Dan Andrews will likely win politics of Games fallout

Premier Daniel Andrews announced Tuesday Victoria would cancel hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

If ever there was a time in human history when nations needed to come together to co-operate on the many challenges facing humankind, from climate change to war, it is now. There is no better way to forge goodwill among nations than on the sporting field.

That is why the Commonwealth Games are important. That is why I am disappointed in the cancellation of the Victorian Commonwealth Games. In reality, the Commonwealth Games are the goodwill games where para sports – unlike the Olympics – are included in the one program at the same event, demonstrating true inclusiveness.

Historically the Commonwealth Games have been a stepping stone for many champion athletes to the Olympics and world championships. Cathy Freeman is perhaps our best known example. But the Games are more than that. They allow our athletes another opportunity to build their experience and hone their skills to take on the world. Some will achieve success at the Olympics, some will not. Those Commonwealth Games athletes who never make the Olympics will at least have a reward for their hard work and effort.

The Games are more than just a sporting event. If they are properly organised they will leave a permanent legacy for the community in which they are held well beyond the 12 days of the events. The Gold Coast is the beneficiary from the 2018 Games with a light rail network, the removal of road bottlenecks and upgrading of heavy rail infrastructure and ser­vices, for example.

Budgets are always a challenge for major sporting events and have to be carefully managed. The budget for the Gold Coast Games was $1.2bn. The organising committee, GOLDOC, in partnership with the state government, closely managed the budget and worked hard to find ways to reduce costs by finding innovative ways to solve complex challenges. Indeed the Gold Coast Games came in on time and under budget, returning more than $100m to Queensland taxpayers. That was not easy and regularly required the use of the word no.

Holding the Games in a regional city such as the Gold Coast or Victorian regional towns is certainly more expensive than holding in them in capital cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and the reasons are obvious.

Infrastructure from stadiums to transport links and sporting facilities are more plentiful in capital cities than they are in the regions. It is that simple. Even sponsorship is more difficult. GOLDOC found corporations based in Sydney and Melbourne were more reluctant to invest in the Gold Coast event than they would have been if the Games had been in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

Another challenge is the Commonwealth Games Federation does not invest significant amounts of money in the event in comparison to International Olympic Committee investment in the Olympics. The Brisbane Olympics in 2032 will have the benefit of millions of dollars from the IOC that will offset some of the financial challenges.

The Olympics and Commonwealth Games are like chalk and cheese in this respect. The cancellation of the 2026 Victorian Games will have no impact on the Brisbane 2032 Olympics other than they will prevent Australian athletes having a homegrown building block for the Brisbane event.

I don’t know the details of the Victorian contract with the CGF, or the penalty measures in the event of the contract being abandoned. Suffice it to say that the CGF does this event every four years and I expect the clause to be watertight.

Premier Daniel Andrews is Australia’s shrewdest politician and his positioning of the cancellation of the Games against a backdrop of difficult cost-of-living pressures on Victorian families along with the need to provide government services is strategically clever. In my view this means he is most likely to win the politics.

Only time will determine the cost to Victoria’s standing as a world sporting destination and the risks associated with doing deals with the Victorian government.

The final question is whether the 2018 Gold Coast Games were the last Games held on Australian soil. Too often it is forgotten that the Games are part of the fabric of the Commonwealth itself. If the Games fall by the wayside what does this mean for the Commonwealth? Is this the beginning of the end of the Games and the beginning of the end for the Commonwealth? Indeed, do Australians value the Commonwealth of Nations of which Australia is part?

If the Games are to be held in 2026, who will save them and where can they be held? All Australian states have now ruled out holding the Games. New Zealand is not in a financial position to hold them and with an election not far away they are a nonstarter. Durban in South Africa was in the running years ago but the politics at the time made it untenable.

My understanding is that Canada has shown little interest to date. That leaves India and Malaysia as possibilities, but with less than there years to go both seem unlikely. That leaves only a return to Birmingham, Glasgow or London, which have the facilities and staff and know how to run them.

I am sure the CGF in Britain and King Charles, who attended the 2018 Gold Coast Games with Queen Camilla, will want to see the Games continue. Sadly, the ball is now in their court.

Peter Beattie served as Queensland premier from 1998 to 2007. He was chair of the organising committee for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.