Gina Rinehart is spearheading a radical bid to save the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The 2026 event, and the future of the Games more broadly, has been hanging by a thread since the Victorian government pulled the pin on its commitment to host them in just over two years’ time.
The Labor government initially devised a plan to stage the Games across several towns in regional Victoria before ultimately admitting it was ill-advised to do so, citing the reported $4 billion price tag that came with it.
No city – in Australia or elsewhere – has since put its hand up to take Victoria’s place, compounding the separate issue that Canadian city Alberta has already pulled its support for the 2030 event.
The clock is now ticking as 2026 fast approaches, with a concrete solution yet to be found.
But in a letter submitted to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which was signed by Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate and Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has offered a left-field, multi-city idea that could resole the issue.
Rinehart, with the support of Mayors Tate and Zempilas, wants to stage the Games at opposite ends of the country.
“We believe that a coast-to-coast Games presents a special opportunity to showcase Australia and provides an excellent background for you to invite those heads of the Commonwealth you may wish to have further discussions with, and/or entertain,” the letter reads.
“A background where Australia pulls well above its weight, and shines!”
The two cities would make use of existing facilities to host the games, with Gold Coast having only recently had them in 2018, and Perth boasting its brand new, state-of-the-art Perth Stadium, which could be used as an athletics track.
In theory, Gold Coast could host the first week before handing the keys over to Perth for the second.
The three figures also took a swipe at the Victorian government, which pulled the Games while Daniel Andrews was still premier.
“The Victorian government’s decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games was disappointing and a huge blow to Australia’s reputation and to our athletes,” it went on.
“Australia is meant to be viewed as a successful G20 nation, and the fact that we can’t organise and fund a Commonwealth Games undermines that reputation.
Rinehart is a noted supporter of sports, having offered to sponsor the Australian Diamonds netball team last year, before throwing her support behind the Australian Dolphins swimming team.
She is also understood to be a keen fan of rowing, artistic swimming and volleyball.
But Melbourne radio host Tom Elliott slammed the idea, saying it would be a practical impossibility.
“You could not pick two cities in Australia that are further apart from each other — over 4000km,” Elliott said on his show on 3AW.
“The Victorian Commonwealth Games, which were going to be in four or five regional parts of Victoria — that was never going to work because the events were too far away from each other. It was just never going to work and that’s why the government abandoned them, even though it was the government’s idea.
“To have a Commonwealth Games split between the Gold Coast and Perth, I just think is utter madness.
“The idea is that they do the first week of events on the Gold Coast and the second week in Perth. But think about it — unless every official and volunteer moves between the Gold Coast and Perth — and where would you put them all, they effectively have to recruit all the people again just to make the Games run.
(7 NEWS)
