providers and up to 15,000 volunteers supported the staging of the Games.
While the vast majority of events were held in Melbourne, some Victorian regional centres were venues for a number of Commonwealth Games events, including Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Traralgon.
The M2006 Games attracted a world-wide television audience of over 1 billion people. Forty thousand international and 50,000 interstate visitors visited Melbourne during the Games.
Queen’s Baton Relay
The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay is the world’s longest relay; travelling across the globe for one year and one day. The relay began with a commencement ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, on 14 March 2005, where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II entrusted the baton containing her message to the first of many thousands of relay runners.
The relay concludes as the final relay runner enters the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the opening ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games on 15 March 2006. Her Majesty’s message is then removed and read aloud, officially opening the Games.
The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton is carried more than 180,000 kilometres across land, air and sea, via a succession of relay runners and on many different modes of transport; from bicycle and boat to hot air balloon, steam train and even on elephant and horse back. The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay will visit all 71 nations of the Commonwealth. This is a world first. No Games relay has ever visited all member nations.
Organisation of the Games
The Victorian Government had primary responsibility for the staging of the M2006 Games. It established a company, the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation (M2006 Corporation) to organise the staging of the Games. The Corporation’s role includes organisation of the sports programs and venues, and negotiating with Victorian and Australian Government agencies to secure services necessary to support the staging of M2006.
The Victoria Police Force (VICPOL) was responsible for the overall planning and coordination of security and the maintenance of law and order for the M2006 Games.
Security Arrangements
The organisation of security was an integral part of planning for major sporting and cultural events such as the M2006 Games. The M2006 Corporation, Australian and Victorian Government agencies and VICPOL worked closely together in preparation for the Games.
As hosts, the M2006 Corporation managed all organisational aspects of the event, liaising closely with Australian and Victorian Government agencies on all security issues. VICPOL was responsible for on-the-ground security arrangements. The Attorney-General's Department established, within the Protective Security Coordination Centre, the M2006 Security Branch. The M2006 Security Branch was out-posted to and forms the security arm of the M2006 Games Taskforce which was been set up in the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. The role of the M2006 Security Branch was to coordinate security arrangements between Australian Government agencies and the Australian and Victoria Governments.
The Australian Government has constitutional responsibility for a number of security functions throughout Australia and its territories. The functions that are relevant to the security of the M2006 Games relate to the Australian Government’s responsibilities for preventing, and responding to, politically motivated violence and include the provision of intelligence derived from national and international sources, protection of the national borders, aviation and airport security, its commitments under the National Counter-Terrorism Plan, coordination and delivery of dignitary protection services, provision of support for emergency management and those aspects of law enforcement for which it is responsible.
Australia hosts a large number of top-level international sporting fixtures every year. As we saw during the Sydney Olympics, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on the Sunshine Coast, the responsible Australian Government and State and Territory agencies have a well-deserved reputation for working effectively together to ensure these events are conducted safely and securely.
There was no specific threat of terrorism to the M2006 Games. However, security is not taken for granted and since the terrorist acts of September 11 2001 and Bali, October 2002, and more recently in Madrid and Jakarta in 2004 and London and Bali in 2005, the Australian Government ensured that our national counter-terrorism arrangements were reviewed and strengthened.
Australia has been at a heightened level of security alert since September 11 2001. This has resulted in upgraded security measures and a heightened level of intelligence activity focused on terrorism.
Australian intelligence agencies will continue to monitor trends and activity and should there be any indication of an increased threat to Australia, or any event being held in Australia, the Australian Government and relevant Federal, State and Territory agencies will respond appropriately.