Sam Groth: Decision to scrap Commonwealth Games destroys Victoria’s reputation for major events
Daniel Andrews has embarrassed all Victorians - again. Having bailed on the Comm Games, we are now a global laughing stock sending a message we cannot be trusted.
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Daniel Andrews has embarrassed all Victorians with this decision.
The Government went into this election promising it would deliver not just the Commonwealth Games but a long term legacy for regional areas. The whole reason we pitched for them was so we could have benefits for all Victoria, in particular the regional areas.
The Government ran inside numbers and budgeted the $2.6 billion for it and now won’t stand behind it. Coming out today to cancel a global event at a time when Adelaide is negotiating for LIV golf events and Gather Round, Western Australia is bringing in Coldplay and has successfully hosted the AFL grand final, and the Boxing Day Test is still not secured for the MCG beyond next year, is embarrassing.
All the states are pitching for and landing these major events, and Victoria is going the other way and putting our major events reputation at risk. The global sporting and major event community will lose faith in Victoria as a destination and struggle to take us seriously. How can you trust Victoria given the state of the budget and the fact they might pull the rug from under you?
The Presidents Cup in 2028 has just been announced – what chance is there the PGA is now getting nervous and rethinking?
If you are any global event, sporting or otherwise, you will now think twice about Melbourne as a destination thanks to the Andrews Government.
My concerns are also with our athletes. I know how exciting it is to represent your country at home and show it off. Globally, all athletes will be concerned. They will also be feeling very worried about having to adjust to new locations and possibly time frames.
Questions remain if these games will even proceed. Who will pick them up?
Regional Victorians will be very disappointed at the lost opportunity to bring their communities together and reinvigorate grassroots sports.
Having been out to the regions and speaking to excited community leaders and parents and junior athletes in Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland, their greatest hope and legacy for these Games was to show off their sporting clubs, attract volunteers and bring more people into local sports scenes.
They all had plans to capitalise on the exposure the Commonwealth Games would provide. Now that’s been ripped away.
Quite rightly, they will now be wanting to ask the Andrews Government questions around the viability of local sports.
The Premier, Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery Jacinta Allen and Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister steve Dimopoulos need to come out and clarify where these numbers are coming from. The Comm Games boss has called them “a gross exaggeration”.
Even today a $2.6 billion budget was cut to $2 billion to deliver legacy items. There are many more funding questions to be answered.
The Andrews Government knew the state of the budget back in November. It’s nothing new, they knew the debt.
They promised Victorians going into the election that they could have everything. Health, major events, rail, roads – absolutely everything with no transparency around how it would be paid for.
Now we are seeing that come to light in today’s decision and the fact that Victorians are now the highest taxed citizens in the nation.
The excuse from the Premier for not standing behind his own numbers, put forward in their own bid for the Games, costed by their own Government when they committed to deliver this – is that he doesn’t want to take money from hospitals or schools.
But he already has.
Instead, Andrews and Allen want to play the blame game. From the Commonwealth Games Federation to external consultants, everyone is to blame but the Government for aggressively making a bid to deliver the Games with numbers they undercooked and now walk away from.
At every turn, the Premier and Minister Allen and Minister Dimopoulos have ignored the advice they were given. All of this advice is contrary to what the Premier said today.
But none of this is a surprise. Not to me, not to the Liberal National Coalition, not to regional councils or sports clubs and not to anyone who holds a contract with the Andrews Government to deliver anything.
It’s time that Victorians stop and take a look at what they’re being promised and realise that you can’t have it all.
But this time it’s not just cutting a rail link to the airport. This is a global embarrassment impacting not just Victorians, but a community of athletes, sporting peak bodies, major event providers and our Australian tourism and hospitality sector.
Sam Groth is the Shadow Minister for Tourism, Sport and Events, Member for Nepean and a former tennis professional.
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