A high dose of the jitters shot through Brisbane, as world leaders arrived for this weekend's meeting of the globe's 20 major economies. Security is unprecedented and there are efforts to control the public debate, reports GHN based on DW.
The city center is in lockdown. Black Hawk helicopters are patrolling the skies. Boats are combing the Brisbane River. 6,000 police have come from interstate and abroad. This is the biggest peacetime security crackdown in the nation's history.
This city's corporate sector is also running scared. Businesses shifted out of the CBD, prior to the Group of 20 (G-20) Leaders' Summit on Saturday and Sunday. Some are even nervous about the political implications of their actions. The Brisbane Airport Corporation banned a digital climate change billboard, causing an international stir. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to put climate change on the agenda, despite international calls.
Digital billboard, highlighting climate change, banned from Brisbane Airport
The airport's Head of Corporate Relations, Rachel Crowley, told DW the message was too political. The ad featured a farmer who lost $25,000 (17,500 euros) worth of grapes in one day last year, when temperatures touched 46 degrees Celsius at his South Australian vineyard.
Campaign initiator, Dermot O'Gorman, said the idea was to encourage people to tweet G-20 leaders, asking them to include climate change as a stand-alone item on the summit agenda. The WWF-Australia chief executive told DW he was "surprised and disappointed by the rejection."
"Australia is a great democracy with a proud tradition of freedom of expression. G-20 leaders from all over the world have started arriving here and it is not a good look for institutions like the airport to be blocking this sort of communication."
In a DW interview with Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson said he personally would not have made such a move. The ban has obviously backfired creating more media attention around the world than the ad would have otherwise.