Today I can advise The Bug reader that current and former Premiers of Queensland, David Crisafulli and Peter Beattie, (main picture) have won a myriad of accolades from Japanese actors and theatre critics for their work in recent days performing traditional Kabuki theatre.

My fellow entertainment reporters in big Japanese cities such as the capital Tokyo right down to smaller regional centres tell me that local Kabuki actors and critics have been wowed by Crisafulli and Beattie in their first ever attempt to tackle the historic form of theatre that relies on predictable and over-dramatised plots and heavily stylised performances.

The Crisafulli-Beattie performance causing all the fuss is based around the story of upgrading and expanding the seating capacity of Brisbane’s Lang Park sports stadium built by the Beattie Government and opened in 2003 which is currently labelled and promoted as Suncorp Stadium under a naming rights deal.

As The Courier-Mail reported, the much-lauded performance began on Sunday when the captain of the Broncos, Adam Reynolds, used the platform of the club’s NRL grand final win on Sunday to call for the Brisbane stadium upgrade in his victory speech at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

“To the Premier, build a bigger stadium because we sold that one [Suncorp Stadium] out and we’ll sell it out again,” Reynolds said.

Then, as The Courier-Mail reported on Tuesday, (below) “just 17 hours” after that speech by Reynolds, Premier Crisafulli apparently surprised everyone by revealing that his government will expand Suncorp beyond its current 52,500 seats in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics.

It was left to former premier and now NRL commissioner Beattie to flesh out the details in an op-ed piece in The Courier-Mail he just happened to have ready which was very heavy on statistical comparisons of various stadiums around the world.

In his op-ed (below) Beattie said a capacity of at least 65,000 seats was needed at Suncorp as well as adding a roof to ensure it could be used in all weathers.

The Crisafulli-Beattie double act looked for all the world like a spontaneous performance, such are their acting skills.

But in a follow-up story on Wednesday, The Courier-Mail let the truth slip out. (below)

“The upgrades, revealed by The Courier-Mail, have quietly been in motion for months….,” the paper reported.

That line apparently had expert Kabuki observers and actors in Japan applauding Crisafulli and Beattie from afar because they viewed it as evidence of the two premiers’ dedication to perfecting their theatrical performances.

Don’t be surprised if both pollies are invited to take their act to Japan for a touring performance.

To end, I want to make a couple of points. First, just a personal observation as a taxpayer.

I have noticed something missing from the stories published so far about the Suncorp Stadium upgrade including another major spread in The Courier-Mail today (below).

The little thing missing is called a dollar sign ($). Nobody has put a dollar figure on the upgrade cost. Might be a relevant fact to include, I suggest.

Second, my friends in the finance game tell me that the Brisbane Broncos are the nation’s only sporting “club” listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and the Murdoch media’s News Crap Australia – publishers of The Courier-Mail – owns 70% of its shares.

Oddly, I can’t see any such disclaimer in any of the stories the Murdoch media has published on the stadium upgrade which will be of great benefit to its major tenant – the Broncos. I’m happy to be corrected on that one.

Finally, does anyone else out there think, as I do, that all this heavily scripted theatrics is an effort to cunningly put in place a fallback facility for the Crisafulli Government in case its plans for the brand new Victoria Park Olympic Stadium fall apart?

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