Deputy Premier Ben Carroll has declared Victoria stands ready to support the Gold Coast after the city laid bare its intentions to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate on Monday met with key figures within the Commonwealth Games movement to outline a feasibility study into hosting the event.
The meeting came just months after Victoria withdrew from its 2026 hosting duties after discovering it would cost them $6 to $7 billion despite budgeting $2.6 billion.
Mr Carroll indicated to reporters that while Victoria could not make the sporting spectacle work, the state was still in a position to lend the Gold Coast a helping hand.
“If that bid’s successful, we stand ready to support them in anyway we can, and have a successful Commonwealth Games,” he said.
“Whenever the Gold Coast need any support, whether it’s at the departmental level, whether it’s with the Commonwealth Games Federation, we’d be happy to do whatever we can to support them in terms of advice and things like that.”
Mr Tate first floated the idea of the Gold Coast hosting the games immediately after then-premier Daniel Andrews said in July the regional Victoria model was dead.
The Gold Coast was the last Australian city to host the games, back in 2018.
The feasibility report into the Gold Coast option reportedly indicates a scaled back version of the games could come in at about $700 million, well below Victoria’s costings.
“Well they’ve obviously been doing a lot of preparation for the Olympics and their facilities are very much built for purpose,” he said.
“They’re newer, they’re ready, they meet a lot of different standards internationally.
“They’ve had some advantages in terms of being able to keep costs down so I’m not surprised at all about where their bid’s at.”
Victoria’s decision to axe its games is currently being probed by a state parliamentary inquiry and the auditor-general.
Last week new details emerged through the inquiry about how much cash was splashed out on preparing for the ill-fated games, including thousands of dollars on one weeks’ worth of “analysis of social media coverage” after the games had been cancelled.
(SKY NEWS)
