Reports on 3AW that the regional games will be cancelled.
Media conf at 9:30 am
The ABC understands Premier @DanielAndrewsMP will announce the Commonwealth Games will be cancelled and will not go ahead in Victoria in 2026 because of funding issues @abcmelbourne #springst https://t.co/TL5mBPTLPu
— Bridget Rollason (@bridgerollo) July 17, 2023
Multiple sources have told ABC
If that is confirmed, that is a big blow for both regional Victoria and the Commonwealth Games movement.
It will be the first time Australia is forced to withdraw from hosting the Commonwealth Games.
(last year’s Commonwealth Games was supposed to be held in Durban, South Africa, but it was stripped of the hosting rights in 2017 due to financial constraints. Eventually Birmingham, England won the right and held the event successfully)
You can say it’s all the fault of the Victorian Government due to its over spending on other major projects like level crossing removals, West Gate Tunnel, North East Link etc.
This will be the end of Andrews
and probably the Comm Games.
Or, you could blame them for assuming that the Feds would come to the party to fund it too…
Sounds like potentially good news for taxpayers.
Sounds like this is a genuine shock to staff, there was news coming out about developments just last week.
How many times have we heard that?
That’s the games over then. If even Australia can’t afford to host it, arguably the only country that cares about it, then no one will host it. And given the Olympics aren’t hosted by a Commonwealth nation until Brisbane it means they can’t piggy-back off anyone either.
A 3x increase in cost over 12 months is an impressive effort - someone’s fucked up royally
The state government set aside $2.6b in last year’s budget and was seeking a matching contribution from the feds.
https://twitter.com/calgodde/status/1681086066110103552/photo/1
Canada’s Alberta province (Calgary and Edmonton) was last reported to be considering hosting the 2030 Games, which would celebrate the centenary of the format, after Hamilton dropped out in February due to financial concerns. This was one of the reports at the time:
Western Australia can step in and host it. We did hosted the 1962 edition. 2026 as a start for our bicentenary celebrations plus a potential special olympics in 2027
Perhaps as a form of protest you could excuse yourself from using any of that useless infrastructure.
Now the challenge will be will some of the benefits for the regions such as housing be likely to go ahead.
lol
Would be a good fit for Australia’s largest regional town, Perth.
Baz is up for re-election and there is a WA state election coming up…
Did you miss the part about the massive financial costs? No government in their right mind in Australia would pick this up.
Bad news for Ten and Paramount, who according to Wikipedia have just lost another major event.
Makes it wonder how much it costs to host the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne each year. The Victorian Government recently renewed the hosting contract too.
I reckon that after the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the Victorian Government won’t bid to host other sporting or arts events in the near future, to save money.
