Ron Walker's nice little earner, otherwise known as the Commonwealth Games, begins in Melbourne today.

Walker is the big end of town entrepreneur who stole the Grand Prix from Adelaide during the Kennett regime and brought it to Albert Park. Ostensibly to enrich Melbourne, the noisy hoon-fest disrupted the lives of hundreds of local residents, ruined the peace and tranquillity of Albert Park, and has cost the city -- oops, that's Victorian taxpayers -- hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Most likely, the yearly abomination remains in Melbourne's care solely to preserve Walker's reputation.

Like the Grand Prix, the Walker Games are facing an embarrassing lack of interest. As of Monday, nearly 400,000 tickets remained unsold. And they've given away 5,000 tickets for the opening ceremony.

Without going into the details of what a boring farce the games are -- OK, it's a bunch of former British colonies trying to compete with the subsidised sporting might of Britain and Australia -- the nearly two week event is regarded by the rest of the sporting world as somewhat less than ho hum.

Let's face it, the Games represent nothing more than a business opportunity, in this case using people who excel at running, jumping, and swimming. There can be no greater evidence of the capitulation of governments to big business than in Ron Walker's refusal to invite Phil Coles, the Sydney-based Olympic delegate whom Walker believes voted against Melbourne's bid for the 1996 Olympics. The Victorian Labor Government Minister for Sport, Justin Madden (who used to be such a nice boy), said the snub was out of his hands. Which means it's out of the government's hands. Which means that Walker has precedence over government affairs. Which means that business rules, even when it comes to personal grudges.

Since Ron Walker is a former Liberal Party treasurer, this should come as no surprise. The whole country is in the hands of his ilk.