Harriet Shing to front Commonwealth Games inquiry

Six days after the Victorian government engaged lawyers to negotiate with the Commonwealth Games Federation, Harriet Shing told parliament the government was making sure it could ‘deliver the Games of a lifetime’.

Victorian Housing Minister Harriet Shing and Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Senior Allan government minister Harriet Shing is set to face questions over whether she mislead parliament when she gave assurances that the then Andrews government was making sure it could “deliver the Games of a lifetime” six days after the government hired lawyers to begin the process of cancelling the Commonwealth Games.

Ms Shing, who was minister for Commonwealth Games legacy until the government announced on July 18 that it was cancelling the event, is due to appear before the parliamentary ­inquiry into Victoria’s doomed Games bid on Thursday.

Because the upper house inquiry is unable to compel Legislative Assembly MPs to appear before it, the appearance of Legislative Council member Ms Shing will be the only time the inquiry will hear from a minister responsible for the Games.

Premier Jacinta Allan, who was minister for Commonwealth Games delivery, and former premier Daniel Andrews have both refused to appear.

While it is not known when Ms Shing first learnt the government was considering cancelling the Games, the government has confirmed Ms Allan first knew of the proposal on June 14 – the same day lawyers were hired to negotiate with the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Six days later, Ms Shing responded to questions in par­liament about Games funding concerns with assurances that the government’s: “budget contains a $2.6bn investment which is about making sure that we can deliver the Games of a lifetime”.

She said then Games organising committee chief executive Jeroen Weimar was that day meeting with council CEOs “as part of regional engagement forums and legacy round tables”.

“The Deputy Premier (Ms Allan at the time) has also been discussing these matters with councils … We want to make sure that communities have what it is that they want as legacy outcomes from this, that co-contributions are part of delivering what communities want – what they identify – and that we can make sure that our $2.6bn offering fits within the scope of what they want into the long term for generations to come,” Ms Shing told parliament on June 20.

The following day, she responded to further questions by saying that through the Games, the government was delivering “a fundamentally life-changing experience for visitors, for spectators and for the communities”.

The references to $2.6bn came as the government was in the process of cancelling the Games for reasons Mr Andrews would claim just three weeks later included a ballooning of the cost of the event to between $6bn and $7bn.

Opposition MP David Davis, who is a member of the committee conducting the Commonwealth Games inquiry, and whose question Ms Shing was responding to on June 21, said the now Housing, Water and Equality Minister had “serious questions to answer” about what she knew and when.

“Did she mislead parliament when she talked on June 20 about the legacy benefits of the Commonwealth Games given it’s on the public record that lawyers had been called in a week before?” Mr Davis said. “Also, what did she know about the spiralling costs of the Games and repeated warnings to government months before the event was cancelled?”

Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Jeremi Moule has told the inquiry that when he travelled to London to meet with Commonwealth Games officials on June 30, the decision to cancel had yet to be made.