Commonwealth Games 2030: Regional Victoria’s bid for Games to bring sports to people

SPORTS fans in regional Victoria would have a front-row seat to see the world’s best athletes under the bid plan for 2030’s Commonwealth Games.

Sport fans in regional Victoria can cheer the world’s best athletes on if Victoria’s bid for the 2030 Commonwelath Games is successful. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

SPORTS fans in regional Victoria would have a front-row seat to see the world’s best athletes under the bid plan for 2030’s Commonwealth Games.

The idea of bringing the Games to the people would create jobs, secure infrastructure important to the state’s future, and significantly boost tourism at a time when decentralisation as a solution to growing congestion is increasingly being debated.

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“We saw in 2006 that thousands of country Victorians came to Melbourne to support the world’s best,’’ taskforce chairman Adem Karafili said.

“Well, this time around, we are bringing the sports to the people. There is no doubt that ensuring that local communities are given special consideration will be a major focus of any feasibility study.”

New figures show regional Victoria’s economy shrank for a fourth consecutive year, making ours the only state where the regional economy went backwards in 2015-16.

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And the Australian Bureau of Statistics has forecast Melbourne’s population to increase to 8.6 million, and the state’s to 10.3 million, by 2061, making Victoria the most centralised state in the country.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has declared his intention to arrest the trend towards centralisation.

Peter Crinis, a member of the committee and chief operating officer of Crown Melbourne, said: “It’s really worth exploring this option, and to take an event like that to the regions is something I really believe in.

“Promoting Victoria and tourism and the quality of the regions is important. It will be a catalyst as an investment in the regions,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be expecting it to be the same budget as (the Commonwealth Games) 2006, but we need to explore it.

Genevieve LaCaze, Athletics Australia's John Steffensen, Luke Mathews and Shepparton Mayor Danny Adem advocate for sport in regional cities. Picture: Eugene Hyland

“I grew up in Albury till I was 10 and sport in the country is such a big part of your life.”

Andy Ryan, owner of Mitchelton winery in Nagambie, said a regional Games in Victoria would have a knock-on effect. “It’s a unique concept and it makes so much sense, as sport means so much to regional communities,’’ he said.

“People don’t have to go to the city for work. From what I’ve been doing with Jayco in regions like Heathcote and Bendigo, I can see it will have a great impact.”

The taskforce bidding for the 2030 Games has already compared established venues with those for next year’s Gold Coast Games. Though many would need infrastructure improvements or an upgrade of their capacity, only one new venue would need to be built.

This would be a landmark stadium in Shepparton where athletics, and potentially the opening and closing ceremonies, would be held.

Victoria’s Commonweath Games bid.

According to a report by KPMG, Melbourne hosted around 5770 athletes and team officials from 71 nations and territories for the 2006 Games.

Over two million spectators attended, which was a new Commonwealth record.

And 81,000 people attended regional festivals in Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Moe.

Athletes in 2030 would be housed in satellite villages close to venues, replacing just the one athletes’ village.

Shepparton has created a campaign called “Great Things Happen Here”, which was showcased when it partnered with Nitro Athletics in Melbourne in February.

Radek Sali, the former Swisse CEO who grew up in Shepparton, said: “I think Shepparton needs to own something. It’s a great opportunity to be an epicentre and a thriving hub. It needs something aspirational, and this can fill the void.”