ALEISHA OWEN and MATTHEW WILLIAMS
Despite the government’s relentless campaign promoting the G20 Leaders Summit to the people of Brisbane, residents remain in the dark as to what it’s really about.
On the city’s streets, many expressed apathy towards the event, with many unwilling to comment beyond “I don’t know what the G20 is”.
Those who were happy to talk were asked basic questions about the Summit with some challenged to name the countries attending while matching world leaders with their countries.
1. What does the “G” in G20 stand for?
“Government, global – I thought it was like global summit something”
2. How many G20 countries can you name?
“Australia, America, what’s the ones that were in the thing? (first game) Indonesia, Germany, The UK, Brazil, we cheated – we just played that game, Russia, how many are we up to? Spain? China, India, Canada, give us the beginning of one…”
– “South”
“South America? Oh what have I done!? South Africa! South and North Africa. Korea!”
3. Match the world leader to their country
President Barack Obama – “The United States” – CORRECT
Prime Minister David Cameron – “The United Kingdom” – CORRECT
Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel – “New Zealand?” – INCORRECT
President Dilma Rousseff- “India?” – INCORRECT
President Joko Widodo – “Don’t Know” – INCORRECT
4. What is the G20 about?
“Politics. Ebola? I have no idea to tell you the truth.”
– “It’s finance, it’s just a bank meeting – well, a bit more than a bank meeting.”
“Are you serious? The whole city’s getting shut down to talk about money?”
1. What does the “G” in G20 stand for?
“Group of 20”
2. How many G20 countries can you name?
“Probably the top 10 but there’s some guest countries coming that aren’t part of the 20.. the big European countries – America, Canada, Australia, what else?”
3. Do you care that the G20 is coming to Brisbane? Are you excited?
“I think the G20 is a good idea, now about being excited about it coming to Brisbane – well, probably not really, you know?”
1. What does the “G” in G20 stand for?
“Group. It may be great, but it’s group. It’s the group of the 20 greatest nations”
2. How many G20 countries can you name?
“The United States, the European Union; which is being counted as a country, Australia; of course, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, and of course Russia too”
3. Match the world leader to their country
President Barack Obama – “The United States” – CORRECT
Prime Minister David Cameron – The United Kingdom – CORRECT
Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel – Germany – CORRECT
President Dilma Rousseff – Brazil – CORRECT
President Joko Widodo – Malaysia – INCORRECT (INDONESIA)
4. What is the G20 about?
“I read something today about them discussing the environment, many countries are scared of the ISIS state at the moment, and many other things, it does go for three days”
1. Do you know what the “G” in G20 stands for?
“Good question, no I don’t actually”
2. How many G20 countries can you name?
“America, Russia, England … that’s about all I can think of”
3. Match the world leader to their country
President Barack Obama – “America” – CORRECT
Prime Minister David Cameron – “I’m not sure” – N/A
Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel – “No idea” – N/A
President Dilma Rousseff – Brazil – “Not sure” – N/A
President Joko Widodo – “China or Japan… somewhere in Asia” – INCORRECT (INDONESIA)
4. What is the G20 about?
“ I think it’s for world leaders to discuss political issues, wars perhaps”
ANSWER KEY:
- What does the “G” in G20 stand for? “Group”
- How many G20 countries can you name? Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States
- Match the world leader to their country
President Barack Obama – The United States of America
Prime Minister David Cameron – The United Kingdom
Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel – Germany
President Dilma Rousseff – Brazil
President Joko Widodo – Indonesia
- The G20 is primarily about finance, but is often co-opted by different issues such as climate and conflict.