A call by Victorian government lawyers in the dead of night quietly killed the Commonwealth Games – dooming taxpayers to another massive compensation payout.
Based on past estimates, Victorians will be stung no less than $1billion for Premier Daniel Andrews‘ sudden decision to dump the 2026 event.
The actual call to cancel the Games reportedly came a little after 2am when state government lawyers informed members of the Commonwealth Games Federation in London that Victoria was terminating its contract.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews puts on the charm at a press conference in Melbourne on Tuesday
Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006
Daniel Andrews remains unapologetic about the decision to dump the Games
About a decade ago, the Queensland government investigated the cost of axing the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and determined it to be more than $1billion.
The figure was revealed in estimates in 2018 with fears it could come in even higher for Victoria given skyrocketing inflation and the limited time for organisers to find a replacement host.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips reportedly had no idea the event was being axed until six hours after London was informed.
The gobsmacked chief was advised by one of the state’s senior bureaucrats that a dramatic blowout in forecast costs had forced the government’s hand, The Age reported.
Mr Andrews made the announcement on Tuesday, declaring his decision ‘easy’ considering the state’s dire financial plight following its record Covid-19 lockdown.
‘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,’ he said.
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 offered to host.
The reason behind the shock decision 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.
However, Mr Andrews refuses to say how the government’s costings for the Commonwealth Games ballooned by more than $4billion and what the cost of scrapping the event will cost taxpayers.
On Wednesday, the premier came under fire from a ferocious media pack, who grilled him about the blowout.
Daniel Andrews was bombarded with questions during a press conference on Wednesday
Mr Andrews was asked more than 10 times what taxpayers could expect to pay for the government’s decision to scrap the Games.
‘We’re currently in negotiations on that very issue and I’m not going to cut across that,’ he said.
‘I am not engaging in an argument today or any day. We are instead focused on amicable and productive discussions that are going on in London.’
The premier pledged to release the details of what went wrong when negotiations were complete.
‘All the relevant information will be given to you,’ he said.
‘I’m happy to have as much information out there as possible.’
The decision to scrap the Games has been met with anger by the Victorian public.
Former Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation Dame Louise Martin, Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne-Thomas and MP Michaela Settle pose for a photo with athletes and children during a press conference in Ballarat on April 12, 2022.
Team Australia celebrate victory during the netball gold medal match between Team Jamaica and Team Australia on day ten of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Melbourne’s cold 2021 weather was starting to thaw when talk of the Games coming to Melbourne began circulating.
Melburnians had just come out of 262 cumulative days of lockdown when senior figures within Visit Victoria – the state government’s major events and tourism promotion agency – began exploring Victoria’s pitch for the Games.
The plan was reportedly to win over regional voters by focusing on Country Victoria and help introduce international tourists to the rest of the state.
The Games would deliver much-needed housing and sporting infrastructure to desperate regional communities.
The initial, provisional price tag was $1.3billion – just below the cost of Gold Coast 2018.
That figure reportedly blew out to $2.65billion on the back of appeasing Commonwealth Games Australia.
Mr Andrews proudly spruiked the Games to Victorians upon announcing the state had secured the contract.
‘We are the sporting capital of our nation,’ he said in February 2022.
‘We have all that is needed to make an event like this a fantastic success, for us and everybody across the Commonwealth … Our vision for this is a Games like no other.
‘That will be great for regional Victoria, great for the state, for jobs, for investment, for confidence and just to reassert – if there was any question in anyone’s mind – that we are the major events capital, the sporting capital.’
On Wednesday, Mr Andrews refused to apologise to a nation of young athletes who planned to compete in the Games on home turf.
‘You’re asking me to apologise for not running the Games and I’m not doing that,’ he said.
‘I understand that officials are disappointed, that athletes are disappointed but we’d all be pretty disappointed, I think, if we just push on and go and invest billions and billions and billions of dollars over and above the budget.’
‘The government reserves the right to make its own decisions on behalf of Victorians.’
