There were clear signs the 2026 Commonwealth Games had been in trouble for some time

The Andrews government asked organisers in April to come up with ways to cut costs but the process soon became a “nightmare” and the contract to host the Games was shredded.

As Commonwealth Games organisers prepared to launch the branding for Victoria’s 2026 event last month, the Andrews Government asked for it to be delayed.

The multimillion dollar marketing push had been timed for mid-June, to coincide with 1000 days to go, with a new logo and the slogan: “Let the Dreams Begin”.

As one insider quipped on Tuesday, after the Games had been officially killed off by Premier Daniel Andrews due to budget blowouts, “it’s a nightmare now”.

There were, with hindsight, other clear signs that the event had been in trouble for some time.

The Herald Sun can reveal that in April, the government asked organisers to come up with ways to slash tens of millions of dollars in costs due to pressure on the Games’ $2.6bn budget.

Options were sent to the premier’s office, including for some sports to be ditched or moved to Melbourne, as well as for one of the four hubs in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Morwell to be cut.

‘The only part of the Games we’re holding is the closing ceremony’. Cartoon: Mark Knight

“There was a clear message back from senior people, including the deputy premier (Jacinta Allan) that this was a regional games, nothing in Melbourne,” one insider said.

Options to dump the expensive construction of a velodrome at the Bendigo Showgrounds – in the deputy premier’s home town – due to limited legacy benefits were rejected, as were suggestions that Rugby 7s be shifted from Gippsland to the world-class AAMI Stadium.

An extra pool at Armstrong Creek near Geelong for diving, which would be removed after the Games and replaced with other sporting infrastructure, had also been put on the chopping block.

None of the options were adopted or advanced.

Concerns raised by the Herald Sun over the several months about cost pressures and timelines for building athletes’ villages and Games infrastructure were also dismissed.

On Tuesday, Mr Andrews and Ms Allan revealed that they were shredding the contract to host the Games in 2026 because the cost for the 12-day event was now expected to be $6-7 billion – or even higher.

“I cannot stand here and say to you that I have confidence that even $7bn would appropriately and adequately fund these Games,” Mr Andrews said.

Senior figures in the ALP, events industries, and sporting bodies, expressed doubt over Mr Andrews’s cost estimates, the details of which have been requested by the Herald Sun but not yet provided.

Jeroen Weimar, Jacinta Allan, Daniel Andrews and Harriet Shing at Tuesday morning’s press conference. Picture: James Ross

To put the cost in context, it’s about the same as the entire Olympic and Paralympic Games – an event three times larger than the Commonwealth Games – in Queensland next decade.

Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said the figure had never been discussed with the CGA and said the Birmingham Games operational budget last year was $1.8bn and the Gold Coast spend in 2018 was $1.2bn.

This doesn’t include the capital cost of housing and sporting infrastructure, which would have been significant in Victoria due to four separate hubs requiring upgrades plus accommodation.

Those upgrades, Mr Andrews said, along with 1300 housing units, would be delivered in those areas regardless of the decision to dump the Games, at a cost of $2 billion.

In his unique and indefatigable manner, the premier managed to sound triumphant that he had cancelled his own disastrous decision to host the international event across regional Victoria.

The cost of tearing up the contract, he said, was still being negotiated.

He did not repeat his false claim when promising to rip up the contract for an East West Link road before the 2014 state election that it would not cost taxpayers a cent, however.

The premier said previous cost estimates for the Games, which were produced by government departments and consultants, had significantly undercooked the budget at $2.6bn.

It’s understood EY was the consultancy firm involved in initial costings.

“What could not be reasonably foreseen and what was not foreseen was the costs incurred in terms of services, security, transport, not capital dollars but bills that would be paid to contractors, to those who provide services and to those who all the logistics,” Mr Andrews said.

“A multi-city Commonwealth Games has never been delivered before, and there were estimates that were made, and those estimates are clearly well and truly under the actual costs.”

He also said shifting the event to Melbourne in a “common garden way” it would cost more than $4bn to host and benefits would be down because accommodation would be used by athletes instead of tourists.

It is unclear whether the mothballed Mickelham quarantine centre was considered as part of the accommodation assessment.

Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive, Craig Phillips, said the eye-watering figures spouted by the premier had never been mentioned to him, or at a June meeting of the organising committee that was working towards an expected budget of less than $3bn.

The fury on Mr Phillips’ face was evident after being told Australian athletes would no longer have a home ground advantage in 2026, and if anyone was in any doubt, his words were explicit.

“The stated costs overrun, in our opinion, are a gross exaggeration,” he said.

“Beyond this, the Victorian Government wilfully ignored recommendations to move events to purpose-built stadiums in Melbourne.”

When Mr Andrews was asked whether he would apologise to athletes who were preparing for the event, he said: “I’m not going to apologise for not spending $7bn”.

Labor figures said the $2b fund for sports facility upgrades and housing in regional areas was about keeping voters and MPs from revolting about the decision to scrap the event, as much as about specific needs.

A pool was due to be built at Armstrong Creek and removed after the Games.

They said the politics of holding the event across regional Victoria was attractive to the premier when he backed the event in 2022, a few months before a state election.

Before the event was formally picked to the Commonwealth Games Federation, the Herald Sun can reveal, Gippsland didn’t feature in original plans.

Instead there were three regional hubs at Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo, and Melbourne would be used for the opening and closing ceremony.

As plans developed, the Morwell hub was added in after requests from the premier’s office, which expanded the scope and cost of hosting the Games.

One insider said this may have been an attempt to boost a region that would be suffering from energy and forestry industry closures.

A four-hub model, along with sports hosted in Shepparton, was eventually presented to the Commonwealth Games Federation in March last year.

At that stage the CGF was telling those involved at the pitch that the 2026 Games could be re-run in Birmingham or even outside the Commonwealth if Victoria wasn’t viewed as a suitable option.

The former Morrison Government was left out of the decision-making processes and the pitch to the CGF, despite later requests for Commonwealth funding.

Former federal sport minister Richard Colbeck recently told the Herald Sun that there was little competition from other states for hosting the Games at the time, after South Australia and Western Australia withdrew interest.

Senator Colbeck said there were some rumblings that Victoria might bid in early 2022 but the federal government couldn’t get any formal indication of what was going to happen until he received a phone call just prior to an announcement.

“They said they were bidding, they were going to fund it, and deal with it, it was going to be regional, and so they made the announcement,” he said.

“Victoria said if you want to give us some money, we’ll take it, but we can fund it ourselves.”

On Tuesday, Senator Colbeck questioned the event costs claimed by the Andrews government and said it could not only impact future sporting event bids but “threatens the Commonwealth Games”.

Originally published as There were clear signs the 2026 Commonwealth Games had been in trouble for some time