Hotting up for the G20

President Obama landed in Brisbane this morning and will be talking at the University of Queensland at lunchtime. What an honour for those students to be able to hear him. The leaders have all arrived – he was the last one.They are all holed up in their respective hotels across the city where they are guarded closely by scores of policemen and secret service agents. The city is quiet, not surprisingly. People are not sure what to expect. We decided to go to a Gallery yesterday only to find that it too had closed for the G20 weekend. The temperatures are up this weekend in Brisbane so people have headed out to the beach in their thousands leaving a little bit of an eerie feeling behind in the city which is normally so busy. 

I like the intensity that this weekend brings with it, I love the excitement that accompanies the arrival of world leaders in a city I now proudly call home and I wait with anticipation to see whether Climate change will feature on the agenda or whether it will be pushed right down. The interaction with the Mr Putin is awaited by all in Australia and Mr Abbott is centre stage for it. Sometimes you wonder about the cost of these events and their usefulness but from a global perspective it can never be a bad thing to have leaders meeting up and talking about issues in the world. 

Today they meet in the iconic Parliament house in Brisbane, a building which has history and heritage and which I have toured extensively because Parliament is actually open to all visitors so I will know the room in which they will all sit to debate. Over the past few days it has been bathed in a sea of colours so here are a few which I was lucky enough to witness.