Cost risk of Daniel Andrews’ political Games

Daniel Andrews’ election-year rush to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games has been linked by government event chiefs to driving ‘significant cost risks’ that sank the Games.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan makes a point in question time at Parliament House in Melbourne on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Daniel Andrews’ election-year rush to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games has been linked by government event chiefs to driving “significant cost risks” that sank the Games.

In a five-page report to a parliamentary inquiry into the cancellation of the Games, the government-appointed Organising Committee identified a lack of time and money as major hurdles to delivering the regional event.

The submission, signed by committee chief executive Jeroen Weimar and chair Peggy O’Neal, highlights the risks associated with the Games, which the former premier announced just six months before the November 2022 state election.

“The three-year time frame meant less time for planning, consultation and contingency, which resulted in significant cost risks against an immovable deadline,” the report states.

Victoria’s Games chiefs noted in the report that the OC “inherited a series of significant decisions” including “the date – the shortest lead-in time ever, compared to seven years for Gold Coast 2018”.

The Weimar-O’Neal report exposes the former premier and new Premier Jacinta Allan, who was the minister for the Games, to criticism that racing to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games was motivated to deliver Labor a political boost rather than guided by sound planning. This follows earlier revelations in The Australian that Mr Andrews ignored government-funded advice that Victoria should host a regional Games in 2034 to allow longer preparation and reduce costs.

The Weimar-O’Neal report makes it clear the government’s $2.6bn budget was inadequate to fund the event across Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Gippsland. “Through the OC’s work, it became clear that this budget was insufficient to deliver the Games as agreed in the Host Contract,” it states.

Having five host cities requiring “significant duplication” of infrastructure and services, a lack of accommodation and workforce in smaller regional cities, high transport and security costs and the scale of the sporting and cultural programs were all major “cost drivers”.

The Weimar-O’Neal report has revealed the OC requested a $722m funding boost in February 2023. “The OC is confident that its plan would have delivered a successful Games that lived up to the ambitions of regional communities, First Nations people, athletes, sports fans and more,” it states.

“However, the actual costs of delivering the Games would have far exceeded the estimates made during the bid. The OC understands why the … government decided to cancel the Games, and it respects that decision.”

Opposition Leader John Pesutto stepped up his attack on Ms Allan over the collapse of the Games, claiming the release of the Weimar-O’Neal report was evidence she had misled parliament.

“Contrary to what Premier Allan has told this parliament and the Victorian people, that they only knew of cost blowouts in the preceding weeks (to the July 18 cancellation) … she was told up to five months before the decision … costs were blowing out,” he said.

“We now know that the organising committee in February told Jacinta Allan through her officers and agents in the department that they needed more than $720m extra to do their job in terms of the Games. Five months is not just a matter of weeks. The web of excuses that Jacinta Allan continues to use just have to stop.”

Ms Allan dismissed the criticism, telling parliament on Thursday it was only in the weeks before the July 18 announcement that the final cost of between $6bn and $7bn became apparent.

Victoria Police documents lodged with the inquiry on Thursday also reveal taxpayers spent $105,000 flying senior police officers to Birmingham and the Gold Coast to study games security.

Six officers, led by Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steedam, spent between 13 and 19 days in Birmingham during the 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of a “police observer” program.

The benefit to taxpayers of the trip was the “delivery of a safe and secure Commonwealth Games”, according to the police submission to the inquiry. Deputy Commissioner Steendam’s travel bill was $24,621 in airfares, accommodation and expenses. She was there for 19 days.