Geelong council still in the dark over Commonwealth Games commitment ahead of draft budget

The City of Greater Geelong is no closer to finding out what its contribution to the 2026 Commonwealth Games will be, a week out from presenting its latest draft budget.

Geelong Councillor Bruce Harwood says the city still doesn’t know how much it’s expected to contribute to Commonwealth Games infrastructure funding.

Geelong council is no closer to finding out its expected contribution to the 2026 Commonwealth Games, a week out from presenting its latest draft budget.

Geelong is set to have $292m in purpose built sporting infrastructure for the games, including an aquatic centre at Armstrong Creek and a gymnastics facility in Waurn Ponds.

The City of Greater Geelong, which on April 14 announced it was staring down an $8m deficit, remains locked in discussions with the state government over how much funding it’s expected to provide.

Geelong council’s finance chair, Bruce Harwood, who took over the portfolio in March, said the discussions were ongoing.

“The Commonwealth Games is a discussion we’re having with the state government about what they require and what our level of capability financially is,” he said.

“There’ll be an expectation that the City of Greater Geelong will be a contributor, but at the end of the day, we need to see what that looks like so we can make an informed decision as to how we’re going to go about it.”

Geelong is set to host nine swimming and diving, para swimming, triathlon and para triathlon, weightlifting and para powerlifting, beach volleyball, coastal rowing, cricket, artistic gymnastics and hockey.

A state government spokeswoman said: “We’ll continue to work with City of Geelong and other local governments to determine their level of financial contribution.”

It is understood much of the infrastructure built for the games will be converted for future use after the games.

The aquatics centre will become a community pool facility, with multipurpose courts and green open space preserved.

The artistic gymnastics and weightlifting venue in Waurn Ponds will become seven multi-sport courts, a dance studio, and a regional-level gymnastics centre.

However, less than three years out from the games, the public is no closer to understanding what the final facilities will look like.

In June 2022, a group of state MPs sent a scathing letter to the City of Greater Geelong, declaring they lacked confidence in council’s ability to deliver key state-funded projects.

Mr Harwood said it was a “big discussion” between council and the state government.

“There’s some pretty extensive dialogue between council officers and the state government,” Mr Harwood said.

“Those discussions will continue but it is a bit of a movement landscape at the moment as to exactly the size, the scope and the scale of what we’re going to build and what its impact may be.

“We want to leave a legacy for the community... the infrastructure needs to be the right infrastructure long term.”

Originally published as Geelong council still in the dark over Commonwealth Games commitment ahead of draft budget