Transcript
ANDREW MINOGUE: The point of leaving the door open until the end of June was to see if the political process in Tonga might force a change in the government's thinking and I think, as you would have been following there was a lot of debate in both the general public but also in the parliament. Some resolutions were tabled and a lot of debate was taking place in the last couple of weeks in parliament and it ultimately culminated in some votes late last week which were pretty close - I think 13 votes to 10 - in favour of the government's decision. So we wanted to give the country a chance to have its say, even after the PM had said to us he wouldn't change his mind, and I think the Tongan people and their parliament have had that chance now, they've made their decision and now we move forward.
VINNIE WYLIE: The Games Council said, when the government made their initial decision, if there was no change in stance they would begin proceedings to seek damages through the court - is that a process you now begin as well?
AM: Yes....that's an important statement for us to make. We had a contract, a binding contract. The government unilaterally walked away from it without any consultation - that's not behaviour we think should be ignored or rewarded in any way so yeah we will be seeking legal redress for that.
VW: It's less about the money per se and more about the principle?
AM: Oh absolutely. We're not a money-hungry organisation, we're a very lean outfit, we've never had a lot of resources and I don't think we'll ever have a lot of resources in the future. It's not about money, it's about the principle of walking away from a contract and we all put five years, or almost five years, of work into planning for the Games in 2019 to be in Tonga and we were contractually bound with the Government and with TASNAOC to do that. I think it's a very important statement of principle - you just can't walk away from those agreements unilaterally.
VW: And now wanting to find a new host for 2019...you're hoping to have a new host by the end of August?
AM: Hopefully if we've got more than one then the Executive Board will have to make a decision. If we've only got one bid then the decision kind of makes itself but we're hoping that through the month of August we've got enough time to visit whichever countries are bidding and make some assessments on which is the most suitable host for the Games.
VW: What is the shortest time-frame that the Games Council has ever had to put an event like this together?
AM: Probably this one (laughing). To be honest I think we've not had the situation before where the Games have been awarded just two years out...we're fairly confident that if these Games are being requested by a country that already has the facilities then two years is adequate time to be able to put a committee in place and get working on the plans for the event. This would have been a disaster for us if it had happened a year from now with a year to go but I think two years is sufficient time for an experienced host country to step forward and deliver the Games quite successfully.
VW: You’ve already received a number of enquiries though, haven't you, from countries, from Games Associations that are possibly interested?
AM: We have. We've had most probably prominently Samoa - the Prime Minister has been very public in Apia about wanting to bring the Games back after hosting it in 2007. We've had one or two other federations make contact with us before today but their governments as yet haven't made any declarations so now is the time that can start happening formally.