The cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to be held in regional Victoria by Premier Daniel Andrews has been slammed as a huge ‘setback for Victoria’.
The reason behind the shock move is down to the state’s money woes, with Victoria’s debt forecast to be $135.4billion in 2024, rising to $171.4billion by 2026-27.
The rights to host the 2026 event were awarded to regional Victoria last year after not one of the 70 countries in the Commonwealth Games Federation put their hand up.
In a dramatic press conference on Tuesday, Mr Andrews said: ‘What’s become clear is the cost of hosting these games is not the $2.6billion which was allocated, it is at least $6billion or $7billion.’
‘I will not take money out of hospitals and schools in order to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year.’
But an unnamed Labor insider told Sky News the decision was the ‘biggest reputational set back since the collapse of the state bank in Victoria’ in 1990.
Left to right are Victorian Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan, Regional Development Minister Harriet Shing, Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee CEO Jeroen Weimar and Premier Daniel Andrews, pictured on Tuesday, July 18, 2023
The Commonwealth Games Federation said it had only been told of Victoria’s decision hours beforehand.
‘We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours’ notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the government,’ it said in a statement.
‘Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.’
Legendary sport broadcaster Bruce McAvaney said the stunning announcement was an ’embarrassment’.
He said the Games now face a ‘huge challenge’ and that the event could end completely.
‘It’s a big shock … I didn’t see it coming,’ McAvaney told radio 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked if the Games cancellation was an ’embarrassment’ but said he would ‘leave the Victorian government to go through those details.
‘I’m focused on the Matildas, and the opportunity to host a World Cup here.’
Daniel Andrews took to Twitter (pictured) to explain why he has cancelled the Commonwealth Games
But Liberal insider Charlotte Mortlock (pictured) was not impressed and called the move ‘mortifying’
Liberal insider Charlotte Mortlock said the situation was ‘mortifying’ for the country.
‘Has Australia ever had to cancel something as prominent as the Commonwealth Games before because a state hasn’t been able to afford it,’ she tweeted.
‘This is mortifying. It seems so incompetent and lets so many people/businesses/ athletes and regions down. Mortifying.’
The Commonwealth Games due to be held in regional Victoria in 2026 have been cancelled by Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) over the state’s money woes
Former Australian netball international Jill McIntosh said the cancellation would have massive implications for her sport.
‘Netball does not have the Olympics. The Commonwealth Games are a big deal,’ she said.
‘In netball, the majority of countries are part of the commonwealth, so for us, it’s like a world championship,’ she said.
If the Commonwealth Games were to be scrapped entirely, Ms McIntosh said: ‘It would be extremely sad for sports that are non-Olympics.
‘We look forward to the Comm Games every four years. They’re our big world events. It would be not an idea situation for netball,’ she told The Age.
Hockey Australia chief executive David Pryles joined in the condemnation, saying it was ‘incredibly disappointing for the athletes and the sport’.
‘Very rarely do we get an opportunity to host major sporting events within the Olympic and Commonwealth Games family and it’s an opportunity for our athletes to compete in front of family and friends when, the majority of the year, they’re competing overseas,’ he told Code Sports.
Australia celebrate victory during the Netball gold medal match against Jamaica at the 2022 Commonwealth Games at the NEC Arena in Birmingham
‘Sitting here as CEO of Hockey Australia, our Kookaburras have won seven gold medals in a row and our Hockeyroos have obviously got a proud record as well, so any opportunity to showcase them, we want to do it, especially in Australia.’
Despite being pressed several times, Mr Andrews would not reveal the cost of abandoning the games, but said this would be ‘fully accounted for’ at a later date.
He said ‘very little costs had been incurred to this point’.
‘I’m not going to negotiate with the Commonwealth Games authorities via the media in Melbourne, when I’ve got a team of people doing exactly that in London,’ he said, growing frustrated with questions from the media.
‘That’s the appropriate way to go.’
Mr Andrews said he had informed the Commonwealth Games authorities the state would seek to terminate the contract.
He said subsequent meetings had been ‘amicable and productive’.
The Games were set to be held from March 17 to 29 in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton.
The Premier said ‘I’ve made a lot of difficult decisions in this job – this is not one of them,’ and described the Commonwealth Games as ‘all cost, no benefit’.
‘We are not going to spend $6 to $7billion hosting a 12-day sporting event,’ he said.
Mr Andrews added that ‘you have got to make a choice.
Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan said the ballooning costs far outweighed the benefits of hosting the events.
‘Each one of those sporting infrastructure facilities will be going ahead and we will be wanting to push on and complete those projects with those local communities following consultation with them,’ she said.
‘Do you push on and deliver this at any cost, taking money out of hospitals, schools, roads, all manner of different things to pay for it or do you make the decision we’ve announced today.’
Commonwealth Games Legacy Minister Harriet Shing said the projects related to the Games would deliver more jobs for people who live in the areas where they were due to be held.
‘We also want to make sure that community and sporting facilities are given the attention and the focus that they deserve,’ she said.
She added that the state government would make sure that communities are at the heart of this additional work that will ‘continue’.
Victoria’s Opposition Leader John Pesutto lashed the decision to cancel the Games, saying the decision was ‘a betrayal of regional Victoria’ and confirmed the state was broke.
‘The Andrews government’s decision to scrap the 2026 Commonwealth Games is a massive humiliation for Victoria,’ he said.
Mr Pesutto added that the cancellation was ‘hugely damaging’ to Victoria’s reputation as a global events leader and that the ‘botched Games’ would leave a legacy of failure.
He said Labor could not be believed as it ‘continues to break promises because of its own incompetence’.
Australia pose with their medals after the men’s final hockey match at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Monday, August 8, 2022
Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas said Western Australia should rescue the Games for Australia and ‘swoop in’ to host them in the west.
‘What WA should be in a position to do in the next few days is say to the Commonwealth Games committee, “Here’s the venues we’ve got, we’re not spending $7billion”,’ he told Triple M radio.
‘You make your Commonwealth Games fit the venues we’ve got.’
Mr Zempilas proposed spending $500million on an athletes’ village that could then become social housing after the games finished.
‘Our financial state here in WA is far superior to the parlous state that exists in Victoria.
‘We’ve got a huge opportunity to swoop in, get it at the right price and do something defining for our city,’ he said.
Previous promotional material for the Games said: ‘Victoria 2026 will showcase what makes the people of our state tick: our unity, our diversity, our sense of community, our welcoming attitude and our love of sport.’
Instead, they will not be happening. The Commonwealth Games has never been cancelled with the strict exception of during World War II.
Commonwealth Games staff were reportedly called in for an urgent meeting early on Tuesday.
The Games were set to be held from March 17 to 29 in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton
There was an emergency meeting of the state government’s Expenditure Review Committee – senior ministers who discuss budget decisions – on Monday. The full proposal was taken to the Cabinet late last night.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas had been seeking a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution from the federal government to pay for the Games.
While Victoria will no longer host the games, the legacy infrastructure from them will still be built.
There will be $1billion spent on more than 1,300 new social and affordable housing homes across regional Victoria, $150million will be spent on tourism and events and all of the permanent and upgraded sporting facilities planned will go ahead.
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