‘Where is the urgency?’: Inside Geelong’s slow moving Commonwealth Games projects
Six months from when the Commonwealth Games was supposed to have been held, Geelong’s promised $300m transformation has barely left the starting blocks. We take a look at where each of the projects is at.
It was the bonanza that never was.
The second coming of regional Victoria’s Gold Rush would see Geelong centre stage.
Or at least that was the promise from former premier Dan Andrews in April 2022 – seven months out from an election – when he announced the government’s Victoria 2026 bid for the Commonwealth Games had triumphed.
“We can’t wait to welcome the world to all of our state,” he declared.
Geelong was to be home to a new athletes’ village capable of accommodating 2500 people, as well as hosting nine sports and the closing ceremony.
Hubs were to be established in Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland, but Geelong was to stand atop the dais as the clear winner.
Close to $300m of sporting infrastructure would be built in Waurn Ponds and Armstrong Creek, while the tourism industry would reap the benefits for years to come.
Had the event not been abandoned little more than a year after it was announced, this week would’ve marked six months from the starter’s gun.
We take a look at where things are at with each of the project’s promised in the fall out of the government’s failure to deliver the event.
Waurn Ponds precinct
More than 18 months ago, in front of hundreds of people at GMHBA Stadium’s President’s Room, Premier Jacinta Allan promised 400 new homes for Geelong, many of them set aside for people struggling on low incomes.
Fast forward to the present and little is known about the project, other than the site south of the Waurn Ponds train station, bounded by Muir Rd and Baanip Blvd, remains a paddock.
The site was to be home to the athletes’ village, chosen in part because of its proximity to public transport, and then converted into social and affordable housing.
Now, 72 of the homes have been earmarked for social and affordable housing, something Ms Allan said would “enrich the local area”.
Government agency Development Victoria is overseeing the project, aided by the Department of Transport and Planning, and consultancy firm Spiire was recently tasked with some planning work.
No timeline has been set for its delivery and Committee for Geelong chief executive Michael Johnston said the lack of urgency was a major concern.
“Clearly they’ve not had to push it out as quickly by not delivering the games,” he said.
“But in the midst of a housing crisis, in the midst of trying to deliver on really ambitious housing targets, it is concerning about how slow this appears to be going.
“Where is the urgency in delivering it? It feels so far away, years away from people living in this precinct.”
Similarly, Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj said he was in the dark about where the project was at.
“I haven’t had a briefing in a while,” he said.
Development Victoria applied to Geelong council in February for approval to subdivide the southern portion of the site, but conditions and referrals continue to be worked through.
Planning and design of the northern parcel is ongoing.
“As the suburbs of Geelong continue to grow, we’re focused on delivering a well-connected community which will include a variety of housing types and integrate well with surrounding amenities,” Development Victoria executive Nemesia Kennett said.
Indoor stadiums – Waurn Ponds and Armstrong Creek
Less than a 10-minute drive apart, these stadiums will cater for not only the fast-growing southern suburbs, but the wider Geelong sporting community given the dire shortage of basketball and netball courts across the region.
The Waurn Ponds facility will be located on Ghazeepore Rd, south of the proposed housing precinct.
Estimated to cost more than $100m, the Waurn Ponds Sporting Complex, as it will be known, will feature six multi-sport courts, a regional-level gymnastics facility and a dance hall.
A head contractor has not been appointed, construction has not commenced and the project’s expected completion date has already been pushed out to 2027 “to allow adequate time for planning and to ensure stakeholders have been appropriately consulted”.
Representatives from Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation are helping design the complex as part of the project’s vision to “incorporate Wadawurrung culture, stories and connection to Country”.
Work commenced on the Armstrong Creek Sports Centre in May after Fairbrother Construction was announced as the head contractor – its completion is expected late next year.
Located northeast of the town centre site between Surf Coast Highway and Barwarre Rd, four multi-sport courts will be complemented by a civic plaza that includes basketball and netball hoops, areas for skating and parkour, table tennis tables and informal play spaces.
The federal government is contributing $6m to the project in funding first announced by Corangamite MP Libby Coker in 2022 – one year before the Commonwealth Games announcement.
Geelong United Basketball boss Mark Neeld said the courts could not come quick enough.
“Our meeting minutes reveal that these discussions about having new indoor sporting stadiums in Geelong go back as far as 1989,” he said.
“You’re talking 36 years, so if we have to wait another six months, another 12 months, that’s not an enormous amount of time.”
While thankful for the new courts, Mr Neeld said Geelong needed another stadium capable of hosting up to 10,000 people for national level basketball and netball competitions.
“What hasn’t been addressed at this stage is a show court stadium,” he said.
“(But) we are certainly pleased that there appears to be two new indoor sporting facilities on the way.
“It won’t solve the court shortage, but it will certainly go some way to reduce the problem.”
Stead Park upgrade
A large group gathered for a sod turning event at the Corio site on Friday morning – 17 months after Community Sport Minister Ros Spence visited the venue to announce the project.
The redevelopment includes a new two-storey pavilion and an upgraded western pitch, consisting of a new surface, fencing, drainage, an electronic scoreboard and lighting that will allow it to host national-level hockey events.
As with the Armstrong Creek stadium, Fairbrother has been appointed to deliver the project, with late 2026 flagged for completion.
“The redevelopment of Stead Park is a game-changer for our community, providing world-class facilities that will elevate hockey in Corio, foster greater inclusivity and participation, and also support the local economy and jobs,” Lara MP Ella George said.
Geelong Hockey Association president Graeme Dent said the project would help attract elite events such as the national championships.
Surf Coast hockey pitch
A new hockey pitch within the Banyul-Warri Fields community and civic precinct in Torquay North, as well as lighting, scoreboard and spectator seating, is expected to be completed by mid next year.
Polytan, a preferred supplier of Federation of International Hockey, was awarded the tender in March.
“Local excitement continues to build for this awesome new facility, particularly from Torquay Tornadoes Hockey Club who advocated for the pitch over many years,” Surf Coast mayor Mike Bodsworth said at the time.
Regional tourism package
Just three days after the games were cancelled, a $170m statewide package was announced, consisting of several components.
The vast majority was to fund events ($70m) and tourism infrastructure ($60m).
The Queenscliff Music Festival, National Celtic Festival in Portarlington, and upcoming arts festival ROAM Geelong have received funding.
Geelong council’s creative city co-ordinator Tracey Lea-Smith said ROAM would fill a “gap in signature arts events for our community and artists”.
“ROAM Geelong answers that call, providing a large-scale, participatory celebration that showcases local talent and invites the community to come together in creative discovery,” she said.
Under the infrastructure stream, Torquay Hotel got more than a $1m for the current redevelopment of its beer garden, while Big 4 Apollo Bay Pisces and Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management also received funding.
Originally published as ‘Where is the urgency?’: Inside Geelong’s slow moving Commonwealth Games projects
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