Anika Wells welcomes debate about costs in sport after Comm Games axing

Federal sports minister Anika Wells says she welcomes a conversation about the costs associated with major events and that she was not surprised by the cost blowout Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has blamed for the decision to axe the Commonwealth Games.

But Wells refused to say during an interview with ABC’s RN Breakfast whether the state government should release its calculations as she didn’t see “what that would progress”. She also declined to say whether she wanted the games to continue at all.

Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells says she welcomes the debate about the cost of putting on events after the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.Credit: Getty Images

“I care for our athletes,” Wells said on Wednesday morning. “But given how many events that Australia does already have on the green and gold runway ... I welcome, I guess, how this has opened up a discussion about people versus infrastructure is sport.”

Andrews announced this month the Games would be thrown out after the projected cost ballooned to between $6 and $7 billion, with him admitting on Tuesday no cost-benefit analysis was done for the $2 billion worth of legacy projects the government is promising regional cities to make up for losing the 2026 international event.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said on Tuesday she wanted to bring Andrews before a possible Senate inquiry into the state government’s decision to cancel the games.

Wells attacked the Coalition on Monday for suggesting the federal government should intervene in Victoria’s decision.

“This Coalition always bang on about sports and politics not mixing,” she said.

Wells said the federal government had asked for more details relating to the costs of the Games, “and they were going to come back to us and instead they decided to cancel the Games”.

“So we never got that detail before this decision overrode everything,” she said.

“But I will say I’m not surprised that costs are blowing out, because that is the reality of the sport at the moment.”

RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas pressed Wells on whether she believed the Victorian government should release the figures it relied on to axe the Games, to which Wells replied, “I really don’t see what that would progress”.

“The question really is, what are we doing? What will the federal government do next? So, whatever those figures are doesn’t affect what we as the federal government do next. With respect to the Comm Games, there are no proposals before us to intervene. There are no proposals for us to consider.”

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