Culture

Watch The Awkward Moment A Man Tries To Force The QLD Premier To Go To The Opening Ceremony

"BREAKING: John Coates secures Mansplaining World Championships for Australia."

by Michelle Rennex  22 July 2021
John Coates Annastacia Palaszczuk Olympics Opening Ceremony

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It’s official: Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympics Games.

Ahead of the commencement of the 2020 Tokyo Games on Friday, it was revealed that Brisbane had won the bid to host the Olympics in 2032 after securing 72 of the 80 available votes.

Present in Tokyo for the exciting announcement were Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, who were both ecstatic with the news.

However, with the concerning growing number of COVID-19 cases in Japan, the Queensland Premier previously shared that she had no plans to attend the upcoming opening ceremony.

Last week, Palaszczuk explained that she was “essentially flying in” to Tokyo for relevant meetings and would “not be attending any events whatsoever”. Instead, the Queensland Premier planned to watch the opening ceremony from the safety of her Tokyo hotel room.

But in a painfully awkward and uncomfortable exchange yesterday, the Queensland Premier was scolded by Coates and ordered to attend the ceremony on Friday night.

“You are going to the opening ceremony,” Coates told Palaszczuk, with his arms crossed and looking like a disappointed father.

“There will be an opening and a closing ceremony in 2032 and all of you, everyone there, has got to understand the traditional parts of that, what’s involved in an opening ceremony.”

“So, none of you are staying behind and hiding in your rooms, alright?”

As the terribly unpleasant press conference continued, Palaszczuk noted that she just didn’t “want to offend anybody”.

But John Coates continued to berate the Premier in front of the journalists present.

“You’ve never been to an opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, have you?” Coates continued. “You don’t know the protocols and I think it’s a very important lesson for everyone here — opening ceremonies cost in the order of $75 million to $100 million.”

“It puts a stamp on the Games and it’s very important to the broadcasts that follow and it’s my very strong recommendation that the Premier, and the Lord Mayor and the Sports Minister be there and understand it.”

In response to the AOC President’s very public reprimanding, Annastacia Palaszczuk shared that she now plans to attend Friday’s ceremony along with Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck as per John Coates’ request.

“John Coates was laying down the law last night,” Palaszczuk told ABC radio. “We are now a part of the IOC family and I will do what John Coates says.”

“I’ve known John for years,” the Queensland Premier continued, sharing that there was no bad blood between them. “If we didn’t have John Coates, this would not have happened. John Coates has been the driving force behind us securing the Olympics.”

But while Annastacia Palaszczuk says she has no issues with John Coates, people have slammed the Australian Olympic Committee President for the appalling and disrespectful way he publicly spoke to the Premier.

Sadly, for most women who have worked with men in positions of power, the way John Coates spoke to Annastacia Palaszczuk is way too familiar.

Even sadder is that it’s also very unlikely that John Coates would’ve had the same tone and messaging if it were Dan Andrews sitting in Annastacia Palaszczuk’s seat instead.

But I guess it wouldn’t really be Australia if we didn’t celebrate winning something without a spot of misogyny and mansplaining.