Andrews skips Commonwealth Games inquiry but Pakula to be grilled

The former Labor minister who negotiated the contract for the 2026 Commonwealth Games is willing to give evidence to a Senate inquiry into the event’s cancellation, but Premier Daniel Andrews has declined to explain his version of events to senators.

The inquiry was originally set up by a Senate committee to assess Australia’s preparations to host the Games alongside the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.

Daniel Andrews and Martin Pakula, a senior minister in his government between 2014 and 2022.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

But submissions were reopened after the cancellation of the Victorian event, with Nationals senator Bridget Mckenzie advising she wanted the committee to call the premier and responsible ministers for questioning to explain the decision-making that led to the saga.

Earlier this week, Andrews responded by informing them he would not be attending or providing evidence.

“I can advise that the Victorian government will not be making a submission and Victorian officials and ministers will respectfully decline any invitations to appear at hearings in relation to this inquiry,” he wrote in a letter to committee chair Matt Canavan.

“I will politely decline to be lectured on integrity from sports rorts McKenzie,” Andrews said when first asked about the Senate inquiry earlier this month.

Long-serving Labor minister Martin Pakula.Credit: Simon Schluter

The inquiry does not have the power to compel serving ministers or government officials but Canavan, also of the Nationals, suggested other people with knowledge of the Games may be called.

Canavan told this masthead: “The Senate can’t compel state government witnesses. But we are considering our approach with other witnesses.”

Former sports and major events minister Martin Pakula, who quit at the last election, was one of the figures the committee could have forced to give evidence, as is former department secretary Simon Phemister, who led Pakula’s department.

However, Pakula on Thursday informed the committee he would voluntarily answer questions. In a letter to the committee he said he only learnt of the invite via text on Wednesday.

“I note the correspondence was sent to an email address that has been defunct since I left the Victorian Parliament in November of last year and, as such, I have been invited to attend the inquiry by text message with five days’ notice,” he wrote.

“The official duties performed by a state minister are integral to the functions of a state as an independent government. The same principle applies where a former minister is called to give evidence in respect of past performance of their official duties.

“In your correspondence, you note that the committee respects the Victorian government’s jurisdiction in this matter. I, too, consider the autonomy of the Victorian government’s jurisdiction to be of high import.

“Notwithstanding the above, as a private citizen now employed by an apolitical organisation, my inclination is to assist the Senate where possible. Please note, however, that I will only be able to do so in accordance with the principles and precedents outlined above.”

This masthead reported on Wednesday that Pakula had called the then-federal sports minister on the day Victoria won hosting rights to inform the Commonwealth the state did not require any help to fund the event.

Former senior bureaucrat Simon Phemister is now at PwC.

Phemister, who has since joined PwC after serving as a top public servant who was trusted by Andrews, declined to comment other than to say he had told the committee he was overseas.

As both have since left government, the Senate has the power to compel them to attend the hearings.

Canavan noted Andrews’ approach contrasted with that of the Queensland government, whose officials spoke about their Brisbane Olympics at committee hearings on Tuesday.

Hearings next week will be held in Melbourne and Bendigo. Witnesses for these hearings have not yet been published.

The Victorian government last week revealed it would pay $380 million in compensation to three different organisations associated with the Games.

It also revealed the business case and updated costings, which showed $2 billion in “additional cost pressures” included “hyper-inflation” from delivering the event to a short timeline.

By July 2023, other costs such as transport and security had also more than doubled compared to what was outlined in the original business case.

The business case contained warnings that the short time frame of delivering the Games would put pressure on costs, with cities typically taking eight years to organise the event.

It also flagged that officials writing the document did not have time for a comprehensive “bottom up” approach to costs and instead went with a “top down” that made assumptions based on operating costs from the Gold Coast Games in 2018.

Andrews has previously said that the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office would probe these issues and what lessons could come from the debacle, though he did concede this week the business case was “hardly the greatest piece of work”.

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