Push for Jacinta Allan and Dan Andrews to answer questions about Victoria’s Comm Games fiasco

Jacinta Allan and Daniel Andrews should be hauled before parliament to answer questions about Victoria’s $600m Commonwealth Games disaster, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

Jacinta Allan and Daniel Andrews should be hauled before parliament to answer questions about Victoria’s $600m Commonwealth Games fiasco, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

In its final report tabled on Tuesday, the Inquiry into the 2026 Commonwealth Games Bid lashed the Allan government for blocking its attempts to comprehensively probe the failed event.

The upper house inquiry was unable to compel lower house MPs, including the Premier, to appear before it and accused the government of impeding its work.

“Key witnesses, including the former Premier and relevant Ministers, declined to appear at public hearings,” chair David Limbrick said.

“Requests for relevant documentation were met with broad claims of executive privilege.

“The government refused to follow the process set out in the Legislative Council’s Standing Orders for assessing claims of executive privilege.

A parliamentary committee has called for Jacinta Allan and Dan Andrews to answer questions about the Commonwealth Games fiasco. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“It is disappointing that the Victorian government did not fully co-operate with the important work of this Committee.

“On the one hand, this conduct speaks to a need to review the process for assessing claims of executive privilege.

“On the other, should be understood as an avoidance of parliamentary scrutiny and public accountability.”

In a key recommendation, one of six made in the final report, the committee called for a lower house committee to hold public hearings in which the Premier and former Premier as well as former treasurer Tim Pallas and former major events minister Martin Pakula could be called.

The inquiry also called for new guidelines that required business cases for all projects estimated over $250m to be assessed as high value high risk.

The committee uncovered the event was never assessed under existing strict high risk guidelines despite its multi-billion dollar price tag.

Mark Knight’s cartoon on Victoria paying for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The guidelines require the Department of Treasury and Finance to impose greater scrutiny and approval processes for relevant projects.

Instead the event’s estimated cost blew out from an original $2.6bn to almost $7bn by the time the government cancelled the event in July 2023.

The inquiry found the decision to cancel the event was ultimately the right one.

“Whilst the Committee found that the ultimate decision to withdraw from hosting the Games was the correct decision at that time, the Committee emphasises that the Games should have never progressed to that point,” Mr Limbrick said.

“Victorians, especially regional Victorians, were let down by a string of decision-making failures by the Victorian government, as well as inadequate due diligence and planning processes at both the departmental and ministerial level.

“To put it simply, the high cost and inability to host the Games as proposed should have been discovered far earlier by the Victorian government.”

The decision to cancel the Games led to international outrage, threatened the future of other major events, and cost taxpayers at least $589m.

Approximately $200m is being used to fund the 2026 Games in Glasgow.

Labor MP Michael Galea, who sat on the committee, said cancelling the Games was the “right decision at the right time”.

“The report found no evidence of any reputational impacts limited Victoria’s ability to draw in major international events. In fact, as we have seen from recent successful events, it’s quite the opposite,” he said.