‘It’s not just sport’: Wylie slams Andrews for damaging Victoria’s reputation

Australian sport powerbroker John Wylie has joined a chorus of business people declaring Victoria’s reputation has suffered irreparable damage from the decision to cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Wylie, the former Australian Sports Commission boss and investment banker, said the fallout would extend beyond the state’s bids for major sporting events and affect its dealings in global business markets, questioning whether Victoria could still be trusted to deliver on its commitments.

Ollie Hoare celebrates after his 1500m win in Birmingham in 2022, beating two medallists from the world championships, in one of the great Commonwealth Games performances.Credit: Getty

“Is Victoria a reliable counter-party internationally when we put our name to a contract and say, you can trust us to deliver on our commitments and to deliver a great event?” Wylie told this masthead.

“It’s not just sport. These sorts of things are really damaging to the reputation of Victoria as a reliable counter-party on the world stage. We all learn in primary school that you do what you say you’re going to do.

Former Australian Sports Commission Chair John WylieCredit: Alex Ellinghausen

“Being in the financial markets, you default on your debt once, people remember it for decades. It’s a really poor development for Victoria, driven by political expediency.”

Former Qantas chair Margaret Jackson, the first woman to become chair of a top-50 publicly listed company in Australia, described the cancellation of the games as “extraordinary”.

“I live in rural Victoria and I know there was a lot of excitement about the games, and I think yes it has [done reputational damage],” Jackson said.

“I would have thought we should have looked at how you could have put the Commonwealth Games on at less cost, utilising existing facilities, even if that meant some of the commitment to the rural communities didn’t occur.

“We’ve got a perfect stadium that was built for the previous Commonwealth Games that is still there and fabulous. We’ve got the rowing facilities, the horse riding facilities, bike riding facilities. I want to presume they may have investigated that as an alternative, but I don’t think it gives the Commonwealth Games a long lead time to find an alternative.”

‘It’s a really poor development for Victoria, driven by political expediency.’

John Wylie

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said moving the Games to Melbourne was considered, but it wasn’t what the state had signed up for. He claimed initial forecasts to run the Games had blown out, and would cost the state up to $7 billion.

Games authorities have disputed that figure, and Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said an alternative host could stage an event with fewer sports and fewer locations at a fraction of the cost.

Phillips said the priority was to find a host anywhere in the world, although the Games could yet be held in Australia.

“But that number of $6-7 billion sitting out there now doesn’t help those conversations,” he said.

“You have to unwind that narrative and why those numbers are not valid but while that number sits there, just getting in the door to have that conversation is difficult.”

Phillips said the cancellation of the Games had also endangered $21 million in direct funding for sports.

CGA receives about $30 million in state government funding, in return for forfeiting marketing rights during the Games. Of that, $13 million was allocated to member sports and athletes, $8 million to the team for 2026, and $1 million to send a team to Trinidad and Tobago next week for the Youth Commonwealth Games.

Phillips said as long as the CGA is “made whole” in a settlement with the government for breaking its contract, it will honour the funding to athletes and sports.

“We are proceeding on the basis that any of our member sports are still program-member sports and until otherwise [known we are] still taking a team to a Games in 2026 somewhere in the world, we don’t know where. Our commitment is still there,” he said.

”There is a number in the joint marketing agreement and that is the number we are expecting to be made whole. Our intention is if we are made whole, we will honour our commitment we made to our sports.“

The cancellation of the Victorian Games could have separate funding implications for sports on the Commonwealth Games program that are not part of the Olympic Games, either winter or summer.

Australian Sports Commission legislation requires a sport to be on the Commonwealth or Olympic Games program to receive federal government funding at the high-performance level.

Should the Commonwealth Games cease to exist, it would mean sports such as netball, squash and lawn bowls would not be funded at the elite level. Netball, for example, receives $9 million in high performance ASC grants.

Netball Australia was contacted for comment.

Wylie, the former ASC chair, said: “I’d be stunned if this decision to cancel the Victorian 2026 Games resulted in any sport not being funded”.

Pointing out that Australian athletes had already missed the opportunity to compete in a home Games, he added, “It would be compounding injustice upon injustice”.

“It’s doing irreparable damage right now to Victoria. A premier tearing up a contract to do something they are committed to do is irreparable damage to the state, a state that has ambitions to be seen as a great event host.”

About 90 people were directly employed by the Victorian Games Organising Committee, many of whom left secure jobs to take up positions with the organisers. There were more in government and consulting firms contracted by the committee.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate offered a lifeline to Commonwealth Games organisers, but on the proviso the federal government chips in.

Inspirational Kerryn McCann at the MCG in 2006 when she won back to back Commonwealth gold in 2002 and 2006.Credit: Fairfax

“Do we want to help, is the question,” Tate told reporters on Thursday. “The answer is yes, and we can if the federal government is willing to re-provision [the funding].”

Tate launched the last-minute rescue bid two days after his deputy, Donna Gates, poured cold water on the idea and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ruled out any possibility Queensland would step in to host the event.

Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas made a similar pitch for the Games, but no premiers or chief ministers are interested in hosting duties. The successful 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games cost $1.2 billion to host and the infrastructure remains in place.

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