Commonwealth Games: Grant Hackett savages Dan Andrews

Olympic great Grant Hackett has slammed Dan Andrews’ decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games - and highlighted just how costly it will be for the Victorian government.

(L-R) Grant Hackett has called out Dan Andrews over the decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Australian swim legend Grant Hackett has taken aim at Dan Andrews for cancelling the Commonwealth Games and questioned why the Victorian Premier didn’t look at other options before pulling the plug.

While money and a blown out budget was offered as the excuse by Andrews, Hackett has questioned how much reneging on the contract is actually going to cost the already suffering tax payer when Melbourne could have opted for a scaled-down version of the Games in 2026.

With no other state willing to play host and the UK shying away from offering a lifeline, it’s not just the 2026 Games that are now in jeopardy but the event’s long-term viability now being questioned.

(L-R) Grant Hackett has called out Dan Andrews over the decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

“I thought it was a joke when I first heard the news that they’re actually cancelling the Commonwealth Games,” Hackett told Channel 9.

“This is not the local bowls club cancelling a weekend meet. This is something of such a significant nature and it’s so hard to get these sorts of events in your own country.

“It’s deflating for not just the athletes but the entire country and particularly the state of Victoria and Melbourne.”

Andrews announced on Tuesday that original budget predictions of $2.6 billion had blown out to almost $7 billion rendering being a host city impossible.

The Premier claimed he would prefer to invest that money into health and education despite heavily taxing the sectors in the budget two months ago.

Hackett called out Andrews and his advisors, suggesting the numbers did not add up and that cancelling could in fact leave the state in a worse financial position than opting for a scaled down Melbourne Games.

“Talking about the figures, six to $7 billion when originally it was going to cost $2.6 billion,” he continued. “We’re talking almost three times the original cost. Who did the financial modelling around this to begin with?

“We’re talking break costs it will be $1 billion to break costs it will be $1 billion to break this event. What about all the cost that went into the bid for the event in the first place?

“That’s tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars spent in that process as well.

“We normally get a lot of economic benefit when we host the big events like the Grand Prix and the Australian Open in Melbourne. Obviously the Commonwealth Games are similar to those types of events. “What’s the economic benefit we’re giving up by not hosting this event in 2026 also?

“We all fully appreciate the significant debt that Victoria does have as a state and certainly tough decisions do need to be made. We have seen taxes go up in the state particularly on the back of Covid and the cost of that and the series of lockdowns we had.

“But at the same time why did we just go and cancel the event. Surely we could have revised the event, scaled things down, look at bringing venues back into Melbourne.

“We have great infrastructure in Melbourne why don’t we look at scaling down the event but still hosting it but doing it as a much less cost rather than saying the cost was too big we will pull out and deflate the entire state and the athletes.”

While disappointed with the decision taken by Andrews, Hackett was not convinced that cancelling the event would prove the undoing of Andrews but will do little to help his legacy.

“There’s a reason he’s been in power for so long. He’s obviously ridden a lot of ups and downs and particularly through Covid.

“His popularity has stayed intact in Victoria.

“Reading the tea leaves as a politician, I mean they’re very good tactically and strategically making sure they align to the public’s interests.

“At the same time I honestly think the sporting events, we can’t underestimate the power of them. We saw, you know, when we held the Olympics in 2000 the inspiration that brought to the nation. We saw here in 2006 in Melbourne, just how good the Commonwealth Games were and I think we’re really going to miss out in 2026 unfortunately.”