2026 Commonwealth Games: Gold Coast to go it alone as propose sports line-up revealed
The Gold Coast will go it alone in pursuing the 2026 Commonwealth Games as the cost of hosting the sporting event becomes clear.
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The Gold Coast will go it alone in pursuing the 2026 Commonwealth Games after Perth pulled the pin on its offer to co-host the event.
Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas says a lack of political will from the Western Australia government made a co-hosting arrangement unviable.
But Mayor Tom Tate is undaunted and is pushing ahead with his sensational bid to “save the Games” and “rescue Australia’s reputation” after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews abandoned it in July.
Mayor Tate was buoyed by Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells opening the door to the bid in a letter this week saying she would be “willing to consider such a proposal” if support was “forthcoming from the Queensland Government”.
Mr Tate said a stripped down Gold Coast games would cost between $700m and $1bn and could easily be hosted with the state only needing to provide in-kind support such as police and public transport.
With the ball in the state government’s court, Mr Tate channelled John Lennon in issuing a message to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – “All I am saying is give logistics a chance”.
“All I am asking is the recommendation goes to parliament so it can endorse a roundtable meeting and at that time I will prepare a budget and logistics on what sports are in and out,” he said.
“With the Prime Minister and Premier we can sit down and go through it and if we can get to that point I predict there would be at least a 70 per cent chance it will go ahead.
“Why am I that confident? Even in Melbourne people want the Commonwealth Games to go ahead and they don’t feel like we are pinching it because we aren’t, we’re salvaging it.”
Under a stripped-down Games proposed by Mr Tate, the Gold Coast would host swimming, athletics, beach volleyball and a handful of other sports rather than a full program.
He said he expected it would bring in revenue of more than $2bn, similar to 2018, and insisted the majority of Australians would back him.
“Do the polling. I haven’t but I just know what us Aussies feel because the majority of people will want the Commonwealth Games,” he said.
“We are Games ready and we can make it affordable with a wow factor.”
But Acting Premier Steven Miles was unmoved and again ruled out funding or supporting a Gold Coast games bid.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, we’re absolutely focused on delivering the best Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032,” he said.
“I think we have enough to do just making sure we get every advantage we can out of the Brisbane 2032 Games and that includes delivering housing.
“Tom’s a great man, and he is a great representative of the Gold Coast. No one can ever accuse Tom of not being for the GC, not being as GC as a mayor can get. But we are focused on the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, that is certainly enough work for me to do, because we want to make sure it doesn’t just deliver the best Games ever, but also the homes and the jobs that our young people need.”
If Tom Tate, was hopeful of garnering support for a games big from his Liberal National Party at the state level,
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