Daniel Andrews has been slammed for the way he informed Victoria’s peak community sporting body about the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The former Victorian premier claimed the costs for hosting the event across multiple rural towns had blow out to levels which forced him to cancel the state’s bid entirely.
VicSport – a body representing 16,000 clubs and associations with more than 3.9 million participants – has filed an explosive submission to the Victorian parliament’s inquiry into the cancellation of the Games.
The submission which was released on Thursday slammed Mr Andrews for his communication about the cancellation, labelling it “disappointing”.
“To be told by the Premier that ‘It was not a hard decision’ to take the drastic step of cancelling the Games was dismissive of the many athletes, coaches, administrators and volunteers who have been working hard to maximise the benefits of a home event and minimise the social, and economic impact that sport and the Commonwealth Games would, and does, generate,” it read.
“To be clear, the negative impacts of the cancellation are many, significant and tangible.”
Mr Andrews insisted the Games be held across regional centres Geelong, Bendigo, Shepparton, Ballarat and Gippsland despite being warned multiple times it would be more expensive.
When the event was cancelled Mr Andrews said the budget had blown out from $2.6 billion to $7 billion.
VicSport called on Mr Andrews to provide a “detailed explanation” as to why the event was not “moved to metropolitan Melbourne where most facilities already exist”.
“There is widespread lack of comprehension as to why the Games could not be hosted at several well-equipped, world-class sporting venues in and around Melbourne requiring little infrastructure spend, therefore coming close to, or within, the original budget,” the submission said.
“Clearly, Victorian – and, indeed, Australian – sport would have welcomed such a move.”will not provide an adequate return on this investment and will not have community support.”
In light of the cancellation of the Victorian Commonwealth Games, Mr Andrews promised $2 billion in sporting infrastructure and legacy benefits for the regions who were set to host the event.
VicSport questioned whether the new sporting facilities would help community sport and young athletes in the regions.
“Whilst this is a significant benefit to facilities in regional areas, it will not be complemented by a spike in participation and volunteering usually associated with hosting the Commonwealth Games,” the submission said.
“These infrastructure developments are not necessarily linked to community-level participation in sport, and, therefore, will have limited community benefit in terms of sport participation.
“This is because it is of little use having new and upgraded facilities without participants to see them and volunteers to run the activities.
“New and upgraded facilities – without participants to use them and volunteers to run the activities – will not provide an adequate return on this investment and will not have community support.”
At the time of the cancellation Mr Andrews refused to apologise, arguing proceeding with the Games would take funds away from other investments like health.
Commonwealth Games Australia boss Craig Phillips criticised the premier at the time saying he had “wilfully ignored” information about how to reduce costs by relocating events to existing venues.
The future of the Commonwealth Games has been questioned as Victoria’s withdrawal left the event without a host – the second consecutive edition to lose a host city at short notice.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games was moved at late notice when Durban in South Africa was stripped of hosting rights after facing financial issues and failing to meet promises in its bid.
Birmingham in England stepped in to take over the hosting rights in 2022.
The Gold Coast has stepped in offering to take up the hosting rights with Mayor Tom Tate actively discussing plans to host the Games like it did in 2018.
(SKY NEWS)
